On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, two months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. He announced to the city’s residents that all slaves in Texas were free by the Emancipation Proclamation. Some slaves remained enchained in the border states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri until the 13th Amendment’s ratification on Dec. 6 of that year, but ratification was a forgone conclusion. The amendment had already passed both houses of Congress, and mourning over Lincoln’s assassination assured assent in three-fourths of loyal state legislatures.
Why Juneteenth Proves The ‘1619 Project’ Crowd Wrong
America’s hard-fought triumph over the forces of disunion and degradation, the revival of America’s founding promise, is a victory to which we are all heirs.
