National Freedom Day is a United States observance on 1 February. | Image Source: https://nationaltoday.com
National Freedom Day is a United States observance on 1 February. President Abraham Lincoln signed a joint House/Senate resolution on this day that later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He signed the slave-abolition amendment on 1 February 1865. It ended slavery in the U.S.
History of National Freedom Day
The Declaration of Independence was adopted on 4 July 1776 with Thomas Jefferson’s words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.
Further, in December 1791, the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution, is ratified – guaranteeing individual liberties and civil rights.
Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution on 1 February 1865. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. While he was president, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, boosted the federal government, and modernized the economy.
Major Richard Robert Wright Sr., born into slavery and freed after the Civil War, thought there should be a day when Americans celebrate freedom. Wright invited national and local leaders to meet in Philadelphia in order to make plans to designate 1 February as an annual memorial to the signing of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by President Abraham Lincoln on this date.
One year after Wright’s death in 1947, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a bill to make 1 February National Freedom Day. The holiday proclamation was signed into law on 30 June 1948, by President Harry Truman.
Read Also: India and IRENA Strengthen Ties as Country Plans Major Renewables and Hydrogen Push