Emancipation...

There are three events associated with the conclusion of slavery in the US: The Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth and the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.

The Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1863) was issued by President Lincoln stating that slaves be freed. Most people quickly assume that this act completely freed all slaves in America, but that’s far from the truth. This proclamation came during the third year of the Civil War and only certain states were affected by this act. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be set free.” And the rebellious states basically consisted of Confederate states which weren’t under the Union’s control. There were still plenty of Union state slaves running around – most likely pissed off. The emancipation did however allow freed slaves into the military (I always wonder what thought process went through the thousands of freed slaves who decided to joined the army and fight right next to the very people who enslaved them).

On June 19, 1865, the Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas to inform inhabitants of the Civil War’ end two month earlier. 2 ½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Granger’s General Order No. 3 finally freed the last slaves. Of course these were just the slaves in the states affected by the emancipation proclamation. June 19th quickly became know as Juneteenth and has become the African-American addendum to the US’s Independence Day, “as Juneteenth jubilees remind us, the Emancipation Proclamation did not bring about emancipation, and the prevailing portrayal of Independence Day ignores the ignominious incidence of slavery entirely” (infoplease).

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...shall exist within the United States." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865 (Library of Congress). This amendment was specifically rejected by Delaware on Feb 8, 1865; by Kentucky on Feb 24, 1865; by New Jersey on Mar 16, 1865; and by Mississippi on Dec 4, 1865. Florida reaffirmed its ratification on Jun 9, 1868. Mississippi ratified the amendment in 1995, but because the state never officially notified the US Archivist, the ratification is not official (Ratification).