Emancipation Proclamation

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   This was the turning point in our history:
   Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
   
   "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
   
   "That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
   
   Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
   Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
   
   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.
   
   And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
   
   And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
   
   And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
   
   In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
   
   Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
   
   By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
   WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
   
   http://www.history.com/topics/black-his … -amendment

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      rhamsonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      What is interesting was that Lincoln held a paradoxical view on slavery and abolitionism.
      
      "Abraham Lincoln immortalized himself in American history by the role that he played in abolishing the institution of slavery, but he arrived at this distinction only after a long career of opposition to abolitionism. This at first seems paradoxical, for he had always actively disliked slavery, and he came into national prominence as a politician by strenuously opposing its extension into the territories." [1]
      
      As late as August 1862 Lincoln was not sold on the emancipation of the slaves as he wrote to Horace Greeley, an editor of the New York Tribune.
      
      "If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that" [2]
      
      As far as white supremacy I think you have to look at corporate or elitist Americas penchant for cheap labor and what it will do to attain it. In the beginning the Africans were easy to exploit as the attempts to enslave the American Indians, even from Columbus' time, proved fruitless as they could just run away home. The Africans were too far from home to do the same thing. In modern times  when faced with union demands for better pay corporate America has enlisted slave level pay in foreign countries to undercut American labor demands for livable wages and conditions. American Corporations still love the slave mentality towards controlling labor costs when it comes to such things.
      
      
      
      
      [1] http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by … olitionism
      [2] http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/nhhs/html/union.htm

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         Credence2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Funny, RH, I was just about to say the same thing......

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2. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   Yes, this was signed a little more than a century ago.
   Was Lincoln also white supremacist, Elizabeth Martinez??
   
   
   http://soaw.org/index.php?option=com_co … amp;id=482
   
   She writes:
   "In short, White Supremacy and economic power were born together. The United States is the first nation in the world to be born racist (South Africa came later) and also the first to be born capitalist. That is not a coincidence. In this country, as history shows, capitalism and racism go hand in hand."
   And concludes:
   The doctrine of Manifest Destiny facilitated the geographic extension and economic development of the United States while confirming racist policies and practices. It established White Supremacy more firmly than ever as central to the U.S. definition of itself. The arrogance of asserting that God gave white people (primarily men) the right to dominate everything around them still haunts our society and sustains its racist oppression.

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3. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   The above article by Elizabeth Martinez reveals what others are accusing whites (yes, in general/our policies/ our history/ our gov't) of. Perhaps they want the match-stick incident of Dylann Roof to seem like a forest fire …  for the purpose of spraying a fire hose of misinformation/accusations.
   Some of us are not buying it.
   It was just a match...
   a sad little match.
   
   TWISI

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      janesixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I am not buying it either.

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4. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially abolished slavery in America, and was ratified on December 6, 1865, after the conclusion of the American Civil War. The amendment states: “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.”
   
   Land of the Free.
   
   Today at school I saw a great example.
   I subbed for a daycare program being run by the public school system. Kids were in my care on the playground. I observed two little girls holding their own with a group of boys who were not playing fair in the least. (The girls happened to be African American, but I quickly realized their ethnicity had nothing to do with anything!) I stepped in and made sure the boys showed respect and patience toward the girls. Now, before I showed up, the girls could have walked away. They easily could have cried and given up. But they did not. Had I been there or not, they were determined to play with the boys and receive their turns. Nothing, it seemed, would stop them from playing. I was so glad to be there to help them. The boys settled down, played fair and all had good time.
   
   Moral of the story.
   Expect others to play fair and don't give up. Assistance will eventually arrive.

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