[June 19, 2014] On this date in 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger read General Orders No. 3 to the people of Galveston, Texas. Such began an annual celebration from that day forward; this date commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. The Juneteenth celebration memorializes what is considered the most important legal action in the 19th Century United States.
Maj Gen Granger’s general order freed approximately 250,000 slaves in Texas. Note that the order came about two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing of all slaves was no simple matter and a very controversial decision by Lincoln.
Occurring during the Great Civil War, the proclamation dealt two blows simultaneously to the Confederate States of America. First, it made slavery into a strategic issue and caused many of the European nations to shy away from supporting the South. Second, it made a moral issue out of slavery. As an aside, the war gave Lincoln an excuse to do something he had always wanted.
Today we rightly celebrate the freeing of the slaves in the state of Texas. Due to the remoteness of Texas, these slaves were the last to be freed. Thanks to the leadership of Lincoln and many from his political party who fought the political fight, the entirety of the United States of America rejected slavery.
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[Note: Some very good websites on Juneteenth]
- http://juneteenth.com/
- http://www.nationaljuneteenth.com/
- https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/juneteenth.html