1. Lesson 17.1 The Emancipation Proclamation

2. Essential Question
How did ending slavery become an important goal of the Civil War?

3. Vocabulary
Emancipation Proclamation – An executive order issued by President Lincoln freeing the slaves in all regions in rebellion against the Union.
54th Massachusetts Regiment – One of the first African American troops organized in the North.
Frederick Douglass - An abolitionist who urged President Lincoln to emancipate the slaves

4. Focus Questions
Why did President Lincoln hesitate to abolish slavery?
What was President Lincoln’s first priority throughout the war?
Why did Lincoln finally decide to emancipate the slaves and who specifically were freed?
For what reasons were people in the North angered by the Emancipation Proclamation?

5. Focus Questions
5. How were the reactions of Union soldiers different from white Southerners to the emancipation?
6. How did African American enlistment in the army change after the emancipation?
7. What obstacles did African American soldiers face?
8. Why was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment famous?

6. What we already know…
Lincoln believed slavery was morally wrong.

7. What we already know…
In a battle fought near Antietam Creek in Maryland, Union forces had finally won a slim victory against Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

8. What we already know…
Britain was considering giving aid to the Confederacy, even though Britain was opposed to slavery.

9. Calls For Emancipation
Leading abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass criticized President Lincoln because he had not ended slavery. Some went as far to say his lack of action helped the Confederacy.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

10. Calls For Emancipation
Lincoln hesitated to emancipate the slaves when the war began because:
He didn’t believe he had the power under the Constitution to abolish slavery.
He didn’t want to anger the four slavery border states that had remained with the Union.
He knew Northern Democrats and Republicans opposed emancipation, so this issue could further divide the nation.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

11. Calls For Emancipation
Although President Lincoln disliked slavery, his first priority was to preserve the Union. Lincoln wanted to bring the Union back together, not have the issue of slavery divide the nation even further.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

12. Calls For Emancipation
Eventually, Lincoln decided in favor of emancipation because the war was taking a terrible toll and if freeing the slaves would help weaken the South, then he would do it.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

13. Calls For Emancipation
Lincoln knew the Southern economy depended on slave labor. Without it, the South would grow weak and be easier to defeat.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

14. Calls For Emancipation
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in Confederate territory. Unfortunately, it freed very few slaves because those liberated live in areas too far away from Union troops which could enforce the proclamation. So why didn’t he free all the slaves in the nation?
Mayflower Compact = self rule

15. Calls For Emancipation
The answer was in the Constitution! Because freeing southern slaves weakened the Confederacy, the proclamation could be seen as a military action. As commander-in-chief, Lincoln had this authority.
The Constitution did not give the President the power to free slaves in the Union states.
President Lincoln did however ask Congress to legally abolish slavery throughout the U.S.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

16. The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was an important symbolic measure; the Civil War was now a war of liberation.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

17. Calls For Emancipation
Abolitionists like Frederick Douglass convinced Lincoln that making abolition a goal of the war would cause tens of thousands of free blacks to enlist in the Union army.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

18. Response to the Proclamation
Abolitionists were thrilled with the proclamation! Northern Democrats were worried that the proclamation would make the war last longer by continuing to anger the South.

19. Response to the Proclamation
Most Union soldiers welcomed emancipation because it would help to weaken the South.
Southern whites were outraged; emancipation threatened their way of life!

20. Response to the Proclamation
With so many Southern men away fighting far from the plantations, news of the proclamation caused slaves to become defiant and disobedient.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

21. Response to the Proclamation
Whenever the Northern armies drew near, many slaves ran away to Union lines, depriving the Confederacy of labor.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

22. African American Soldiers
The Emancipation Proclamation declared that African American men willing to fight could enlist in the Union military.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

23. African American Soldiers
After emancipation, African Americans rushed to join the army. During the course of the war, over 180,000 African-American soldiers fought for the Union army.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

24. African American Soldiers
African-American soldiers fought in all-African-American units led by white officers.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

25. African American Soldiers
African Americans often were assigned the worst jobs and paid less than white soldiers.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

26. African American Soldiers
But on the battlefield, their courage and dedication was second to none.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

27. The 54th Massachusetts
The 54th Massachusetts was the most famous African-American regiment of the war
Mayflower Compact = self rule

28. The 54th Massachusetts Why was this regiment so famous?
1,007 soldiers were sent to take Fort Wagner, South Carolina in July,1863.
Two of Abolitionist Frederick Douglas’ sons were there to fight. They didn’t know 1,700 Confederate soldiers waited inside the fort. They were outmanned and outgunned.
280 men, including Colonel Shaw who led the soldiers, were killed as they climbed over the wall of the fort
Mayflower Compact = self rule

29. The 54th Massachusetts
Sergeant W.H. Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at Fort Wagner.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

30. African American Soldiers
If captured African Americans faced greater danger than whites.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

31. African American Soldiers
Southerners rarely took African Americans as prisoners. They were often executed or returned to slavery.
Mayflower Compact = self rule

32. Ch Summary
How did ending slavery become an important goal of the Civil War?
Ending slavery became an important goal of the Civil War when _________________
Mayflower Compact = self rule