June 15th is the relatively fresh national vacation now. However, we should n’t be celebrating Juneteenth if we really want to celebrate a day when a historic event that ended institutionalized racism and slavery and secured civil rights. The 13th Amendment’s ratification date of 1865 may become December 6 or February 3 as the 15th Amendment’s date of 1870.
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The holidays we celebrate problem very little, as does what each trip marks. Not until June 19 did America experience significant changes in its history of civil rights or legal knowledge. Just “marks the day when provincial troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to appoint a leader and free all oppressed people.” Clearly, this was a happy event, but it was a move in implementing the planet- shaking, nation- shaping action that had already been taken, particularly, the end of slavery. As it stands, Juneteenth allows Democrats to babble about the hardships of slavery and prejudice without ever mentioning the fact that the Democratic Party championed and launched a Civil War over servitude, that it was the Democrat Party that vigorously fought against legal right, and that it was the Republican Party that brought about the end of slavery and secured dark Americans ‘ legal rights. Celebrating the ratifications of the Constitutional Amendments would not only illuminate the real democratic history but also teach Americans how to appreciate and appreciate our basic document.
We do n’t observe the anniversary of the British and Americans signing a treaty guaranteeing American independence as a national holiday; instead, we honor July 4, the anniversary of America’s independence in 1776, the start of the great struggle for independence. Americans also honor the birthday of wonderful Americans like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rather than those of those who died. Similar things ought to apply in this situation. I do n’t object to a holiday that honors the end of slavery and the civil rights movement; in fact, neither Democrats nor Republicans are nearly ready to canvass and discuss the true nature of slavery and civil rights, or accurately identify the heroes and villains. But, suddenly, Juneteenth is not the important day, never the defining moment, hardly the history- shattering event.
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Because Juneteenth is the eponymous day of a rare example of a Democrat politician — President Andrew Johnson, who was otherwise incredibly prejudiced — allowing an anti-slavery motion, I occasionally wonder if Democrats are particularly enthusiastic about it. However, the president in office when Juneteenth happened, Johnson, notably wrote,” This is a state for white people, and by God, as long as I am President, it may be a federal for white people”.
Johnson, a former and ardent slave owner and Democrat with all the cultural prejudices that came with that social affiliation at the time, opposed full equality for black Americans, despite the fact that free blacks had formerly been deprived of all national rights when the Constitution was first ratified. Johnson purposefully opposed the Civil Rights Act, vetoed it, and his public statements of denigrating charity for former slaves only serve to cast a shadow over his real cultural prejudice.
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The Republican Party was the party that eventually secured the 13th Amendment’s acceptance, and Abraham Lincoln, the senator who authored the Emancipation Proclamation and spearheaded the passage of the 13th Amendment through Congress. The 13th Amendment was only supported by eight Democrat lawmakers and sixteen Democrat representatives. The specific job of Republican President U. S. Grant was the 15th Amendment, which gave dark American the right to vote and to be regarded as full members ( as formerly they did when the Constitution was ratified ). It was passed by Republicans with not a single Democrat’s vote in favor. Democrats are erasing and reframing the true history of anti-slavery accomplishments to make themselves look better, and Juneteenth is a part of that.
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Because he fervently favored ending slavery or promoting black Americans ‘ rights, Johnson refused to let troops enter Texas because he thought emancipation would benefit him and his allies politically and militarily. Johnson was a disgusting racist, just like the majority of his fellow Democrats are and still are today.
If there is one president whose actions we should celebrate, it is not Andrew Johnson. I’m all for having a national holiday to honor a significant historical moment that once more led to the preservation of our founding principles. But let it celebrate Lincoln, the president who was assassinated because he supported civil rights, or U. S. Grant, arguably the greatest civil rights president in American history, not the president who believed that whites must always be considered” superior” to blacks.
