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Many Americans ignore Juneteenth. This is a mistake.
Juneteenth is a uniquely American day of remembrance. It should be celebrated by all Americans, of all colors, ages, and walks of life, who love freedom and hate slavery.
Republicans, in particular, should embrace and promote Juneteenth, which memorializes a great Republican victory. Without the Republican Party, after all, there would be no Juneteenth.
Juneteenth is the celebratory name, combining “June” and “nineteenth,” commemorating June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and US General Gordon Granger announced to the men, women, and children still in bondage that they were slaves no more.
Some background: On September 22, 1862, during the Civil War, following the Union victory at Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation, announcing that enslaved people within rebellious states would be free 100 days later.
His message to Confederate states was clear: Stop the rebellion or your slaves become free.
One hundred days later, on January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, as a “necessary war measure for suppressing [the] rebellion,” which declared “all persons held as slaves” within rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
The Emancipation Proclamation, however, could not be enforced in places that remained under Confederate control. Many slaves remained enslaved, including those in the Westernmost state of the Confederacy, Texas, long after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Not until mid-June 1865 did some 2,000 Union troops finally arrive in Galveston Bay, Texas, where the Union Army announced publicly that the more than 250,000 enslaved people in the state were free by Lincoln’s Proclamation (even though Lincoln had already been assassinated). This was “Juneteenth.”
In 1979, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday. Many states followed, either adopting Juneteenth as a holiday or memorializing it with a day of observation. In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday.
The American Founding, usually dated from 1776 to 1787/88, was incomplete. A nation that began by declaring “all men are created equal” could not be complete and coherent until the laws aligned with the self-evident moral truths of the Declaration of Independence. That alignment required abolishing slavery.
In just over four score and seven years, at unimaginable costs in blood, sweat, and tears, Americans did just that. In a decisive respect, the American Founding stretched from 1776 and the Declaration all the way to 1865. Juneteenth is one of three pivotal events in 1865 that represent the completion of the American Founding.
Two and a half months before Juneteenth, on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.
In December 1865, Americans ratified the 13th Amendment, constitutionally abolishing slavery throughout the United States.
At the time of the Civil War, most American slaves were descendants, direct or indirect, of Africans who had been kidnapped and enslaved by fellow Africans, and then sold into the Atlantic Slave Trade. In 1865, those descendants living in the United States were free at last. The American Founding, in principle, was complete. That great achievement was made possible by the Republican Party.
Seven years before the Civil War began, in 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas and fellow Democrats pushed through Congress the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery to spread throughout federal territories. Many Americans recoiled in horror at the prospect of more slavery in more places, prompting some to form a new political party. At first, they called themselves the Anti-Nebraska Party. Later, they changed their name to Republican.
In its inception, the Republican Party had one dominating purpose: To stop the spread of slavery. Or, in the words of Lincoln, to place slavery “in the course of ultimate extinction.” Republicans like Lincoln emphasized and promoted the ideas enshrined in the Declaration of Independence at the very moment influential Democrats, enamored with the settled science of their day—scientific racism—were mocking and rejecting those ideas.
In 1860, Lincoln became the first Republican elected President of the United States by dividing Democrats into internecine factions and defeating Stephen A. Douglas. Millions of Democrats refused to accept that electoral result. Instead, they launched a war against the United States.
The bottom line is that without the Republican Party, Lincoln never would have been elected President. Without Lincoln as President, there would have been no Emancipation Proclamation. Without the Emancipation Proclamation, there would be no Juneteenth.
Juneteenth is your day to shine, Republicans. Don’t ignore it. Wrap yourselves in it. It’s your story to tell, and it is a beautiful story.
Submitted by Thomas L. Krannawitter
This article was originally published by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), and reprinted with permission from Dr. Krannawitter.
Dr. Thomas L. Krannawitter earned a PHD in American History from Claremont University, leads the Defenders of Democracy program for Leadership Program of the Rockies and the Charter Oak Leadership Program, is the Chief Content Officer at The Vino & Veritas Society and author of Vindicating Lincoln, among other books available at Amazon.com.
