Jon Kyl: “it is every citizen's duty to know American history. One fact we must reckon with is that our experiment in self…”

“it is every citizen's duty to know American history. One fact we must reckon with is that our experiment in self- government began in a compromise with the existence of slavery. As the American experiment went forward, protections granted to slavery in the Constitution--a document that never explicitly mentioned slavery--were dismantled. The cost was great: Brother fought against brother in the Civil War, largely over whether ``the peculiar institution'' would be allowed to thrive in the United States. When, at the end of that terrible conflict, the 13th amendment was put in the Constitution, slavery was abolished. Yet while a pernicious institution was now, thankfully, illegal, its aftereffects were still felt in the former slave States. Postwar reconstruction was supposed to restore the natural and the civil rights of the former slaves and their descendents; but State and local authorities did not enforce those rights. The lynching of African Americans, and other forms of persecution, would persist into the 20th century, to the shame of every decent citizen. Candidly facing this history is important. We must not forget the wrongs of the past--nor that we have had leaders willing to come forward and stand against those wrongs.…”