Juneteenth is an Ignorant Holiday

Juneteenth is the most ignorant holiday. Slavery had ended in the South but it was still legal in Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware for another half a year.

Northern companies still benefited from and owned slaves they were just located in the Caribbean.

In 1859 alone, one year before SC secede, there were 85 slave ships outfitted from NY harbor to bring more slaves to Cuba to work the sugar plantations. Major Wall Street banks and insurance companies—the predecessors to modern-day firms like New York Life and JPMorgan Chase—financed the voyages. Northern refineries in New York and Boston still processed the slave-grown raw sugar and molasses imported from Cuba. The Lyons–Seward Treaty with Great Britain that finally put an end to that was because of the pressure from Britain who had been policing slavery globally.

This was because that war was never about slavery. Slavery was something that happened to be getting phased out because wage labor was actually cheaper and had a better ROI. But that is like acting like the Vietnam War was fought to gain Civil Rights in the US because the two things have some time overlap.

It is not as if the South was reacting to some attempt by the federal government to end slavery so they seceded. No federal attempt was even made before the war to abolish it. In fact, the opposite happened. The North introduced a constitutional amendment protecting slavery forever. And with Ohio and Maryland already on board the South would have had the votes to ratify it.

But in order to vote on it states would need to remain in the Union. The South seceded anyway because slavery was never why they left. Lincoln personally wrote the governors of each state encouraging them to adopt it. You had 25% of the population paying 80% of the taxes and then Lincoln raised the tax some more. That is why they left. They went to war because Lincoln invaded them.

During the war the first and second attempts to pass what's now the 13th amendment failed because northern state representatives either abstained or voted against it!

Four Northern states voted against ratifying it again when it did finally pass showing they too were never fighting to end slavery. It was this 13th amendment that finally ended slavery in Dec 1865, yet New Jersey held out until January 1866. So really we should have Janteenth.

The black slaves were replaced by free prison labor and the coolie trade rebranded as Chinese immigrants who all happened to work on the building the Northern railroads, just like the African prisoner chain gangs.

And in going west the Yankees committed genocide on the Indians. The main reason ending slavery was supported was because white people didn’t want to live among blacks in the new western territories. And Yankee states didn’t want to increase their populations of black either. Tghere is a reason the under ground railroad ended in Canada.

Before being shot Lincoln had stated "bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races." He remarked: "I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality"

And when he set free slaves in DC he offered then money to resettle outside the country. Lincoln had also explicitly stated: "The whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these territories. We want them for homes of free white people. This they cannot be, to any considerable extent, if slavery be planted within them." -Peoria Speech 1854 And lasty he said

So do not give me this crap about Juneteenth.