[Gaffer]

Belated acknowledgement of prior months’ Emancipation Proclamation where slaves ONLY in rebelling states were declared ‘free.’

[Bubba_Leroy]

Belated acknowledgement of prior months’ Emancipation Proclamation where slaves ONLY in rebelling states were declared ‘free.’

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the date that news of the Emancipation Proclamation was first announced in Galveston, Texas, almost two and a half years after it had been signed by Republican President Lincoln and over two months after Democrat insurrectionists assassinated Lincoln. It started out as a black holiday in Galveston, then Texas, and then somehow spread from there.

Basically, it is a celebration of very slow mail delivery and the day when blacks in Galveston first learned that Republicans had taken Democrats' slaves away.

[hanamizu]

Belated acknowledgement of prior months’ Emancipation Proclamation where slaves ONLY in rebelling states were declared ‘free.’

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Lincoln realized that he had no Constitutional authority to free any slaves. As commander-in-chief he felt he did have the authority to free slaves in areas in rebellion as of the 1st of January 1863 as a war measure to hamper the South’s ability to wage war.. The Emancipation specifically excluded Confederate states, counties and parishes under Union control. And it had no effect on slaves in the Union states of KY, MO, WV, MD, and DE as well as DC.