Download Free at Last: The Causes and Effects of the Emancipation

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Free at Last: The Causes and
Effects of the Emancipation
Proclamation
Eric Stiltner
Junior Division
Historical Paper
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The Emancipation Proclamation was a turning point in the fight against slavery. The
Proclamation weakened the South by encouraging slaves to run away. It also ensured that
foreign countries would not help the Confederate States of America. The Emancipation
Proclamation paved the way for black troops to fight for the Union Army. Finally, the
Emancipation Proclamation led to the 13th Amendment which ended the brutal practice of legal
slavery everywhere in the United States of America.
Slavery started in America when southern planters didn’t have enough people to work
on farms and plantations. First, colonists turned to indentured servants. Indentured servants
were colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without
pay for a certain number of years.1 Indentured servants were treated horribly. They were
beaten, whipped, and even killed. Richard Frethorne, an indentured servant in Virginia wrote,
“There is indeed some fowl, but we are not allowed to go and get it, but must work hard both
early and late for a mess of water gruel and a mouthful of bread and beef. A mouthful of bread
for a penny loaf must serve for four men which is most pitiful.”2 Eventually, indentured
servants started running away and could not be found easily because they were white and
blended in with everyone else. Native Americans were also used as slaves, especially by the
Spanish. The colonists literally worked the natives to death. Enslaved Native Americans did not
live long due to the labor and diseases such as malaria and plague that the colonists brought
1
Deverell, William and Deborah Gray White. United States History beginnings to 1877. Austin, Texas: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 2008. Print: pg. 74
2
Frethorne, Richard. “letter to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 & 3, 1623.” The Records of the Virginia
Company of London. Susan Kingsbury. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1935. 58–62. Web.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6475
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with them from the Old World.3 Colonists began importing Africans as indentured servants, but
over time they shifted to being permanently enslaved peoples.4
African slaves were immune to the diseases that killed Native Americans. Therefore,
African slaves were considered better workers by the colonists. Both white and Africans
participated in and profited from the slave trade.5 The journey to America for enslaved Africans
was called the Middle Passage.6 The Middle Passage was a brutal experience for slaves.
Olaudah Equiano said, “On my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid
me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had
never experienced anything of this kind before…”7Africans were stored in the lower deck of the
ships while going to America. The slaves were chained together, and it was very crowded. It
smelled like rotten bodies; vomit and urine were everywhere.
Between 1800 and 1860, the U.S grew due to the Louisiana Purchase, Texas Annexation
and Mexican War. As new states and territories were added, politicians debated whether the
territories should be slave or free.8 Politicians tried to keep the number of free states and slave
states the same in order to maintain the balance of power in Congress.9 The Missouri
Compromise of 1820 said Maine could enter the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave
state. This compromise kept the balance even between free and slave states. The compromise
3
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 58-59
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 74
5
Byrd, Rebecca. “ Slavery in colonial America.” New Center School, Sevierville, TN. September 13, 2012. Lecture.
6
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 59
7
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, the Africa.
Voelker, David. Historytools. 27 June 2007. Web. January 14, 2013.
http://www.historytools.org/sources/equiano.pdf
8
Mattern , Joanne. The Big Book of the Civil War. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press. Print: pg. 6
9
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 6
4
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also stated that any state north of the Missouri’s southern border would be a free state.10 The
Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter the Union as a free state. The rest of the
Mexican Cession was divided into two territories, Utah and New Mexico. It also created a
stronger Fugitive Slave Law.11 The arguments about slavery intensified when Congress passed
the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduced the idea of popular
sovereignty, or letting the people of a territory decide the question of slavery by a vote. This led
to violence in “Bleeding Kansas,” as it came to be known.
At the same time, the Abolition movement was growing. Abolition means a complete
end to slavery.12 Some of the key leaders of the Abolition Movement were Fredrick Douglass,
William Lloyd Garrison and Sojourner Truth. Fredrick Douglass was an author, abolitionist,
publisher, and journalist. After running away from slavery, Douglass dedicated his life to
achieving justice for all Americans who did not have their rights. Lincoln referred to Douglass as
“the most meritorious man of the nineteenth century.”13 Douglass pushed Lincoln to allow
black soldiers to serve in the Civil War.14Another leader of the abolition movement was William
Lloyd Garrison. Garrison published his own anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator. This was read
by thousands that opposed slavery, and they took action. Sojourner Truth was not only a
member in the abolitionist movement, but she was also a women's rights advocate. Born
10
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 6
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 479
12
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 454
13
College of Education at the University of Houston. Digital History.2012. Web. December 17, 2012.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/douglass_exhibit/douglass.html.
