Gavel Gamut

By Jim Redwine

(Week of 06 July 2015)

EMANCIPATION

Every year of my public education my classmates and I received instruction in American history. The themes were perforce the same for twelve years. 1492 was usually the date given for our “discovery”; 1776 was our birthday; and 1861 – 1865 was when we became the United States.
Within these last four years many lessons were taught of war and freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation, preliminarily issued September 22, 1862 and officially declared January 1, 1863, was said to, “free the slaves”. Of course, it only freed those in bondage in states of the Confederacy.
Still it was an act of great courage and good will. And Posey County’s own Robert Dale Owen was influential in its creation. On September 19, 1862 Owen’s friend, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, directly gave President Lincoln a letter from Owen that called for emancipating all those in bondage wherever they were in America.
Robert Dale Owen had served two terms in Congress, 1843 – 1847, and was leaving Congress as Abraham Lincoln was starting his only term, 1847 – 1849. While Owen knew Lincoln, he feared his call for radical reform would fail without Chase’s help.
Today we have a former member of Congress from Illinois serving as president during times of great challenges and opportunity. President Obama’s unlikely election and re-election are similar to the odds Lincoln faced.
However, President Obama’s poll numbers are rising as he completes his last term. Perhaps he will seize the opportunity to go boldly where Lincoln led the way and call for equality for our current pariahs.
It seems every age must have its whipping boy and ours are Muslims, Arabs and Persians. After freeing Blacks, Indians, Jews, Catholics, women, Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans, Japanese, homosexuals and Hispanics, it is time to emancipate our current nemesis and, perhaps, derive the same great benefits for ourselves we received when freedom and equality was afforded to these other groups.

Every year of my public education my classmates and I received instruction in American history. The themes were perforce the same for twelve years. 1492 was usually the date given for our “discovery”; 1776 was our birthday; and 1861 – 1865 was when we became the United States.

Within these last four years many lessons were taught of war and freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation, preliminarily issued September 22, 1862 and officially declared January 1, 1863, was said to, “free the slaves”. Of course, it only freed those in bondage in states of the Confederacy.

Still it was an act of great courage and good will. And Posey County’s own Robert Dale Owen was influential in its creation. On September 19, 1862 Owen’s friend, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, directly gave President Lincoln a letter from Owen that called for emancipating all those in bondage wherever they were in America.

Robert Dale Owen had served two terms in Congress, 1843 – 1847, and was leaving Congress as Abraham Lincoln was starting his only term, 1847 – 1849. While Owen knew Lincoln, he feared his call for radical reform would fail without Chase’s help.

Today we have a former member of Congress from Illinois serving as president during times of great challenges and opportunity. President Obama’s unlikely election and re-election are similar to the odds Lincoln faced.

However, President Obama’s poll numbers are rising as he completes his last term. Perhaps he will seize the opportunity to go boldly where Lincoln led the way and call for equality for our current pariahs.

It seems every age must have its whipping boy and ours are Muslims, Arabs and Persians. After freeing Blacks, Indians, Jews, Catholics, women, Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans, Japanese, homosexuals and Hispanics, it is time to emancipate our current nemesis and, perhaps, derive the same great benefits for ourselves we received when freedom and equality was afforded to these other groups.