A holiday that should be a national holiday.
A holiday that should actually replace July 4th- since all men were NOT free after the hyppocritical declaration of independence was signed.
I heard the Emancipation Proclamation read this morning and found the document to be a bit of legalize gibberish. Perhaps if the words were easier to relate to and understand by the common population, Abe Lincoln might have had an easier time relaying his message. In 1870, about 20% of the entire adult population was illiterate, and 80% of the black population was as well, so even if you had "heard" about Lincoln's proclamation, it was never a document that could be passed around and read by the people it was meant to free, and even if you were literate, there was a slim chance of understanding the contents of all the legal gibberish.
The Racist Asshole Trump has used the word "bad" 950 times in speeches since the beginning of this year. This is a word we teach to toddlers and dogs.
Just doing a quick thesaurus search, there are about 50 synonyms that can replace the word BAD- meaning something that is of poor quality, add another 22 synonyms if you mean BAD as something that is immoral or harmful. But yet the RAT does not use those words often, if ever at all in his limited vocabulary.
I looked at some "grown-up" words used in the Emancipation Proclamation to see if RAT had used any of them in his speeches this year. Here are a handful, never uttered by the manchild with a toddler's vocabulary:
to wit rebellion considerate henceforward respectively
countervailing suppressing accordance enjoin faithfully
garrison Emancipation
As an exercise- in reverse from the earlier game of RAT Edit. The following text takes the words of Abe Lincoln and makes it understandable to the RAT's fan base:
Jan 1,1863
An announcement by the president.
On September 22, 1862, I said that all slaves in the bad states fighting the good states are free forever. Everyone needs to know this, and if anyone tries to say otherwise, they are wrong and bad.
My name is Abraham Lincoln and as president I am telling you that all slaves are free, in the states of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, but some areas within those states can go on with business as usual so congress won't try to have me killed.
If you are free, please don't do anything violent unless its in self-defence, and from now on you should get paid for your hard work.
Now that you are free, you can join the army and use all the army stuff like guns and ships.
I'm telling you this because it's the will of God. This is what I am telling you today in Washington on January 1, 1963
Abe Lincoln
here is the actual document
January 1, 1863
A Transcription
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
No comments:
Post a Comment