Post No. 56: JUNETEENTH, A Celebration for ALL Americans

Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery.  President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier but it was not enforced in the then remote State of Texas.  When federal troops arrived in Texas in 1865, the commanding general enforced the law.  The last major holdout of slavery was ended.  

Juneteenth arrives this year a few weeks before the 250th celebration of our nation’s emancipation from British rule.  Let’s take a deeper dive into some key events that I hope adds to all of our understanding of both emancipations.  

We are well aware of the disconnect between the “All men are created equal” phrase in the Declaration of Independence and the reality that slavery for many continued.  Some may not be aware of the actual draft that was presented to the full committee of the Continental Congress in June 1776.  This version stated that the King “waged cruel war against human nature itself” and that he “violated the sacred rights of a distant people” by “carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere”.  The irony is that the original draft was penned by a slave owner.  The Southern states objected and insisted that the entire section against slavery and the slave trade be removed.

There is nuance here.  Immediately following the sentence with “All men are created equal” is another sentence, not as well known, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  

If we wanted a dictatorship, and Jefferson’s small committee could dictate the result, history and slavery might have been different - but we were establishing a Republic.  It took a civil war to work out differences, and the nation held together.

I’d like to very briefly delve into some thoughts on Locke’s view, which greatly influenced the Founding Fathers, that a primary function of government is to protect the rights of citizens from the lawless.  For example after the Civil War, President Grant sent federal troops into South Carolina and other Southern States to enforce the new law that was being flagrantly violated against citizens who were former slaves.  During his second term, this use of governmental force became politically unpopular, obviously in the South, but also for many in the North.  Grant followed public opinion and withdrew federal troops, which eventually led to Jim Crow in the South.  Crime statistics currently show a few lawless individuals create havoc in majority Black urban areas.  This violence has been occurring for decades - there has not been enough political will for city and State Governments to protect these citizens, all of whom are “created equal”. 

I hope everyone celebrates Juneteenth, and in a couple weeks our nation’s 250th anniversary.  Celebrations for ALL Americans.  

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