Juneteenth

Due to recent events, you likely now know what Juneteenth is. However, the so-called famous individual taking credit for the rise in knowledge is by no means anywhere related or important, and is in fact constantly working against the spirit behind the celebration. However, even though it's been an official holiday in Texas for many years now, it is only now being put up into more commonplace country wise. So, many people who did not previously know about Juneteenth are now left with the question of what exactly is the day supposed to represent? Firstly, Juneteenth is another name for Jubilation Day, which is an alternative way of stating Emancipation Day. The 19th of June is important because it was the day, two months after the end of Civil War, when the last group of slaves were informed of their new freedom.

Since then, it has been a celebrated occasion, sometimes referred to as the Black Fourth of July. It is well deserving of that title, being just as important of a day for the history involved. It's yet another way of preserving history in a light that both lets you move on and remember the history that is not a physical form like statues. As much as like most other holidays, it's popularity has waned and waxed over the years, it's still a very important date that deserves all the recognition it's getting now, and I am very glad to see the progression of views on it.

Adventure Van, signing out.

The Magna Carta

Hey guys! Adventure Van here with a blog about the Magna Carta, also known as the Magna Carta Libertatum, is a collection of rights forged from the 1200s in a balancing effort to stop the Barons from revolting against the King. It is made of 63 charters (although it was originally one large block of text, separated by historians at a later date.) It guarantees the rights of the Barons from multiple insurgences on their persons, from reducing taxes to denying the King the right to wrongfully imprison them. It might also be noted that the effort did not work, instead letting the tensions rise until the First Baron's War was reached.

What did the Magna Carta entail? It is often cited as one of the sources for the US constitution, with many separate groups writing their own charters before they were all unified. However, even in Britain, the actual Manga Carta holds little to no legal weight, having been changed, repealed and refined to the point the original document means nothing to the legal system anywhere. Surprisingly, New Zealand is one of the closest places to having the Magna Carta have standing there, clause 29 of it actually being law. It's been mentioned many times over history, however.

The Magna Carta often is used as the people's arguments against monarchies and kings, despite originally being written as an attempt to balance the power of two separate ruling classes. Over the years, we've seen it used as an attempt to tone down the powers that be instead of removing them directly, except in extreme circumstances. It is a list of rights for those who were already in power and wanted to secure it, and it did not even work in stomaching the crisis that caused it to be written in the first place. The ideas on it, while powerful for their time, have slowly faded away as all historical documents do, and need to either be added upon and reinforced or let go of.

Adventure Van, signing out.