1. A Call For Freedom

2.  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.

3.  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.

4.  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.

5.  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.

6.  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.

7.  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.

8.  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 1864.  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.