What is slavery? by David Barton
Another interesting anecdote about President Lincoln involved a Mrs. Carolyn Johnson of Philadelphia, the African American president of an organization to help soldiers. Mrs. Johnson, who had been a slave, wanted to make a gift and give it to President Lincoln for what he had done for black Americans. A Quaker friend of hers wrote a letter introducing Mrs. Johnson to President Lincoln, who agreed to meet with her. When Mrs. Johnson went to meet the President, she brought her Baptist minister with her because she was terrified to speak for fear of embarrassing herself. Her minister spoke with the President and then turned to Mrs. Johnson and asked if she had anything to say. According to Mrs. Johnson’s own account:
I had not a word to say and I cast my eyes upon the floor, when the fire began to burn within me and I tell you it was the Spirit. I looked up and said, “Mr. President, I believe God has hewn you out of the rock for this great and mighty purpose; so many have been led away by bribes, by silver, and gold, but you have stood firm because God was with you and He will be with you if you are faithful unto the end.” To which the President replied, “You must give God the praise, and not man.”
Mrs. Johnson then presented President Lincoln a magnificent basket of wax fruit that she personally had made for him. Returning to 1865, while there were numerous celebrations by black Americans and others at the end of the Civil War, even before the war had come to an end, a vote had been held in Congress on the constitutional amendment to abolish slavery the 13th Amendment. Congress passed that Amendment and a poster was quickly issued to honor the 137 members of Congress who had voted to end slavery. At the time of the vote, there were 118 Republicans in Congress and 82 northern Democrats. Of the 118 Republicans, all 118 voted to abolish slavery; of the 82 Democrats, only 19 voted to end slavery only 23 percent of Democrats and those were the northern Democrats!
When the vote was taken in Congress on the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, the chambers were packed from wall to wall with expectant observers. After the numbers were counted and it was announced that the amendment had passed, a roar erupted from the celebrating the passage of the thirteenth amendment and the end of slavery thousands in the chamber; hats were thrown and voices were raised in exuberant cheers. Congress had voted to end slavery! How something that profound should be celebrated?
Members of the House asked that a sermon be preached to commemorate the event. And whom did they ask to preach the sermon? The Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, who became the first African American to speak in the halls of Congress.
Rev. Garnet preached his sermon on Sunday, February 12, 1865, and it was powerful. His discourse began with a recollection of his own personal experiences: What is slavery? Too well do I know what it is? I was born among the cherished institutions of slavery. My earliest recollections of parents, friends, and the home of my childhood are clouded with its wrongs. The first sight that met my eyes was my Christian mother enslaved. Rev. Henry Garnet Rev. Garnet’s sermon Garnet then reviewed the prominent historical leaders of both church and state who had strongly opposed slavery:
Augustine, Constantine, Ignatius, Polycarp, Maximus, and the most illustrious lights of the ancient church denounced the sin of slaveholding. Thomas Jefferson said – at a period of his life when his judgment was matured and his experience was ripe – “There is preparing, I hope, under the auspices of heaven, a way for a total emancipation.” The sainted Washington said, near the close of his mortal career and when the light of eternity was beaming upon him, “It is among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country shall be abolished by law. I know of but one way by which this can be done, and that is by legislative action; and so far as my vote can go, it shall not be wanting.” Patrick Henry said, “We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.” So also thought this Congress.
David Barton – The church I came from had an organ valued at 1.2 million dollars. The church had a 500 voice choir, a 6,000 seat worship center.