A Call for Freedom Chapter 15, Section 3 Civil War A Call for Freedom Chapter 15, Section 3

Lincoln and Slavery The issue of slavery played a huge role throughout the Civil War. As the war progressed, attitudes toward slavery began to change. Northerners believed that slavery was helping the war effort in the South. In the North’s view, anything that weakened slavery struck a blow against the Confederacy.

Lincoln and Slavery Lincoln was aware of the Northern opinion of slavery. Lincoln came to the realization that slavery was the backbone of the South. Every enslaved person that worked allowed a Southerner to fight in the Confederate army.

Lincoln and Slavery By the summer of 1862, Lincoln had decided to emancipate, or free, all African American slaves in the South. On January 1, 1863 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln and Slavery “…all persons held as slaves within any state…in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Emancipation Proclamation Because the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to areas that the Confederacy controlled, it did not actually free anyone. The Confederate States of America had their own government. Lincoln hoped the slaves in the South would hear about the proclamation and run away from their slave holders.

Lincoln and Slavery The proclamation had a huge effect in Europe as well. After Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Britain decided they would not help aid the Confederacy in the war effort.

Emancipation Proclamation Public Opinion Slavery was helping the war effort in the South. Prevent Britain from Entering the war. Place an end to slavery.

Lincoln and Slavery In 1864 Republican leaders in Congress prepared a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery in the United States. In 1865 Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment which officially freed all enslaved Americans.

African Americans & the War When the war began, 3.5 million enslaved African Americans lived in the Confederacy and made up 33% of the region’s population. Many enslaved African Americans worked as nurses in military hospitals, as trench diggers and cooks for the Confederate army.

African Americans & the War Slave rebellions terrified white southerners. For this reason Southerners refused to arm African Americans and use them as soldiers. Near the end of the war the Confederacy became desperate. In 1865 the Confederate Congress passed a law to enlist enslaved Africans. The war would end before these regiments could be organized.

African Americans & the War At first, African Americans in the North were not permitted to serve in the Union Army. Initially, escaped slaves were used as guides due to their knowledge of the South. (Harriet Tubman) In 1863, when Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation supported the use of African American soldiers. The use of African American soldiers in the Union Army was championed by Frederick Douglass.

African American soldiers were organized into regiments separate from the rest of the Union army. Most of the commanding officers of these regiments were white. One of the most famous African American regiments was the 54th Massachusetts. Many white southerners threatened to execute any African American soldiers they captured. However, this did not stop African Americans from enlisting. By the end of the war, 200,000 African American troops had served in the Union Army.