{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=7e4aa330-3b17-4ffc-b675-69ee4d0fac74", "Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendments Ratification", "2015-12-09", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  The U.S. Senate held a ceremony today commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. The following are Leader McConnells remarks delivered during the ceremony, which took place in Emancipation Hall, in the U.S. Capitol:\r\nIt was a January afternoon.\r\nThe air was frozen in apprehension. It was leavened with anticipation.\r\nHope and fear danced together that day, intermingling as they sometimes do at such important moments in our history.\r\nBut only briefly.\r\nFrom a presiding officer came the news.\r\nAyes, 119. Noes, 56.\r\nMinds processed the calculations silently.\r\nIn one instant, nervous calm.\r\nIn the next, uproarious cheer.\r\nIt was two-thirds, if only just.\r\nThe House of Representatives had passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as the Senate had done the previous year.\r\nHeres how the moment was described when House Speaker Colfax announced the results:\r\nA moment of silence succeeded, and then, from floor and galleries, burst a simultaneous shout of joy and triumph, spontaneous, irrepressible and uncontrollable, swelling and prolonged in one vast volume of reverberating thunder\r\nOn the floor, members wept and hugged.\r\nIn the galleries, the thunder that was described  joyous and hopeful  rumbled on. Some onlookers who, because of the color of their skin, had been denied access to that very gallery until just the year before, were now celebrating congressional passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.\r\nFrom there, history.\r\nPresident Lincoln would soon add his signature, even though the President plays no formal role in the ratification process.\r\nWithin just a few short months, the amendment would be ratified.\r\nYears of slavery would be legally abolished.\r\nMillions of slaves would win their freedom.\r\nAnd a country would set off on a new path.\r\nWounded, but hopeful.\r\nScarred, but capable.\r\nAlways striving. Always believing. Looking to the future.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=7e4aa330-3b17-4ffc-b675-69ee4d0fac74"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9494060650467873, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}