How Did The Civil War Impact Both Slaves And Freedmen

The Civil War had a major impact on both slaves and freedmen. After The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment freed all slaves in the United States, there were still difficulties African Americans faced in the South. Trying to find their way in this new free life was difficult when facing hostile whites and having little to no education. They had very few resources such as money. African Americans were ready for this new freedom which led them into demanding their civil rights. They wanted the right to vote, an education and economic opportunities, and to be able to reunite with their families. The Freedmen’s Bureau was established by the federal government which was a temporary agency that provided food, clothing, and medical

Some of the freed slaves were also encouraged to move to the Northern cities where jobs would be available.
The Freedmen’s Bureau Acts of 1865 was a relief Act to the freed African Americans for one year and was a major factor that impacted a struggle between President Andrew Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction and the federal government's role in integrating four million newly emancipated African Americans into the political life of the nation. There was a revision in legislation that created a debate of which department would control the Freedmen's Bureau. Senators disputed the role of the federal government in providing a specific group special treatment at the exclusion of others. They also argued that this would make former slaves and Southern refugees dependent on the government bureaucrats who might take advantage of them. With this issue, it was questioned whether or not the former slaves were actually free because it seemed as if they were not allowed to stand as free men. Their lives were still controlled and restricted. On January 5, 1866, Illinois

Even after the final Emancipation Proclamation, in the South, most slaves did not hear of the proclamation for months. This became one of the changes in the Civil War and the North was not only fighting to preserve the Union, it was fighting to end slavery as well. In the North, African American men pressured the Army to enlist and a few individual commanders recruited southern African Americans into their forces but it was only after Lincoln issued the Final Proclamation that the federal army would officially accept black soldiers into its ranks. African American men rushed to enlist but were accepted into all-black units. It was led by white officer Robert Gould Shaw. In May of 1863 the Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops. The black soldiers faced discrimination and there was also segregation. There were northerners who resisted the war effort. The north also went through an economic depression, and enraged white people rioted against African Americans, who they accused of stealing their jobs. When the Civil War ended in 1865, men and women, black and white from the North and the South began working to rebuild the broken