April 11, 1861 the bloodless battle at Fort Sumter, the beginning of the Civil War and a possible end of sectionalism and slavery. In the year of 1860 a man named Abraham Lincoln was elected for President. Many living in the south believed that “…the election of a Republican President represented the victory of the abolitionists…” (TB pg. 304), and that they had no choice but to secede from the Union. Due to seceding states, a war broke out between the Union (Northern states) and the newly assembled southern states came to be known as the Confederate States of America or Confederacy. In 1862 after the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued a document called the Emancipation Proclamation that would help free slaves. During the war both the Union and Confederacy had different advantages over the other. The Union had the industry to create necessities for the war such as guns, bullets, uniforms, etc. They also had a stronger navy for blockading ports from trade between the …show more content…
By allowing the African Americans to join the armed forces, it gave the Union an advantage of man power. When they registered for the army they had to go through a series of tests to determine which area of expertise would fit them best. Most of them worked as cooks and labors, and a very small portion of them ever saw the front lines of war “African Americans only made up 10% of the Union army” (T. Legion). At first African Americans were payed, cared for, and fed less than the others, until 1864 where they were then treated just as equal as the white troops. The recruitment of African Americans happened before the Anaconda Plan was put into effect, a plan that would surround, blockade, and squeeze a surrender out of the Confederacy. With the extra man power and a strong navy, the Anaconda Plan succeeded and the Union won the