‘…It is not just that
that day’s four million slaves were freed; their progeny, otherwise destined to
be slaves themselves, were freed. And it is not just that the slaves current
and future were freed; their white masters were freed from the incubus of
slavery. The rest of the American population was freed from it. An institution
which was radically unjust in its very essence was overcome. It is not only
that a certain number of living Southerners were “held” in the Union; the
principle of the American Union was defended, and not only defended but given a
deep redefinition, now with equality at the center alongside freedom.’
- William Lee Miller
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