ipl-logo

How Did African Americans Contribute To The Civil War Dbq

514 Words3 Pages

DBQ The Civil War began in 1861 but the issue of slavery was not the central focus of the war effort. The war began for many political reasons, mainly the aim of the Union side to preserve the Union and make sure it remains together as a country. While the North fought to preserve the Union, the South fought to preserve what they believed to be state rights. During the war, Abraham Lincoln created what is called the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that “all person held as slaves” within rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” Following the war, African Americans throughout the war led to an alteration in the goals of the war, and therefore a contribution to the new politics and culture that followed later. As the war between the North and the South progressed, the abolition of slavery didn’t take a strong stand until after the Emancipation Proclamation. In document 1, Benjamin F. Butler questions, “Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free?” (Doc 1). At the …show more content…

Although this only freed slaves in the rebellious area, it demonstrated the moral side of the war. In Lincoln's letter written in 1863, he stated “Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them?” (Doc 3). He is referring to the African Americans which shows that Lincoln’s policies and goals in the Civil War driven by the desire to enlist African Americans in fighting to preserve the Union. Consequently, the freed slaves were encouraged to enlist and take part of the Union side and army. Their addition into the fight against the confederacy was a great benefit for the Union. Therefore, the great contribution of African Americans in the Civil War with hopes of achieving freedom and rights caused an entirely new goal of the war and contributing to the Union victory in this bloody

Show More
Related
1677 Words | 7 Pages

The main reason for the beginning of the Civil War focused on the slavery that infested the southern states. The North was against all forms of slavery and other different practices present in the South. The war drug on for a seemingly infinite amount of time under President Lincoln and his administration as a whole,as well as the president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis. Although these two men made all of the most significant and pressing choices, the two men in charge on the battlefields, and perhaps a greater rivalry than the opposing presidents, were Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E.

Read More
882 Words | 4 Pages

Allen Guelzo and Vincent Harding approached Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the eventual abolition of slavery from two very different viewpoints. The major disagreement between them is whether the slaves freed themselves, or Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation freed them. Harding argued the former view, Guelzo took the later. When these essays are compared side by side Guelzo’s is stronger because, unlike Harding, he was able to keep his own views of American race relations out of the essay and presented an argument that was based on more than emotion. Allen Guelzo

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

Many politicians felt this was a white man’s war and slaves had no right to fight this war. Slaves were not allowed to fight, all this changed when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it declared “ That all person held as slaves within the Confederate states should be free. Although it did not end slavery in the nation it gave people hope and uplifted the moral of blacks. Fredrick Douglas convinced Abraham Lincoln that African Americans were ready to fight and serve the Union.

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

The Confederates main war tactic was to drag out the Civil War long enough, to where the US lost interest, while the Union was seeking reunification of the country. African Americans played an important role, they were the support of the Confederates and the Union. Africans were a necessary labor force to the Confederacy; they were the mobilization force for them as well as doing forced labor for them. On Union side, blacks were eager to serve for the United States; blacks in the Union became scouts for them, since they knew the geography of the South better. By serving, this was a way for black to not only prove themselves, but gain citizenship.

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo ’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

With British antislavery sentiments becoming more prevalent, the president started considering the diplomatic benefits that ending slavery would have for the union army. Although he didn’t start as supportive of this change, on July 22, 1862, Lincoln announced that he intended to free all slaves that were in rebellion against the union. Since this was a military decision, he held off on actually putting the proclamation in place until a union victory occurred on the battlefield. The victory they were hoping for occurred on September 17 of that same year. Here they repelled Robert E. Lee’s forces and returned to Virginia and they kept the confederacy from being recognized by

Read More
1860 Words | 8 Pages

Freed slaves enthusiastically responded to this new right, Foner states that ‘by the war's end some 180,000 blacks had served in the Union army- over one-fifth of the adult male black population of the United States below the age of forty-five.’ African Americans willingness to fight for the Union alongside white men furthered the emancipation cause in that it further associated them as citizens of the United States making the idea of emancipation all the more acceptable to many. The significant increase in the size of the military due to the addition of freed slaves meant that the Union was more successful in battles. African Americans were therefore associated with the military successes that eventually led to the Confederacy’s defeat in 1865. This can be seen as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, but also suggests how the activism of African Americans ensured they were accepted in the armed forces, moving them closer

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

African Americans had an extremely pivotal role in the outcome and consequences of the Civil War. This group of people were enslaved, and forced to work in horrible conditions, for the whole day, without pay. Slaves were one of the main causes of the Civil War. The issue of Slavery, which resulted in the eventual economic and social division between the North and South, caused the creation of the Confederate States. African Americans did not only unintentionally cause the war, but they also effected the outcome of the war, and the eventual consequences the nation would face after the war.

Read More
2010 Words | 9 Pages

Lincoln’s statement made newly freed slaves to join the Union army engaging aggression with their former masters. Sanctioning the work of African Americans as soldiers, not just laborers, for the army, paved the way for the creation of African American regiments for the Union army. Initially composed of emancipated slaves, such regiments would also come to include free African Americans from the North. These regiments remained segregated, but their creation meant that Lincoln had formed official channels through which African Americans could serve the Union. Thus, the opportunity of citizenship as well as freedom for African Americans, Lincoln had opened.

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

Tensions rose across the country from those in support support of slavery and those opposed. Many states wanted to outlaw slavery while others adamantly defended it because it was the main institution with a high and consistent revenue. Ultimately, the disagreements over slavery are what lead to the Civil War. The country divided into an “Us versus Them” situation which lead to both sides having growing support for their views and making the groups less susceptible to an agreement. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves from confederate states.

Read More
1242 Words | 5 Pages

In the midst of the war, over 179,000 African American soldiers served in the Union’s branches such as the navy, army, and support (Freeman and Jean). Many served as they believed this was a way to repay the Union in setting them free and possibly in the future could grant citizenship to them. Before the enlistment of African American soldiers, many laws prohibited the enlistment of African Americans (Freeman and Elise). This is surprising as many African American soldiers served in previous wars such as the American Revolution. Soon after President Lincoln gave his speech on the Emancipation Proclamation, he allowed many slaves to enlist in the Union military (Freeman and Elise).

Read More
528 Words | 3 Pages

The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared slaves in the United States as free. This newly free status marked an end to chattel slavery in the United States. Despite this remarkable win for humanity the sudden change brought forth a multitude of issues that the United States was not ready to address. African Americans were the main sufferers of the United States unpreparedness. The timing of emancipation combined with the prominent ideological beliefs of that time resulted in negative health outcomes that set the foundation for health inequalities among African Americans that are still prominent today.

Read More
415 Words | 2 Pages

The African Americans had a big impact on the Civil War. They had to have all of these laws and papers wrote because of the slavery deal. They had the role of the debate for slavery. They were the slaves and they wanted to have their freedom. The Declaration of Independence said that, “All men are created equal”, but the slaves were not free.

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

The American Civil war was from April 12, 1861 - May 26, 1865. It was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, also known as the North and the South. The cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing it. This was widely believed that it would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Decades of political slavery caused a major turning point because of the victory in the 1860 U.S. presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery’s expansion into the western territories.

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Somebody once remarked, “No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent” (“Abraham Lincoln Quotes"). At the initial view, the Civil War was going to be won by the South. Nonetheless, all that changed when Abraham Lincoln constructed the Emancipation Proclamation because it did not solely free slaves, it further altered antiquity for the salutary and assisted the North in the war, which led to their triumph. The Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln’s greatest achievement as president.

Read More

More about How Did African Americans Contribute To The Civil War Dbq

Open Document