by Brett Manero
June 19th is the celebration of Juneteenth, which only recently became a federal holiday in the United States. Of all of the federal holidays of America, it perhaps best represents the journey of this nation, the journey of Scripture, and the journey of the Church and all of humanity: a journey from slavery to freedom.
Man and woman were never meant to be slaves. Man and woman were always meant to live in a free, loving relationship with God and each other. Sin and evil created the detestable state of slavery. The entire story of salvation history is the story of moving from slavery to freedom. First, by escaping from the cruelty of slavery in Egypt and moving to the liberty and prosperity of the Promised Land. Secondly and more importantly, by moving from the slavery of sin, death, and the devil, to the eternally blissful freedom of the true Promised Land of heaven.
Jesus Christ is leading humanity, through the Church, to the freedom of heaven. But slavery has still reared its ugly head throughout human history, including in the United States. Some scholars have called slavery the “original sin” of America, which is appropriate. This unique country, founded on principles of liberty and equality, also permitted the gross practice of slavery, which had grown out of the horrific Atlantic Slave Trade during the centuries of European settlement of the Americas. Several of the American Founding Fathers – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, most notoriously – personally owned slaves. John Adams, however, personally disapproved of slavery and never owned a slave. But many of them quietly disrespected the awful institution, knowing fully well that it contradicted the very principles they were fighting for. But legal it remained, at least in half of the new nation, ultimately leading to increasingly intense debate and division, culminating in the American Civil War of 1861-1865.
The causes of the Civil War are endlessly debated. “States rights” is a common rally cry. But there is no doubt that the issue of slavery and its place in America was at its roots. The new Republican Party had its first presidential candidate elected to the White House – Abraham Lincoln – and the Republicans had been formed as a party to oppose the spread of slavery. The southern slave-holding states feared that a Republican President would attack the institution, and so the southern states infamously seceded from the Union in early 1861.
Fast forward four years later, and Union troops arrived in Texas in June of 1865. General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the rebellion, and President Lincoln had tragically been murdered. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln in 1863, had freed the slaves of the rebelling states. Texas, however, was far from the main battlefields of the Civil War, and so Union troops were unable to arrive there to enforce the Proclamation until over two years after its issuing. The Union general publicly announced the liberation of the slaves and the end of slavery in Texas and in effect, throughout the nation. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, slavery legally came to an end.
The scars of the Civil War and of slavery remain with us today. Slavery is one of those crimes against humanity that leaves a long, lasting scar. But Juneteenth and its increasing celebrations is a sign of hope for healing. It is a remarkable day in American history, seeing the end of the “original sin” of the nation and the taking of a massive step forward in America’s journey to becoming the nation she has always sought to be. There is a wonderfully Catholic element to it as well: as God moves His people from slavery to freedom in Scripture and in the Church, the end of slavery in America is a sign that there is good in the world after all, and that humanity does has the potential to accomplish so much good.
Let freedom ring.