14
College of Education at the University of Houston. Digital History.2012. Web. December 17, 2012.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/douglass_exhibit/douglass.html.
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Isabella Baumfree, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth to show her dedication to the
cause of freedom.15
The Underground Railroad held a key role in slavery, as well. The railroad was operated
by people who opposed slavery. They helped runaway slaves reach northern states and Canada
where they would be safe. Hundreds of slaves used the Underground Railroad between 1830
and during the outbreak of the Civil War. One conductor on the Underground Railroad was
Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman helped more than three hundred slaves run away to
freedom.16
In March of 1857, the case of Dred Scott reached the Supreme Court. Scott argued that
because he had lived in the free state of Illinois, he should be free. The Court ruled that slaves
were not citizens and that living in free territory did not make a slave free. Most importantly,
the Court said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. This opened all the western
territories to slavery.
When Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president in 1860, the South feared that he
would try to end slavery. This led the southern states to secede starting with South Carolina in
1860. Jefferson Davis was chosen as president of the Confederate States of America.17
The Civil War began on April 12th, 1861 18with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.
After that attack, Lincoln issued a call for troops. The war had the highest casualty count of any
15
Sojourner Truth. Library of Congress, December 9th, 1998. Web. December 17, 2012.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truth.html
16
Judy Monroe. The Underground Railroad. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press, 2003. Book
17
Dr. Donald J. Stoker. Essential Civil War Curriculum Civil War Strategy 1861-1865. March 2011.Web. November
15, 2012.
http://www.essential.civilwar.vt.edu/assets/files/ECWC%20TOPIC%20Civil%20War%20Strategy%20Essay.pdf
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American War. The South wanted to maintain slavery. The North wanted to restore the Union.
They also saw the South as a threat after Fort Sumter. The Emancipation Proclamation changed
the focus of the war to ending slavery.
The first major battle of the Civil War was Bull Run. Bull Run took place on July 21,
1861.19 Actually, many northerners thought it would be the only battle of the Civil War.20
Northerners thought that the North would overwhelm the South and that the war was going to
end right there. That was not the case. The South overpowered the Union, resulting in the
Union running away. The Union army was led by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell. The South
was led by General P.G.T. Beauregard.21 One year later, on August 28–30, 1862, the North and
South met at Bull Run again. General John Pope led the Union, and Robert E. Lee led the
Confederates. Pope was no match for Lee. Once again, the South won the battle.22
Lee decided to march into northern territory. Lee split his army to attack Harpers Ferry.
As his half went to Maryland, the other half went to Harpers Ferry. The Confederate army easily
took over the town of Harpers Ferry.23 Lee went to Maryland and issued a proclamation to try
to get the people of Maryland to join the Confederate army. The proclamation failed. It wasn’t
enough to convince the people of Maryland to join. As Lee was issuing the proclamation,
McClellan learned that Lee had divided his army to attack Harpers Ferry. McClellan hesitated to
18
William Deverell , Deborah White: pg. 511
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 34
20
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 34
21
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 34
22
Mattern , Joanne: pg. 35
23
Deverell and White: pg.519
19
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attack. If he had attacked, the war could have ended then. Instead, a battle took place at
Sharpsburg, Maryland at Antietam Creek.24
The battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, was divided into three parts. Fighting occurred in
the cornfield, the sunken road, and at the bridge. The battle started on September 17, 1862.
Antietam was the most devastating battle of the Civil War.25 The number of soldiers wounded
or killed was greater than the number of Americans who died in the American Revolution, War
of 1812, and the Mexican American War combined.26 There were twelve thousand Union
casualties and thirteen thousand casualties for the Confederates. Union officer A. H. Nickerson
later said, “It seemed everybody near me was dead.”27 The United States claimed the victory
because they stopped Robert E. Lee’s advance through the northern states. If the Union hadn’t
stopped the advance, then the United States of America might still have been a slave country.
The Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the “victory” he needed to announce the Emancipation
Proclamation.
The Emancipation Proclamation said, “… 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.”28 The Proclamation took effect on
January 1st, 1863. Lincoln said, "I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right, than I
24
Stephen Sears. McClellan at Antietam. 2011. Web. November 26, 2012.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam/history/mcclellan-at-antietam.html
25
The History Rat: Investigating the Present and the Past. September 16, 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
http://historyrat.wordpress.com/tag/battle-of-antietam/
26
Deverell and White: pg.519
27
Deverell and White: pg.519
28
Abraham Lincoln. University of Delaware. Web. February 11, 2013.
http://sites.udel.edu/emancipationsemester/what-is-the-emancipation-proclamation/
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do in signing this paper.”29 The problem was that the proclamation had no actual power in the
southern states since Lincoln couldn’t enforce it in Confederate areas. The proclamation also
did not apply in Union slave states like Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and most of Tennessee.
