Political Quotes

“H.R. 2449 would establish a Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Commission to cooperate with and assist States and national organizations with programs and activities to ensure a suitable national observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and to educate Americans about the significance of the war in our national history. With the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the Civil War became a war to save the Union and to abolish slavery. The war resulted in the loss of 620,000 lives, the liberation of 4 million slaves, and the ratification of three constitutional amendments that changed the way we define freedom and democracy in this country. Frederick Douglass moved many free and runaway slaves to enlist in the Union Army and to fight for their freedom when he said, 'Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, there is no power on Earth can deny that he has earned the right for citizenship in the United States.'”