Article by:
Joseph C. Abraham
What is Juneteenth?
Raising awareness in the community regarding the circumstances surrounding the Celebration of Juneteenth is paramount to provide proper context for the struggles faced by African Americans today. The simplest explanation of the holiday is that Juneteenth commemorates the date on which Union Army Major-General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and proclaimed freedom from slavery in the State of Texas.
Generals Orders No. 3, as read on June 19, 1865 by Major-General Gordon Granger stated “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts, and they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”[1]
Why were Generals Orders No. 3 necessary?
Entering the third year of our nation’s Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which decreed “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.”[2] However, several states (and jurisdictions) were excepted from this document, as such they were “left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.”
To be clear, the Emancipation Proclamation was not an instrument designed to abolish an immoral institution (slavery). Instead, the Emancipation Proclamation was a tool (military strategy) used to bring an end to the Civil War, which was ravaging our nation and perhaps more importantly, its economy. As the Union Army fought its way across the Southern States, the Emancipation Proclamation was viewed by the enslaved as an “army of liberation”. Slaves were encouraged to enlist and take an active role in securing their freedom.
In terms of military strategy, the result of the Emancipation Proclamation was a reinforced Union Army. Moreover, by enlisting former slaves, the Union Army systematically removed the Confederate’s labor force, which meant those ‘Southern States’ who elected to succeed from the United States (the start of the ‘Civil War’) would soon run out of food and supplies.
In the political arena, President Abraham Lincoln had specifically exempted states which bordered with the North from the Emancipation Proclamation as he did not want to have the proclamation serve as a catalyst for those states to join the Confederacy. But as momentum built behind the Union Army’s military campaign, the Emancipation Proclamation became a means by which President Abraham Lincoln could leverage its impact and encourage the Confederacy to end the armed conflict and reunite our Nation.
What about the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
The Emancipation Proclamation (an Executive Order) was limited in its scope and duration. As such for the eradication of slavery to be codified in law, and thereby be applied to the United States as a whole (without the exceptions referenced in the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’) the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was absolutely necessary.
The United States Senate passed the 13th Amendment on April 8, 1864 and the United States House of Representatives passed the measure on January 31, 1865. A Joint Resolution of Congress was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865 and on December 6, 1865 the requisite number of states ratified the 13th Amendment; thereby becoming the law of the land. Section 1 of the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution reads “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.”[3]
Ultimately, the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was a transformative moment in the brief history of the United States. “The most immediate impact of the Thirteenth Amendment was to end chattel slavery as it was practiced in the southern United States. However, the Amendment also bars “involuntary servitude,” which covers a broader range of labor arrangements where a person is forced to work by the use or threatened use of physical or legal coercion. For example, the Thirteenth Amendment bans peonage, which occurs when a person is compelled to work to pay off a debt. Originally a Spanish practice, peonage was practiced in the New Mexico Territory and spread across the Southern United States after the Civil War. Former slaves and other poor citizens became indebted to merchants and plantation owners for living and working expenses. Unable to repay their debts, they became trapped in a cycle of work-without-pay. The Supreme Court held this practice unconstitutional in 1911. Bailey v. Alabama (1911).”[4]
Conclusion
On April 9, 1865 Confederate General surrendered control of nearly 28,000 Confederate Soldiers to the Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia. This brought about a formal end to the Civil War. And while the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution had been signed by President Abraham Lincoln, it had yet to be ratified by the requisite number of member states. As such, Generals Order No. 3 was necessary to formally release slaves from bondage in the State of Texas. Large gatherings and celebrations were common, and the day soon began to be referred to as Juneteenth, a combination of the month of “June” and the date of the “Nineteenth.” As the newly freed slaves migrated across our nation, they brought their traditions and customs, including the celebration of Juneteenth, to their new communities. As of this writing 47 states recognize Juneteenth as an Official Holiday (the exceptions being Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota).