FEBRUARY 1, 1865:
Abraham Lincoln signs
the 13th Amendment. In 1949 President Harry S. Truman of
Independence, Missouri, designates February 1st as “National Freedom
Day” in Proclamation 2824:
Whereas, near the end of
the tragic conflict between the Northern and Southern States, the Congress
adopted a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution which
would outlaw slavery in the United States and in every place subject to its
jurisdiction; and
Whereas the resolution
was signed by President Lincoln on February 1, 1865, and thereafter led to the
adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution; and
Whereas that Amendment
is a corner stone in the foundation of our American traditions, and the signing
of the resolution is a landmark in the Nation's effort to fulfill the
principles of freedom and justice proclaimed in the first ten amendments to the
Constitution; and
Whereas, by a joint
resolution approved June 30, 1948 (62 Stat. 1150), the Congress authorized the
President to proclaim the first day of February of each year as National
Freedom Day in commemoration of the signing of the resolution of February 1,
1865; and
Whereas the Government
and people of the United States wholeheartedly support the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights approved by the General Assembly of the United
Nations on December 10, 1948, which declares that "recognition of the
inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world":
Now, Therefore, I, Harry
S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate
February 1, 1949, and each succeeding February 1, as national Freedom Day; and
I call upon the people of the United States to pause on that day in solemn
contemplation of the glorious blessings of freedom which we humbly and
thankfully enjoy.
In Witness Whereof, I
have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America
to be affixed.
Done at the City of
Washington this 25th day of January in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred
and forty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one
hundred and seventy-third.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
By the President:
DEAN ACHESON,
Secretary of State.
The leading Abolitionist
Senator Charles Sumner motions the U.S. Supreme Court to admit Dr. John S. Rock
(1825-1866) as the first African American to practice before the bar of the
High Court. Rock was a northern-born black who held both medical and law
degrees. Rock’s declining health prevented him from fully exercising this
hallmark privilege. He died of tuberculosis in December 1866.