However, when word of the Emancipation got to the slaves, they started to run away and
became refugees in the northern states and Union Army camps.30
The Emancipation Proclamation also said to foreign countries that the Union was
turning away from slavery. It said the people of United States dedicated themselves to ending
slavery. This was important because there were some foreign countries that had become free
and disagreed with the idea of slavery. One of the main countries was Great Britain. Great
Britain considered supporting the Confederates because the South supplied cotton that Britain
needed. The Emancipation Proclamation stopped Britain from allying with the Confederate
States of America.
If Britain had sided with the Confederate States of America, it would have changed the
results of the war. The United States defeated Britain in the American Revolution and the War
of 1812, but could not have done so without the southern states. They could not take on Great
Britain and the southern states at the same time. Therefore, the Emancipation Proclamation
kept British citizens from wanting to help the Confederate States of America. The British
29
Lincoln, Abraham. Quoted in Frederick Seward. Reminiscences of a War-time Statesman and Diplomat. Mr.
Lincoln and Freedom. 2002. Web. February 11, 2013.
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=47&subjectID=3
30
The Emancipation Proclamation. US National Archives & Record Administration. Web. November 26, 2012.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
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government couldn’t support the South due to the large percentage of the population that did
not want the country to help the South.
Another way the Emancipation Proclamation helped the Union was the enlistment of
African American troops into the Union army. Frederick Douglass said, “Once let the black man
get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; … and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his
pocket, and there is no power on Earth which can deny that he has earned the right to
citizenship.”31 About 180,000 African Americans served in the Union army by the end of the
war. In the 1864 election, Lincoln rewarded black soldiers with the right to vote.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a major reason as to why the Union won the war,
which led to the Thirteenth Amendment. The Proclamation encouraged many black soldiers to
fight for the Union. The Thirteenth Amendment said that slavery was abolished from the United
States of America. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed African Americans equal rights and
protection under the law. Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the
right to vote.32
However, the end of slavery did not end discrimination against African Americans. The
Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, developed to intimidate African Americans to keep them from exercising
their rights after the Civil War. The KKK used violence to threaten and control African
Americans.33 Southern states passed poll tax laws that required citizens to pay a tax to vote.
Since most African Americans could not afford the tax, it denied them their right to vote. The
31
The United States Colored Troops and the Defences of Washington. December 27, 2012. Web. February 11, 2013.
http://www.nps.gov/cwdw/historyculture/the-united-states-colored-troops-and-the-defenses-of-washington.htm
32
Deverell and White: pg208- 209
33
Deverell and White: pg.556
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southern states also developed Jim Crow laws to enforce segregation.34 The 1896, the Supreme
Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson established the legal rule of separate but equal.35
In the 1950’s, African Americans began to fight for equal rights. In 1954, the Supreme
Court unanimously voted in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that public school
segregation created inequality, thus overturning separate but equal.36 In 1955, Rosa Parks
refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott
which opposed segregation.37 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led many protests including the
historic March on Washington on August 28th, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he
delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the
Civil Rights Act which ended all legal segregation in the United States. Over the next decades,
African-Americans continued to strive towards equality. This concluded with the election of
Barak Obama, the nation’s first African-American president in 2008. Without Lincoln’s brave
decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, none of these changes would be possible.
34
Deverell and White: pg.568
Deverell and White: pg.R39
36
Deverell and White: pg.R41
37
th
“The Story Behind The Bus.” Henry Ford Museum. Thehenryford.org. February 7 , 2013. Web.
<www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp>
35
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Annotated Bibliographies
Primary Source
College of Education at the University of Houston. Digital History.2012. Web. December 17,
2012. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/douglass_exhibit/douglass.html.
This secondary source website gave me a primary source quote from Fredrick Douglass.
Douglass, Fredrick. The United States Colored Troops and the Defences of Washington.
December 27, 2012. Web. February 11, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/cwdw/historyculture/theunited-states-colored-troops-and-the-defenses-of-washington.htm
I got an important quote from Fredrick Douglass from this primary source site. It told me
what the quote meant also.
Frethorne, Richard. “letter to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 & 3, 1623.” The Records
of the Virginia Company of London. Susan Kingsbury. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1935. 58–62. Web. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6475
This primary source letter from Richard Frethorne helped me understand how horrible
life was for indentured servents in early colonial times.
