Argumentative Essay: How the Thirteenth Amendment Caused Convict Leasing
Ash Beaulieu
HIS 330: Civil War and Reconstruction
Professor Nivison
December 1, 2022
2
Convict leasing was a system created to enslave former slaves. It allowed for white men to
take freedmen convicted of petty crimes such as walking on grass, vagrancy, and stealing food, and
treat them as though they were worse than animals.1 These men provided labor for lumber yards,
brick yards, mines, farms, manufacturing facilities, factories, railroads, and road construction2
Topic/Intro: Convict Leasing was a direct consequence of the Thirteenth Amendment
Body 1: Thirteenth Amendment role in causing convict leasing. This is the what caused it, how it
was created, etc.
Body 2: Convict laborer and slavery were both financially demanding and profitable. How do the
two differ and how did that affect the treatment of slaves? This is the "benefits" the why.
Body 3: Slave Vs. convict laborer, what were the living conditions in both. Was one worse than the
other? How did they compare and how did slaves vs convict laborers respond. This is the what,
what was it like.
Conclusion: How did convict labor become a direct consequence of the thirteenth amendment?
How did financial situations and living conditions affect the treatment of other humans? This is the
who did it and why.
1 Ellen Terrell, "The Convict Leasing System: Slavery in Its Worst Aspects," The Convict Leasing System: Slavery in its Worst Aspects, in (Adams: Science, Technology & Business), June 17, 2021. https://blogs.loc.gov/ inside_adams/2021/06/convict-leasing-system/
2 Ellen Terrell, "The Convict Leasing System: Slavery in Its Worst Aspects"
3
Works Cited
Boston, John. "An Escaped Slave Writes His Wife from a Union Camp." In The Civil War and
Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection, edited by William E. Gienapp, 219. NewYork: W. W
Norton and Company, 2001
Clay, Susanna. "The Negroes Are Worse Than Free." In The Civil War and Reconstruction: A
Documentary Collection, edited by William E. Gienapp, 224-225. NewYork: W. W. Norton and
Company, 2001
Digital history. Accessed November 18, 2022. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3179
Lincoln, Abraham. "The Emancipation Proclamation." In The Civil War and Reconstruction: A
Documentary Collection, edited by William E. Gienapp, 165-166. NewYork: W. W. Norton and
Company, 2001
"Memorial of the Convocation of the Colored People in the Diocese of North Carolina Presented
to the Diocesan Convention of 1916." Episcopal Church. diocese of North Carolina
convocation of the colored people. memorial of the convocation of the colored people in
the diocese of North Carolina presented to the Diocesan Convention of 1916., 2001
https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/convocation/convocation.html
Michael J. Lynch & Elizabeth S. Cass (2022) Slavery, economics, race and convict leasing: A general
and materialist history of punishment and prisons in Florida, 1840-1923, International
Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 46:3, 253-276, DOI:
10.1080/01924036.2021.1875252