A significant "Liberation Day" (Feb. 1) -- Anniversary of 1865 resolution that led to 13th Amendment by Lincoln

from "Why is February 1 designated as National Freedom Day?" [ http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/01/why-is-feb-1-designated-as-national-freedom-day/ ] _____________________________ It was on Feb. 1, 1865, that President Abraham Lincoln signed a joint congressional resolution proposing a 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would abolish slavery. But any good civics student knows that the process for amending the Constitution was by no means complete. Congress (not the president) sends amendments to the states for ratification, and the states must finalize any proposed changes. The requisite number of states did not ratify the 13th Amendment until Dec. 6, 1865, an event that set off an explosion of celebrations in the North. John Greenleaf Whittier’s once-famous poem “Laos Deo!” immortalized the spirit of the times: “IT is done! / Clang of bell and roar of gun / Send the tidings up and down …. / Fling the joy from town to town!” Lincoln himself appeared to acknowledge the special nature of Feb. 1 when he placed an otherwise superfluous signature on the joint resolution. He had called the proposed amendment “a king’s cure” to the challenge of ending slavery and clearly wanted to bear witness to the transformation that was being wrought by the bloody Civil War. Though he did not live to see ratification, Lincoln’s contributions as military emancipator and advocate for constitutional abolition deserve commemoration.