Lincoln, Abraham. The Emancipation Proclamation. US National Archives & Record
Administration. Web. November 26, 2012.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
This primary source document written by Abraham Lincoln said that all slaves in
Confederate states were free. I go a quote out of this document.
12
Lincoln, Abraham. Quoted in Frederick Seward. Reminiscences of a War-time Statesman and
Diplomat. Mr. Lincoln and Freedom. 2002. Web. February 11, 2013.
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=47&subjectID=3
I found a good primary source quote here from Lincoln in which he expressed about
signing a piece of paper. "I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in
signing this paper,” Referring to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Secondary Source
Byrd, Rebecca. “ Slavery in Colonial America.” New Center School, Sevierville, TN. September
13, 2012. Lecture.
This secondary source lecture from Rebecca Byrd helped me understand how whites, as
well as blacks, profited from the slave trade.
College of Education at the University of Houston. Digital History.2012. Web. December 17,
2012. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/douglass_exhibit/douglass.html.
This secondary source helped me determine that Fredrick Douglass was a key man in
the Abolition Movement because he was the “father of the civil rights movement.”
Deverell, William and Deborah Gray White. United States History beginnings to 1877. Austin,
Texas: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. Print.
This is a secondary source textbook that helped me learn about how Africans were treated. It
also taught me about the Jim Crow Laws, Poll taxes, and Civil Rights movement.
Dr. Donald J. Stoker. Essential Civil War Curriculum Civil War Strategy 1861-1865. March
2011.Web. November 15, 2012.
http://www.essential.civilwar.vt.edu/assets/files/ECWC%20TOPIC%20Civil%20War%20Strategy
%20Essay.pdf
This is a secondary source that helped me understand the strategies and goals of the
Civil War. I also learned that these strategies are what helped the North win the war and make
the South lose. It also helped me learn that the South seceded from the North because Lincoln
was elected.
13
Dred Scott case: the Supreme Court decision. East Tennessee PBS. Web.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933.html
This secondary source helped me understand that when the Dred Scott Case went to
the Supreme Court and addressed the idea that Dred Scott living in a free state made him a free
man. It also helped me understand that the Supreme Court ruled he was not a free man; this
made the Missouri Compromise invalid.
“History 110 The Civil War: Goals, Strategies, and Consequences”. Humboldt.edu. Humboldt
State University. Web. November 19, 2012.
http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/unit4/CivilWar.html
This secondary source helped me understand that the South seceded because they
thought that Lincoln was going to ban slavery. It also made me aware that the Union’s goal was
to get the South back in the Union, and the South’s goal was to be independent and keep
slavery.
Judy Monroe. The Underground Railroad. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press, 2003. Print.
This secondary source helped me learn about the time period of the Underground
Railroad. It also helped me learn about Harriet Tubman and how she was important in the
Underground Railroad.
Mattern, Joanne. The Big Book of the Civil War. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press. Print.
This secondary source book helped me learn about how the slave states and free states
were kept balanced. This book also helped me learn about multiple different subjects like the
first and second battle of Bull Run.
People & Events William Lloyd Garrison 1805 – 1876. East Tennessee PBS. Web.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1561.html
This secondary source had fantastic information that helped me determine why William
Lloyd Garrison was a key member in the abolition movement to end slavery. It also told me that
his newspaper inspired people to move against slavery.
Sojourner Truth. Library of Congress, December 9th, 1998. Web. December 17, 2012.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truth.html
14
This secondary source website about Sojourner Truth told me how she was a member of
the Abolition Movement and a women’s rights advocate. It told me that she was a key member
in both of these.
Stephen Sears. McClellan at Antietam. 2011. Web. November 26, 2012.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam/history/mcclellan-at-antietam.html
This secondary source website taught me about McClellan and how he hesitated to attack Lee,
which resulted in his being removed from command by Lincoln.
The Emancipation Proclamation. US National Archives & Record Administration. Web.
November 26, 2012.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
This secondary source website helped me learn about the events leading up to the
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the role it played in the world today.
The History Rat: Investigating the Present and the Past. September 16, 2012. Web. 25 Oct.
2012. http://historyrat.wordpress.com/tag/battle-of-antietam/
This secondary source website told me that the Battle of Antietam was the most
devastating battle in U.S history. It also told me how McClellan hesitated to attack in
Sharpsburg.
The Mariners’ Museum. Anaconda Plan. The Mariners’ Museum. Web. November 19, 2012.
http://www.marinersmuseum.org/uss-monitor-center/anaconda-plan
This secondary source website helped me learn about Scotts Great Snake, or the
Anaconda Plan.