What keeps you from being a slave, right here, right now? Law, U.S. law, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that says in part: “… slavery shall not exist in the United States….”
Why is there a 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? There was this war. The Civil War that produced the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederacy. To make this concept the law of the land, soon after the war ended, the 13th Amendment was ratified, Dec. 6, 1865. It freed all slaves for it made slavery illegal.
Take away the losers’ monuments, Lee and the others, the winners’ monuments, Lincoln, Jefferson, etc., and of course that cumbersome U.S. Constitution, what’s left?
Without law nothing protects the weak, or even the strong except their strength. The U.S. Constitution keeps us free and the nation sane. Freedom is spelled out in its law, our law.
The strength of your arm and the speed of your feet might keep you free until you get tired, more tired, exhausted and fall over, but why would “They” be chasing you anyway? Why not? With no law the whim of the moment rules the heart, and the hand.
Does that monument to Lee and his cronies look better now? No! If you understood the integrity of General Lee …, but you don’t. Even so, the monument proves that you’re free because of who won and who lost the Civil War.
Erasing history is destroying blood-bought rights, customs, and law. If lost, how can they be restored?
All American war memorials testify: “We are a free people. And we like it that way!” Bad people lie all of the time, to keep in practice. Who told you destroying the proof of our freedom was a good idea?
The U.S. Constitution is our freedom. Why think it’s bad? The Civil War monuments prove we are all equal under the law. Why think that’s bad?
Jim Gardner
Tyrone, Ga.
