Lyman Trumbull Author of the 13thAmendment Abolishing Slavery 4” X
2” Clipped Signature. Trumbull was a pivotal American politician,
jurist, and abolitionist who represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate from 1855
to 1873. Originally a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party due to his
staunch opposition to slavery's expansion.
As chairman of
the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Civil War and Reconstruction,
Trumbull was a central figure in the "Second Founding" of the U.S.
Constitution. He authored the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery), the
Confiscation Act of 1862, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. While a close ally
of Abraham Lincoln, Trumbull was a moderate who broke with Radical Republicans
to vote against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.