Imagine being kidnapped or sold into captivity, forced into submission through violent beatings, torture, and intimidation, sold on the auction block to the highest bidder, and being forced to work for free under the most cruel conditions. And imagine that it is all perfectly legal. This was the reality for blacks who endured the horrific institution of enslavement in our nation’s early years. For enslaved blacks, it was more than being forced to work without compensation, but a way of life.
It’s 1861, and the American Civil War has just begun, with Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. The northern States are excelling in manufacture, while the southern States, based on a system of large-scale farming, depend on the labor of African-American slaves to grow their crops. Growing abolitionist sentiment in the North after the 1830s and northern opposition to slavery’s extension into the new western territories, led many southerners to fear that the existence of slavery in America was in danger.1
On November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President. It was a result that outraged the southern states. The Republican party had run on an anti-slavery platform, which led the southerners to believe that they were not welcome in the Union. One month later, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first southern state to secede.2 As tensions grew stronger against Lincoln, by February 1, 1861, six more states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—had seceded from the Union. These states formed the Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis, a Mississippi Senator, as their provisional president.
Lincoln felt it his duty as president to maintain the Union. Doing so, he never committed to the ending of slavery or getting rid of the Fugitive Slave Law. However, Lincoln’s comments were not enough to satisfy the Confederacy. This lead them to attack on April 12, 1861 Fort Sumter in South Carolina, which began the Civil War. To keep the Union together, Lincoln insisted that the war was not about slavery, but about preserving the Union. His words were not aimed at the southern states; however, the majority of northern white farmers were not interested in fighting for the freedom of southern slaves, nor give any African Americans any rights.3
Because there was no consistent policy regarding fugitives once the war began, the government had a difficult time deciding what to do with escaped slaves. This led to individual military commanders making their own decisions regarding the thousands of slaves seeking the protection of the Union army. On August 6, 1861, a solution was established, that fugitive slaves would be considered “contraband of war” if their labor had been used to aid the Confederacy in any way. If any were found to be in contraband, they were declared to be free, and subject to the protection of the Union army. Although the contraband slaves were declared free, Lincoln insisted that the purpose of the war was still to save the Union, not to free slaves.4 The occasion for changing this stance came about as a result of the Battle of Antietam.
The battle had taken place near Antietam Creek in Sharpsbug, Maryland. On September 16, 1862, the Confederate Army and the Union Army both contributed to the bloodiest day in American history, with 23,000 casualties. No other single day in American history before or since has been so deadly. Nearly one out of every four soldiers engaged was a casualty: killed, wounded, or captured. The violent fighting would be remembered by many who were there as the most intense of the war. Until the Battle of Antietam, the Confederate army had been focusing on a defense strategy. The majority of their major battles had all been fought on Southern soil. However, after the achievement of the Second Battle of Bull Run, General Lee had decided that it was the appropriate time to start focusing more on their offense than defense. It was September 3, 1862, when the Confederate army, led by General Robert E. Lee, entered the state of Maryland. Their hope was to invade the north all the way to Pennsylvania. Both General Lee and Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, believed that a successful invasion would convince France and Great Britain to officially recognize the Confederacy as a nation, and perhaps even enter the war on their behalf. The Union held off the invasion of the Confederacy at Antietam, although President Abraham Lincoln was not satisfied that the Confederates were able to retreat back to Virginia. However, the battle was declared a Union victory and Lincoln followed the battle with the Emancipation Proclamation, which officially made slavery a second cause of the war.5
On July 22, 1862, Lincoln read a draft of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. On this document, it announced “…that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”6 Secretary of State William H. Seward was on board with Lincoln, but persuaded him to wait until the Union had had a victory before issuing the document. After the Union victoriously won the Battle of Antietam, it was time for Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It warned the Confederate states to quit the war and surrender by January 1, 1863, or their slaves would be proclaimed freed. Lincoln was giving the South a choice: end the war now and keep your slaves, or keep fighting and risk losing the war and the institution of slavery. However, many argued that the proclamation didn’t actually free any slaves or destroy the institution of slavery itself—it still only applied to states in active rebellion, not to the slave-holding border states or to rebel areas already under Union control. In reality, it simply freed Union army officers from returning runaway slaves to their owners under the national Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Despite all opposition, Lincoln was firm and officially pronounced the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.”That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”7 Those words were issued by Abraham Lincoln on the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. In the midst of the struggle, Lincoln drafted his Emancipation Proclamation, calling for the freedom of the slaves. Months later, in November, he delivered his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. This speech summed up the principles for which the federal government still fought to preserve the Union.8
The purpose of the Civil War changed during the war. The North was not only fighting to maintain the Union, as it had at the beginning of the war, but it was also fighting to end slavery. African Americans rushed to enlist, once the proclamation was established. The Union army eventually consisted of over 179,000 African-American men that served in over 160 units. The 179,000 men both included free African Americans from the North and runaway slaves from the South who enlisted to fight. Even though there had been African Americans who had served in the army and navy during the American Revolution and in the War of 1812, none were able to enlist due to a 1792 law that stripped them from bearing arms in the U.S. Army. President Abraham Lincoln also had concerns over accepting African American men into the military, too. Doing so might persuade border states like Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri to secede. Black soldiers faced discrimination as well as segregation into “Black” units, and some only earned $7 per month, plus a $3 clothing allowance, while white soldiers commissioned $13 per month, plus $3.50 for clothes.9
On April 18, 1865, the Civil War ended. The Confederate army surrendered to the Union army. Approximately 620,000 Americans died in the four-year war, with tens of thousands injured. In January 1865, a new chapter in American History opened as the 13th Amendment was passed, which officially abolished slavery in the United States and freed more than four million African Americans. More importantly, the 14th Amendment was passed in June 1865, which granted citizenship to all people born in the United States, and for the first time, granted citizenship to all former slaves. In 1869, the 15th Amendment was passed, which guaranteed the right for any American male citizen to vote no matter what their race. The Civil War was a significant event in United States history. It showed that the North’s victory proved that democracy worked. Also it was a huge step for the African-American people, to fight for what they deserved…freedom.
