A Call For Freedom

 For the duration of the war, the main goal of the North had been to preserve the Union, not destroy slavery.  Abolitionists did not control the North, or even the Republican Party.  Even Lincoln had publically stated that he only wanted to prevent the expansion of slavery, not end it altogether.  This did not mean that Lincoln supported slavery.  In order to keep public support for the war, he had to take into account the fact that more states may leave the Union should he move against slavery too quickly.

 As the war went on, many in the North began to believe that slavery was helping the war effort in the South.  Enslaved people in the Confederacy raised crops used to feed the armies and did the heavy work in the trenches at the army camps.  In 1861 and 1862, Congress passed laws that freed enslaved people who were held by those active in the rebellion against the Union.  Lincoln also recognized that Britain and France would be less likely to aid the South if slavery ended.

 By the summer of 1862, Lincoln had decided to emancipate, or free, all enslaved African Americans in the South, although he needed to wait for the right time.  He did not want it to appear an act of desperation at a time when the North seemed to be losing the war.  On September 22, 1862, 5 days after the Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln announced his plan.  He formally signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

 Because the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to areas that the Confederacy controlled, it did not actually free anyone.  Lincoln knew, however, that many enslaved people would hear about it, and it might encourage them to run away.  The Proclamation, coupled with Lincoln’s announcement that African Americans could now join the Union army, proved hugely popular with African Americans in the North.  It also impressed Britain and France, both of which had already abolished slavery, and they decided not to recognize the Confederacy as a nation.  Lincoln also fought hard for Congress to pass the 13 th Amendment in 1865, which truly freed all enslaved Americans.

 When the war began, over 3.5 million enslaved people lived in the Confederacy, more than 30% of the population.  They performed vital tasks such as growing food on plantations, working in mines, and even working as nurses and cooks in the Confederate army.  For most of the war, though, they had been forbidden to become Confederate soldiers for fear that arming them may cause them to incite slave rebellions.  By the end of the war, though, 1/6 of the African American population had fled for the North, and there was talk that the remaining men should be offered their freedom in exchange for fighting for the Confederacy.  Although a law was passed that allowed them to enlist, the regiments were never organized.

 In the North at the beginning of the war, African Americans had also been forbidden to serve as soldiers.  Many served as guides and spies to help the cause.  In 1862 Congress passed a law allowing African Americans to serve in the Union army, and with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864, the number of enlistees surged.  By the end of the war, African American volunteers made up nearly 10% of the Union army and 18% of the navy, about 200,000 people.

 African American soldiers were organized into regiments separate from the rest of the Union army.  Most of their commanding officers were white.  At first, they received lower pay than white soldiers, but protests changed that in  Many white Southerners, outraged by African American soldiers, threatened to execute any they captured.  The sight of free African Americans in uniform marching through the South, though, served as a source of inspiration for those still living in slavery.