“There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.”
With that simple sentence in the Northwest Ordinance, adopted 233 years ago today, slavery was outlawed in a territory the size of the original 13 colonies. A year later, that territory would be settled permanently by the pioneers of the Ohio Company at Marietta, Ohio.
That same summer, the founders were debating the compromise that would embed slavery in the Constitution, creating an irrepressible conflict between freedom and servitude.
Half a century later, when Abraham Lincoln stated his belief that the “government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free,” he was summarizing a conflict between the Northwest Ordinance and the Constitution going back to the very establishment of the republic.
The constitutional conflict was resolved by the Civil War. The remaining legal impediments to equality were only addressed later, in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when our nation confronted and repaired the odious racism of slavery, Jim Crow, and separate but equal.
It’s an American success story. But some media personalities and liberal political activists seek to deny that progress and, instead, divide our country.
Right after we joined together to fight a deadly pandemic, strident voices took to the streets to protest — some peacefully and far too many with violence. Too many of our fellow citizens burn with the angry passion of politics, and too few truly understand the lessons of America’s history. This problem is at the heart of why we’re divided.
Textbooks have shifted students away from learning about our admittedly imperfect past. Facts have been replaced with feelings. The sites of great American triumphs see declining visits every year. We’ve lost a sense of who we are and where we’ve been. No wonder so many of us worry about where we’re going.
Jay Leno used to illustrate this concern when he was host of “The Tonight Show,” back when late-night television was actually about comedy rather than heavy-handed political hackery. Through his regular “Jaywalking” segment, Leno asked random people on the street simple history questions. Most were caught not knowing the answers. It was funny then, but it should have been a warning to us.
Consider the situation in Boston, where in the recent protests, criminals defaced the monument to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first black regiment to serve during the Civil War. Vandals posing as people concerned with racial equity tried to destroy this monument honoring these heroes who had helped end slavery.
To really unify our country, we must pause and consider our history to provide context for our current national dialogue. We need to step out from behind our keyboards and learn more of the nuance of our shared heritage.
Every day seems to bring a new story of some statue tumbled to the ground. The delegate for Washington, D.C., in the House has introduced legislation to remove the Emancipation Proclamation Monument in Lincoln Park. The statue depicts an African American kneeling and looking upward into the distance as Lincoln, the “Great Emancipator,” beckons him to rise.
It’s been criticized for its portrayal of the former slave as subservient. But that criticism shows a lack of understanding of the statue’s imagery. The former slave is unshackled, ready to rise, and looking toward the future. It also shows a lack of understanding of the origins of the statue. An ex-slave, Charlotte Scott, from my hometown of Marietta, Ohio, was the one who gathered her life’s savings to donate the first $5 to an effort fully funded by citizens who had been declared free by the Emancipation Proclamation.
With that context, it becomes clear — this isn’t a statue that should be torn down. In fact, it should be a must-see for every family trip to Washington. It represents freedom, progress, and healing. Through the statue, we can see today what is obvious in hindsight — we could never be a truly united country with slavery. We can see in the Emancipation Proclamation that the bloody Civil War was worth the sacrifice.
We can also see that the job wasn’t done. We can reflect upon the negative consequences of Jim Crow laws. We can move down the National Mall to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to learn of the struggles and successes of the civil rights movement.
And then, we can have a discussion about what is left to be done to ensure freedom, liberty, and justice for every person. That’s where we must arrive in order to affirm the vision embodied in the Northwest Ordinance. That will make us a united people in these United States.
Congressman Bill Johnson represents Eastern and Southeastern Ohio, including the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
