Douglass further argued that paper orders \u201ccarry with them a certain moral force which makes them in a large measure self-executing.\u201d The president had pledged to \u201crecognize and maintain the freedom of said persons\u201d and not to repress them \u201cin any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.\u201d Douglass believed the proclamation from America\u2019s commander in chief \u201cwould act on the rebel masters, and even more powerfully upon their slaves. It would lead the slaves to run away.\u201d Those who escaped bondage and once feared the claws of the Fugitive Slave Act would have the law on their side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Douglass disagreed with Lincoln about the timing and rationale of emancipation, he predicted that Lincoln\u2019s proclamation would stand as \u201cthe greatest event of our nation\u2019s history, if not the greatest event of the century,\u201d placing \u201cthe North on the side of justice and civilization, and the rebels on the side of robbery and barbarism.\u201d Douglass and Lincoln alike clearly took inspiration from the Declaration of Independence\u2014America\u2019s first Emancipation Proclamation. Both were committed to realizing the promises of 1776, nearly a century later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juneteenth and Independence Day honor the struggle of an imperfect people on an imperfect path to freedom and equality. American history\u2014\u201ca heap of Juneteenths,\u201d in the words of Ralph Ellison\u2014can be read as one journey, full of setbacks and triumphs, toward realizing the truths of the Declaration of Independence. That \u201cink and paper proclamation,\u201d nearly 250 years old, established a way of life that remains, in Lincoln\u2019s words, \u201cthe last best hope of earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> Juneteenth is a day for us to remember with gratitude and admiration all who labored and sacrificed in the righteous–but at the time unpopular–cause of abolishing slavery. It is easy today to be opposed to slavery; it was not easy back then.https:\/\/t.co\/HPkMsPyDBF<\/a><\/p>— Robert P. George (@McCormickProf) June 19, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>