- “The Emancipation Proclamation,” Emancipation Proclamation (Primary Source Document) (August 2017): 1. ↵
- Brian Lamb and Susan Swain, Abraham Lincoln Great American Historians on our Sixteenth President (New York: Public Affairs, 2008), 56-61. ↵
- Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: the end of slavery in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 90-100. ↵
- Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: the end of slavery in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 159. ↵
- James M. McPherson, Crossroads of freedom: Antietam (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 68-72. ↵
- “The Emancipation Proclamation,” Emancipation Proclamation (Primary Source Document). ↵
- “The Emancipation Proclamation,” Emancipation Proclamation (Primary Source Document). ↵
- Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2015, s.v. “Abraham Lincoln,” by Joseph E. Suppiger. ↵
- Brian Lamb and Susan Swain, Abraham Lincoln Great American Historians on our Sixteenth President (New York: Public Affairs, 2008), 74-75. ↵
56 comments
Jacob Johnson
Very compelling intro and a very strong conclusion, well done. I must say I am a little surprised on how President Lincoln had handled the situation of slavery and his stance on the issue; however I can’t say that I can entirely blame him given the overall American society at the time. Overall I think Lincoln did a truly great job as president, in that he knew that a major goal (abolishing slavery) needed to be addressed to the public in a way that would cause the least amount of conflict. Lincoln may not have been perfect, but considering that he brought a solution to a very controversial issue of his time, in which put an end to a horrible and immoral practice, while successfully addressing it in the most delicate way possible during a time of turmoil makes him one of our greatest presidents, yet.
Benjamin Arreguin
The civil war highlighted what Americans wanted for centuries, and Abraham Lincoln was the voice of reason and distribution of the peoples’ voice. Every African American person was represented by what he stood for, and his representation for them shook the world. Lincoln represented what we as Americans knew what was right, but only voiced it where it mattered, and is still respected to this day for what he was willing to sacrifice for the American right to the pursuit of happiness.
Isaac Saenz
This article was extremely informative and offers the “truth” of the Civil War and the motives behind it. Although Lincoln had no intention of abolishing slavery, in the end it was the only answer to the United States being what it is today, a country of freedom. However, I think that preserving the Union above all else was vital because a nation split against each other can never create efficient progress. Just thinking about the US as two individual countries with separate laws and policies is quite interesting as well as a little frightening.
Austin Pena
Great article! The amount of detail you put into it made it an interesting and enlightening read. Mentioning that Lincoln originally wanted to maintain the Union and was not totally focus on abolishing slavery was a great detail to add. I feel like many people are under the misconception that Lincoln and the North were all for ending slavery, but it seems like that was just a back up plan if he was unable to keep the United States together as one.
Erin Vento
I like this article because of the amount of detail that you included. I really think that some of the common misconceptions about the Civil War are that people think the Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery from the beginning and that the North always had the upper hand, but the Civil War was the worst war America had seen for a long time and it wasn’t until the tides turned that the Emancipation Proclamation could come out and really change things. You did a really good job on this article!
Jason Garcia
Every aspect of this article was great. it not only discussed the major battles and reasoning for the civil war but also had background and perspective. Slavery was a major issue that was perhaps the biggest cause of the Civil War. The article explains that the original plan for Lincoln was not to end Slavery but to unite the United States once again. But as plans changed and the South grew more confident he had no choice but to fight. In the end, the south was defeated and the slaves were freed, which, standing from future looking back shouldn’t have been instituted in the first place.
Caroline Bush
This was a really interesting article and I enjoyed how much detail was put into the events leading up to the civil war. The Civil War is a battle full of tragedies, first off because we even had to fight it. It should be a given that everyone in America no matter what the color of your skin should have freedom. second because of the many lives lost from having to fight this battle. I like how this article didn’t just give a overview of what the battle was but actually helped the reader understand the events leading up to it and the results of the fighting.
Rafael Lopez-Rodriguez
This article is pretty interesting because when I studied US history my class did not go into much detail. We just went over it and the most important events that happened in the Civil War. I can’t imagine working for free I think no one now a days would like that. The impact president Lincoln had in the history of the US changed the course of this country. I think more people should read and learn more about their country’s history, that way we would be a better society and a better world.
Arianna Kennet
This article really intrigued me. As an international student, I am not really aware of the actions that happen inside the U.S. The horrible fight over the racial tension that happened between the north and the south is chaotic but ultimately led to the freedom of the slaves. The emancipation proclamation helped to free the slaves that were bound by racial injustice. I am inspired that this fight was one of great cause and merit.
Christopher Martinez
Articles over basic history stories are always good to read, as many, we all have heard of the civil war but not of almost all the details. After reading this article I’m surprised i haven’t realized the importance the Emancipation Proclamation played in the Civil War. The document allowed the popularization of Lincoln and his role as a runner up for president and separated the north in the south in its first ever split and reaction of segregation. It was a key starting point to improvement but also a step back between our nations views. Also the significance of the Battle Antietam showing how serious times were and how serious people were about slavery and expressed how they felt through war.