You can listen to Dr. Krannawitter's recorded messages for Juneteenth 2023 through these links:
06192023 Thomas Krannawitter Cut 1
06192023 Thomas Krannawitter Cut 2
The Civil War wasn't fought over Slavery (contrary to popular misinformed belief) but over whether a state had the right to secede from the union. The war wasn't going well for the North when Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation and his motivations for doing so was to keep France and England from recognizing The Confederacy as a legitimate government which was something they were mulling until Lincoln managed to tie the southern states to slavery despite the north having slave states
The 19th of June is insignificant, and released no slaves from bondage.
Only an illiterate, innumerate person would cobble "June" and "nineteenth" together in such a meaningless manner.
Only in the year 2023 did U.S. education devolve to the point where we would set aside a holiday to celebrate ignorance and act out in a dangerous, defeatest manner.
I cannot help but wonder what has gone wrong in the highest levels of government, such that this dysfunctionalism is promoted.
Hiding pedophilics.
How to say “I’m a racist idiot” without saying “I’m a racist idiot”
Yeah yeah...everything is racist. Unless people agree with the Leftist propaganda of the day they are racist. We get it. But people are simply exhausted with nonsensical political virtue signaling.
Everybody with an IQ above room temperature is not racist. Most of us are simply fed up with the regressive, devisive agenda of the American Left. We study history. We know how this ends.
Halleujah ! Another American who kept awake in history class !
Often, when I see "Juneteenth," I think of disproportionate FBI violent crime statistics sorted by race.
Excellent point. The Emancipation Proclamation was a desperate and superficial measure which claimed to free slaves but only in areas over which the US federal government had no authority.
There is no attempt to free slaves in the Union.
The problem with Juneteenth is that in making it a holiday the government labeled it "National Independence Day" well we already have an Independence Day that is for everyone on July 4th. Not only that but slaves in states aligned with the union weren't considered free until the passing of the 13th amendment which happened in December. Shouldn't we actually be celebrating the day all American Slaves were freed not just the ones in Confederate states?
My objection to "Juneteenth" is that it's a celebration of ignorance.
It sickens me to see a population which has come so far and overcome so much devolve into idiocy.
Unsurprisingly, this celebration of ignorance has become a day of surpassing violence and lawlessness. Yes, on the Fourth of July there are always a couple of morons who blow their fingers off with fireworks and a couple more who get alcohol poisoning, but shooting sprees are reserved for Juneteenth.
Please enlighten all. What is the “ignorance” you continue to reference?
I covered that in a previous post, and I'm not the only one to do so. I will not be repeating myself. I'm a mom, but I'm not your mom. There are only 13 posts at this point, so reading them shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
I cannot begin to express how disgusted I am. It's roughly 9 PM, which means the nation has 3 hours of mayhem to go. That's if the revelers decide to knock off at midnight, which is improbably. Chances are they will continue until at least 3 AM.
Ah - so you’re going with the Civil War was not about slavery but “state’s rights” (i.e., the “right” to own slaves) or economics (the economics of slavery). Got it. I feel so not enlightened now.
That argument is immaterial to the issues surrounding "Juneteenth." You can take it up with that poster if you wish.
Those who think the Civil War was just about one issue (usually their pet issue) beclown themselves.
The civil war wasn't about slavery, it was about money and paying BACK the British, WHO WE BEAT!!
)(*&^)(*%)*(&$( THAT!!!
Get over it!!! Yep, STILL standing, and DC is NOW FORCING pedophilia on this nation!!
The South WILL NOT LOSE THIS TIME!!!! This time it's for the children and our God.
First/last/only warning.
ICYMI: We have had juneteenth festivals for decades, it was a weekend music, food, and good times festival-to recapture the mood that ALL people under God are free and sovereign.
LOL! A "holiday" celebrated only in America, because of events in American history, is "uniquely American"? Good job! Sure can't fool Krannawitter!