December 22, 1865
Here is the Official Proclamation, from Sec. of State William H. Seward. Declaring that the Amendment has been appropriately ratified and “has become valid, to all intents and purpose, as part of the Constitution of the United States.
The editor comments on the ratification: “With our own hands we have put in type this unspeakably cheering and important official announcement that, at last, the old ‘covenant with death’ is annulled, and the ‘agreement with hell’ no longer stands. Not a slave is left to clank his fetters, of the millions that were lately held in seemingly hopeless bondage. Not a slaveholder may dare to present his claim of property in man, or assume the prerogative of trafficking in human flesh and blood. Henceforth, personal freedom is secured for all who dwell on the American soil, irrespective of complexion or race. It is not merely the abolition of slavery , with the old recognized right of each State to establish he system ad libitum; but it is the prohibition, by ‘the supreme law of the land’, duly ratified, to enslave a human being in any part of our national domains, or to restore what has been overthrown. It is, consequently, the complete triumph as well as utter termination of the Anti-Slavery struggle, as such….”
Comments are closed.