A. Lincoln declared it was the South's punishment for starting the Civil War.
Explanation:
<em>The 13th Amendment of the American Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude</em>; it was ratified in 1865 after the Civil War and states:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
President Lincoln stated in two speeches that Southern states had caused the Civil War because<u></u><u>they favored slavery and because of their secession from the Union</u>, his first attempt to abolish slavery was the <em>Emancipation Proclamation in 1863,</em> but it only freed slaves from the<u> Confederate States of America,</u> so<em> Lincoln pressured the Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment before Southern states were restored as part of the Union </em>so they couldn't vote against the amendment. President Lincoln did not lived to see the final ratification on December 6,1865 because he was assassinated months before.
