Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Juneteenth

White House ^ | June 19, 2017 | Press Sect.

[HarleyLady27]

Melania and I send our warmest greetings to all those celebrating Juneteenth, a historic day recognizing the end of slavery.

Though President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, news traveled slowly from Washington, D.C., to the southern states. More than two years later, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger stood on the Ashton Villa balcony in Galveston, Texas, to deliver the belated message of the then-deceased President: all slaves were free.

Granger’s astonishing words inspired soulful festivities and emotional rejoicing. Over the years, as freedmen and freedwomen left Texas, they took Juneteenth and its meaning with them. Today, we celebrate this historic moment in 1865, as we remember our Nation’s fundamental premise that all men and women are created equal.

On Juneteenth 2017, we honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America’s promise as the land of the free.

[noiseman]

Dinesh D’Souza demolished the “Democrats and Republicans switched” argument in “Hillary’s America.”

[x]

Why this date as opposed to December 6th (1865), the date of the adoption of the 13th Amendment?

This is the date when the US Army established authority over Texas and enforced the Emancipation Proclamation.

Slavery was still legal in the states not included in the scope of the Emancipation Proclamation.

If the government had thought up the holiday, that might be a logical choice, but it's a folk festival that came up from below, not something imposed from the top down.

Most slaves were already free by then, so the date wouldn't have much meaning to them.

[reg45]

The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation, not a law (which would have required congressional approval), and it could have easily been canceled by President Johnson. It’s just like an executive order.