Struggle Is A Never Ending Process

On July 3, 1863, the battle of Gettysburg culminated with Pickett’s charge. Lee ordered a major frontal assault on a well defended Union position. It was a big mistake because Pickett’s men were slaughtered. Pickett allegedly said after the disaster: “General Lee, I have no division.” The Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863 were a major turning point in the Civil War.

The top 1% in the Confederate States of America were traitors who hated the U.S. and who fought for an evil cause. They convinced tens of thousands of non-slaveowners to fight for them while many of the top 1% legally dodged the draft.

Confederate V.P. Alexander Stephens made it clear that the south seceded over slavery. Stephen proclaimed that the idea of the equality of the races was an “error.”

Stephens: “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

The Union victory in the Civil War led to freedom for the slaves and ultimately voting rights for African-Americans. Those gains are now under assault by a radicalized GOP. As Coretta Scott King said: “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it in every generation.” Let’s remember that message and insist that the U.S. live up to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence.