While freedom, from bondage, has every right to ring, from the southernmost plains to the nation’s lofty capital, the Emancipation Proclamation was but a step toward the end of the ungodly, dehumanizing social norm carried into the new land called slavery.
On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation affirming “And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”
However, because the proclamation only applied to rebellious areas of the Confederacy, President Lincoln recognized that a constitutional amendment, the 13th amendment, which had passed the Senate in April 1864, would still be necessary to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. Therefore, during Lincoln’s presidential reelection bid, he insisted the passage of the 13th Amendment be added to the Republican Party platform.
In 1964, Lincoln won his reelection, and the bill finally passed the House in January 1865 with a vote of 119–56. Every Republican and fourteen Democrats in a narrowly reached two-thirds majority voted to approve the amendment. Although unnecessary, President Lincoln gladly signed the joint resolution, under the names of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on February 1, 1865.
(June 19, 1865) Union General Gordon Granger issues General Order No. 3, announcing the emancipation of the slaves in the state of Texas. Hence, Juneteenth—a holiday celebrated by Texans for many decades.
Unfortunately, President Lincoln would not live to see the ratification or Juneteenth because in April, he was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer whose name I will not mention. But the killer could not stop history in the making, and in December 1865, the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by the states. The Amendment resolved that “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.”
Lincoln’s leadership guided the United States to justice for humankind. And three more amendments would follow: one to grant the full Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people, another for the right for all male citizens regardless of their ethnicity or prior slave status the right to vote, and lastly, women’s suffrage (which did not happen until August of 1920).
To say our new nation has had many challenges is to restate the obvious. But we are a more perfect Union because of the corrections we have made in the wake of those challenges, especially in those moments when our country has aligned itself with the unadulterated Word of God. Anything we have done well as a country, has its roots in righteousness (a Jesus Christ-centered way of doing things). To the contrary, whenever we stray or try to manipulate Scripture to justify our sin or selfish means, our country pays.
We know this is true, even on a personal level. We all have flaws and temptations to do what is simple and selfish, and the only thing that keeps us moving forward in the right direction is a heart committed to following Christ.
Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Good works do not belong to one party more than the other, but they do belong to all parties and people willing to access, learn from, and be led by God. In the words of President Lincoln, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
Let us unite in performing good deeds for this wonderful nation, America, where God has placed us.
Sincerely,
Leah
Resource:
- Library of Congress Research Guides, 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- National Archives
- Wikipedia
- History.com
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