Quote:
Originally Posted by mtdjed
Technically, June 19, 1865 does not really represent the date that the slaves in Texas were legally free. The real date would seem to be the effective date of Amendment 13 to the US Constitution that was ratified in Dec 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln in 1862 and effective Jan 1, 1863 did not include Texas and several other areas oy the then USA.
It took Congress 6 months of arguing to agree to the Amendment 13. And like now, that arguing was all political. Another proud argument for our caring Congress.
It is hard to imagine how traumatic that freedom would have been to all parties. Joyous but difficult change.
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Effective January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation absolutely, positively did include Texas. It included ten states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and he named each one in his speech.
It took a year and a half for Texan slaves to be informed that they were no longer slaves, and it took officials from New York and New Jersey to travel there and inform them of it because their own states' officials wouldn't tell them.