Civil War Dbq

The Union’s initial aim for the war was simply to attract the Confederacy to come back to the Union and gather as a whole again. Abraham Lincoln did not incorporate initially whatsoever to eliminate slavery. In an interview discussing the matters of the Civil War, all Lincoln stated was “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it.” (http://theweek.com/articles/460827/today-history-lincoln-reveals-real-goal-civil-war) This changed, however, during the duration of the war. Lincoln established the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22 1862 and it announced that all slaves in rebellious states against the Union were allowed to be free, resulting in many outbursts

The South lacked many significant aspects of the war when it primarily begun, like supplies, manpower, and industry. (http://study.com/academy/lesson/britain-and-france-respond-to-the-american-civil-war.html) They knew from the start if they were to have any chance of winning overall in the war, they would need foreign assistance. With this knowledge, Great Britain and France took the situation to their advantage by trying to benefit themselves with it as well. Both nations utilized very often the cotton produced by the South in their textile production in industry, therefore, any interruption would harm the European nation’s production so it was essential they remained close with the Confederacy. To be more specific with each nation, France was not as helpful as Great Britain when it came to the assistance they provided. They somewhat feared the Union’s threat that if international nations interfered with a war strictly within the boundaries of its territory, then this would assume automatically a desire for war among that nation as well. However, even with this threat presented, France still did help solely for the reason of their cotton and individuals, John Slidell, attempted to convince France to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation so arrangement for loans and assistance for the Confederate cause can occur. Great Britain did

An estimated 180,000 African Americans went on to serve in the army, while another 18,000 served in the navy for the Union (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-emancipation-proclamation). When African Americans heard they were technically allowed to be free now, according to the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans wanted to fight on the side that would allow them to remain free even after the war ends. At the start of the war, they were not allowed to take part in the army and fight in fear that some states, like Missouri, would quickly transition over to the Confederacy's side. (http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/black-troops-in-union-blue) however, with the war not ending as quickly as the Union thought it would, the numbers of white male volunteers dropped signirficantly with the hope diminishing. At this same time, Lincoln realized that once the war was over there was no possible way that slavery could or should continue and begun to believe the phrase Frederick Douglas about how slavery was “the source and center of this gigantic rebellion.” Therefore, after the Proclamation African Americans were now allowed to enlist in the army and the War Department organized the Bureau of Colored Troops the following spring to give them a place and unit to fight in. This gave the Union a much bigger