In honor and celebration of the removal of the Confederate flag from public buildings, tonight I re-watched the movie, Lincoln, with Daniel Day-Lewis in the leading role. Repeatedly through the debates in the House of Representatives, rancor included the concern and voiced projections that if slavery were abolished with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, then other rights to blacks would be necessary. If that, then rights to women such as the vote would, in time, follow suit. And, of course, these issues of inequality did come before Congress and the Supreme Court. And yes, in time, equality has legally be instituted to the variously infranchised in the United States.

Thus, due to the movie, I realized that two legal findings of this week were being celebrated: the removal of the Confederate flag and it as the symbol of segregation that it is, and the acknowledgement that marriage is a right to those who seek to marry. Wedlock is not described constitutionally as being the union of a man and woman. As a result, same sex marriage was upheld by the Federal Supreme Court this week.

In the early 1860’s, debate raged in the House of Representatives over the 13th Amendment that sought to abolish slavery in the United States of America. If approved it would, in one fell swoop, free 400,000 slaves and remove the reason for the continuation of the slaughter of the Civil War. But, interestingly, the arguments for non-ratification were split between those who vowed white supremacy and those who feared the inevitable roll-out of future equalities that would necessarily result from the second half of the Emancipation Proclamation: the abolition of slavery by Constitutional amendment.

They were right about the future. Thank goodness so.

I hope you will re-watch Lincoln with Daniel Day-Lewis.