Documents Behind Our Holidays
D2.His.10.K-2
Read each document or text, then answer the questions.
General Order No. 3
From General Order No. 3, read by Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. June 19 is remembered as Juneteenth, a federal holiday since 2021. The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.
- 1. Did the order say that freed people and former masters had equal rights?
- 2. What does the order say about all slaves?
- 3. Where was the order read, and on what date?
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
From a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863, during the Civil War. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
- 1. Which day did Lincoln ask people to set apart?
- 2. Was the day meant only for people at home? How do you know?
- 3. Who wrote this proclamation, and when?
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