Liberating the Black: Why the Civil War Wasn’t Enough (Part 3)

Abraham Lincoln knew there was only one way to correct the grievous, sinful injustice of slavery.

Furthermore, he knew it would likely require either a miracle from God or a war between brothers.

Perfecting the Union by Amending the Constitution

To “perfect the union” demanded first dealing with the issue, then healing the nation afterward. And that would require “we the people” to do something common in the 19th century: amend the U.S. Constitution. Ultimately, no law by Republicans would change things. After all, Democrats could easily write and pass new laws once they controlled the House and Senate.

The Supreme Court, similarly, could only give an opinion on the laws of the land. Unlike today, where most Americans view the S.C.O.T.U.S. as a “ruling” body that decides on law, in Lincoln’s day it was more Constitutional in nature. The Supreme Court had limiting powers, primarily to “check” the Executive and Legislative branches from unconstitutional laws and orders.

But the Supreme Court only gave its “opinion.” It did not “rule” or provide a “ruling.” In fact, until the 1960s, the term “ruling” was never used in relation to S.C.O.T.U.S. decisions. It was always “the opinion of the Court.”

“We the People”

It’s why in 1860, Lincoln and his Republicans knew (legally) the only way to fix the slavery issue was through amending the U.S. Constitution. “We the people” were the final say. However, amendments required passage by two-thirds of the states. That was an uphill challenge, which would demand Democratic support.

And that wouldn’t be easy in a Reconstructionist America.

The story did not end with the Thirteenth Amendment. Reconstructionist Republicans then pressed forward with several legislative moves that forever transformed America:

• The Fourteenth Amendment established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.
• The Fifteenth Amendment prohibited denying the vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
• Pro-Black Rights Republicans supported the Freedman’s Bureau, passed civil rights legislation, and empowered President Ulysses S. Grant to move against emerging Ku Klux Klan political intimidation and terrorism.

That last point matters. The Klan was not some vague ghost floating through American life. During Reconstruction, it functioned as a violent terrorist movement aimed at Black citizens and white Republicans who supported Reconstruction.

Yes, you read that right. The Ku Klux Klan and other pro-slavery advocates in the South and North alike didn’t just target Blacks.

They attacked, persecuted, captured, and lynched White Republicans too. And they did it under “hoods” that masked their true identities (as many were political rival Democrats).

Paying the Ultimate Price to Free Black America

This is also not taught in history classes, documentaries, or displays regarding the final liberation of Black America in post-Civil War culture.

According to the Tuskegee Institute’s thorough accounting of lynchings in the U.S., there were 4,743 LYNCHINGS between 1882-1968. Of that number, over a quarter (1,297) were White people (and likely Republicans). Between 1882 and 1903, an average of 52 Whites were lynched annually. But there’s something deeper behind thos statistics.

During the first decade, Tuskegee Institute compiled its record of lynchings (1882-1891), White lynchings outpaced BLACK, 751-732. It’s true. In the first four years (1882-1884), Whites were lynched at a nearly two-to-one pace (411-227).

Nobody talks about this reality.

Fear Factor: The Ku Klux Klan 

The purpose of the Ku Klux Klan was intimidation. The terror group wanted to stop Black voting, destroy Republican governments, and restore White Democratic control. President Grant and congressional Republicans ultimately responded with “Enforcement Acts” to shut them down, most notably, the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

This does not mean every Republican in every era was heroic, nor does it mean every Democrat in every era opposed civil rights. History is never that tidy. However, the racial issues in America for the next century were largely partisan.

By the mid-twentieth century, a few important Democrats helped pass major civil-rights legislation, including President Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But what is also true, and not widely reported, is that many of the fiercest opponents to Civil Rights, regardless of race or gender, were Democrats from the segregationist South and prejudiced North. Furthermore, Republicans were indispensable to the final passage of key civil-rights bills.

Even if they don’t get credit for it today.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was dead in the water without Republicans’ support.

In the Senate, 27 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted for final passage, while 6 Republicans and 21 Democrats voted against it. The six Republicans, led by presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, were not against the bill, as much as playing politics. They knew the bill would pass without their support, but preferred not to associate with Lyndon B. Johnson’s legislation during an election year.

In percentage terms, Republican support was stronger. More importantly, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL)–a tireless champion for Black civil rights–helped break the filibuster and deliver the votes needed to pass the bill.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

Similarly, the Voting Rights Act (1965) also demanded broad bipartisan support, with heavy Republican support. In the Senate, Republicans voted 30–2 in favor, while Democrats voted 47–17. The bill was introduced with the support of Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL).

That is the real story: not a cartoon of one perfect party and one wicked party, but a long record in which Republican Civil Rights Support was central, decisive, and too often forgotten.

Nor was the Republican civil-rights tradition limited to Black Americans. Republicans played major roles in women’s suffrage, Indian citizenship, anti-Klan enforcement, and Reconstruction-Era equal rights legislation.

The Indian Citizenship Act (1924)

Signed by Republican President Calvin Coolidge, this act granted U.S. citizenship to all Indians born in the United States, although some states continued to restrict Indian voting rights for decades. This allowed Coolidge’s successor, Herbert Hoover (Republican), to tap a Kaw Indian named Charles “Indian Charlie” Curtis to be his Vice President (1929-1933). Curtis is the first non-White to serve as Vice President. Kamala Harris would be the second, almost a century later.

The Nineteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, also passed through a political landscape in which Republican-controlled states and Republican lawmakers were crucial to ratification.

That wider record does not erase later failures, compromises, or hypocrisies in either party. But it does challenge the lazy modern myth that American civil-rights history can be reduced to today’s political stereotypes. It cannot. The record is deeper, stranger, and more interesting than that.

Which brings us back to June 19 and the Juneteenth holiday.

Juneteenth: American Freedom Day

While some disgruntled race-baiters wish to reduce Juneteenth to grievance, race politics, and partisan amnesia, it should be remembered as a “Freedom Day” rooted in these truths:

SLAVERY was evil.
ABOLITION was righteous.
CITIZENSHIP mattered.
EQUAL PROTECTION mattered.
VOTING RIGHTS mattered.
And FREEDOM had to be declared, defended, enforced, and written into law.

June 19 is a celebration of America at its best: ordered liberty, equal citizenship, constitutional government, moral courage, and the conviction that no person has the right to own another.

Yes, Juneteenth belongs to Black Americans who faithfully preserved its memory, but it also belongs to Union soldiers who enforced emancipation. It belongs to abolitionists who preached, wrote, organized, and prayed. It belongs to Lincoln’s Republican Party, which pushed slavery toward extinction. And it belongs to every American who still believes the Declaration of Independence was telling the truth.

On June 19, 1865, the truth finally reached Galveston, TX.

“ALL SLAVES ARE FREE.”

That is not merely Black history. That is American history.

And it is worth telling uncancelled.