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Republican History is All About Freedom

The Republican Party is largely responsible for the Abolition of Slavery in the United States of America. They started their party in 1854 in Racine Wisconsin and upon the 1860 Presidential Race they had endorsed Abraham Lincoln. In Lincoln’s only term in Congress as a Whig Candidate from 1847-49 he was mentored by a former President and son of a former President, John Quincy Adams. Representative John Quincy Adams had a remarkable career as a diplomat, Secretary of State, President, and died in office in 1848. Before he died he took Abraham Lincoln as a protégé and instilled in him why it was important to abolish slavery.

Upon Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Election win, the south knew what was next as Lincoln had campaigned on abolishing slavery. Shortly after his election in December 1860, South Carolina broke away from the Union and several other southern states joined them. Without going into the battles of the Civil War, President Lincoln was looking for a victory on the battlefield to announce an executive order freeing the slaves and he wrote it after the bloody battle of Antietam in September 1862 and proclaimed it on January 1st 1863. It has thus been called the Emancipation Proclamation. It sent ripples into slave states south of the border states and it encouraged slaves to run away from the farms they were at.

It wasn’t until the 13th Amendment which was ratified by 27 of 36 States in December 1865, 8 months after Lincoln was assassinated, that slavery had been abolished. The Senate passed the Amendment in April 1864, the US House passed it in January 1865.

5 months later is where the story of Juneteenth starts.

June 19, 1865 Galveston Texas

Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Texas on June 19th 1865 and announced that all slaves were free. He went on to suggest former slave owners and slaves form a new relationship of employer and hired employees. Known as General Orders Number 3

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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere –General Orders number 3 General Gordon Granger June 19, 1865

It wasn’t until the 14th and 15th Amendments that former slaves would gain full citizenship and the right to vote (only men could vote until the 19th amendment in 1920).

The start of the celebration of June 19th in 1866

The celebration of that day started in mostly church gatherings for barbeques, songs, and festivals.  It was a holiday celebrated mostly in Texas.

The State of Texas made it a State Holiday in 1979. Outside of the state there have been celebrations but nothing official.

Republicans Need to Celebrate this Holiday

As I write this I’ve seen Republicans showing their ignorance of history on social media saying we shouldn’t celebrate Juneteenth. I find this ignorance of history as being abhorrent and playing into the 3rd stereotype our party likes to embrace: Indifference (the other 2 are Rich & White). If you look at the history of Black Americans their American roots are deeper than most European Americans.  Most Black Americans can claim ancestors going back to the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Blacks used to be Republicans up until the Progressive Coup in America during the Depression of the 1930s. It’s very interesting when you find out why the Democrats hated Rev Martin Luther King Jr when you find out he was a Conservative Baptist Pastor. Senators JFK & LBJ participated in the filibuster of the Civil Rights act, they were no saints as revisionists like to portray them as.

Though Jim Crow laws started popping up during the Electoral College question when Rutherford Hayes was hoping to be President. He compromised saying he would end Reconstruction in the Southern States if he was elected President. That was a bad move on his part because the 14th & 15th amendments weren’t embraced for nearly 80 yrs later. It had to be a real Republican, Senator Everett Dirksen who broke the Democrat filibuster on the Civil Rights Act and got it passed.

Maybe Schools just don’t teach American History as good and bad decisions. People today think we can erase the bad decisions by making worse decisions by erasing parts of American History by tearing down monuments and renaming public buildings.

Embrace it, Embrace Juneteenth

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Juneteenth is one of a handful of Federal Holidays that will be celebrated on the day of the week it falls on, like Veterans Day, July 4th, Christmas and New Years Day. This post was reposted by permission of saintpaulrepublicans.us (it is not the SPRCC website). Some parts that were personal to the author have been edited out. Their post was originally posted on June 19, 2025 “Juneteenth is Just Another Freedom Day that Republicans Should Celebrate” — admin