Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. – Colossians 3:20
After Abraham Lincoln became president, Virginia and 10 other southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy. After the four-year-long Civil War, the era of Reconstruction began and Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts during 1867 and 1868. In order for the formerly Confederate states to rejoin the Union, they were required to ratify the 14th and 15th Amendments, giving national citizenship to former slaves and granting Black men the right to vote, respectively. Virginia had initially rejected the ratification of the 14th Amendment but, two years later, decided to adopt the requirements of the Reconstruction Acts. On this day in 1870, five years after the Civil War ended, the state of Virginia was readmitted to the Union, upon accepting and implementing the 14th and 15th Amendments.
As the Lord leads, pray with us…
- For discernment for the Cabinet secretaries as they implement the president’s policies and programs.
- For state governors and legislatures as they work to represent their citizens and address their regional needs.
