An autocracy

 

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Following its ratification by the requisite three-quarters of the states earlier in the month, the 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Before the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and other leaders of the anti-slavery Republican Party sought not to abolish slavery but merely to stop its extension into new territories and states in the American West. This policy was unacceptable to most Southern politicians, who believed that the growth of free states would turn the U.S. power structure irrevocably against them.

In November 1860, Lincoln’s election as president signaled the secession of seven Southern states and the formation of the Confederate States of America. Shortly after his inauguration in 1861, the Civil War began. Four more Southern states joined the Confederacy, while four border slave states in the upper South remained in the Union.

Lincoln, though he privately detested slavery, responded cautiously to the call by abolitionists for emancipation of all enslaved Americans after the outbreak of the Civil War. As the war dragged on, however, the Republican-dominated federal government began to realize the strategic advantages of emancipation: The liberation of enslaved people would weaken the Confederacy by depriving it of a major portion of its labor force, which would in turn strengthen the Union by producing an influx of manpower. With 11 Southern states seceded from the Union, there were few pro-slavery congressmen to stand in the way of such an action.

On December 2, 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the 13th Amendment, thus giving it the requisite three-fourths majority of states’ approval necessary to make it the law of the land. Congress required former Confederate state to ratify the amendment as a condition for re-admission into the Union.

On December 18, the 13th Amendment was officially adopted into the Constitution—246 years after the first shipload of captive Africans landed at Jamestown, Virginia, and were bought as enslaved workers.

Slavery’s legacy and efforts to overcome it have remained central issues in U.S. society and politics, particularly during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s.

For the complete article, history.com

On International Migrants Day (18 December 2023), we reflect on and celebrate the contributions of millions of migrants worldwide.

People on the move are powerful drivers for development in both their origin and destination countries, as workers, students, entrepreneurs, family members, artists, and much more. Migrants often maintain strong connections to their home countries while embracing their new communities, where they bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and skill.

If managed well, mobility can be a cornerstone of sustainable development, prosperity and progress. Unlocking migration’s potential is key to accelerating efforts to meet the significant challenges of the 2030 Agenda articulated during the Sustainable Development Goal summit in New York in September 2023, for the benefit of all.

There is an urgent need for the international community to provide people-centred and evidence-based solutions for people to remain in their communities, and for those who want to or must move.

The recently completed COP28 summit in Dubai provided the opportunity for IOM to advocate again for the impact of climate change on migrants to be a central part of this discussion. Promoting equal and inclusive partnerships with migrants, women, persons with disabilities and communities, while emphasizing the role of youth, is now more critical than ever.

On this International Migrants Day, IOM aims to position migration as one of the solutions to global challenges, such as adapting to the impacts of climate change or providing better economic opportunities for communities.

https://watch.historyvault.com/specials/desperate-crossing-the-untold-story-of-the-mayflower

Painting by Isaac Claesz Van Swanenburg of workers in Leiden’s wool industry

On December 18, 1620, the English ship Mayflower docks at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepare to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.

The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a decent living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America. On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers–dubbed Pilgrims by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony—crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World.