Abolishing Slavery: The Age Of Reasoning

During the late 1800s, because the South had been decimated by the end of the Civil War, .the Reconstruction Period was initiated to aid the South’s recovery. Although the Civil War did abolish slavery and unify the North and the South, the war not resolve racial prejudice, the South’s damage, and the African Americans’ economic instability. The Reconstruction Period was initiated in order to prevent economic instability and the structural ruin, because since slavery was abolished, and the South was completely dependent on slaves, therefore slaves could not work for the South to maintain the economy, and slaves also could not fix up the damages done to the structures done to the South during the war. By starting the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing

The South was afraid that if Abraham Lincoln was elected president that he would abolish slavery. That is not necessarily true because Abraham Lincoln had his own slaves but he just wanted to stop the spread of slavery. He did not want slavery to expand into the North or even to the new territories of the West. The South thought that Lincoln would abolish slavery and the South did not want to do that because they thought that the North would have too much power and they did not want to relinquish all of that power to the North. The slaves in the South were making their slaves owners a lot of money by working hard and not being paid for it.

DBQ The Civil War began in 1861 but the issue of slavery was not the central focus of the war effort. The war began for many political reasons, mainly the aim of the Union side to preserve the Union and make sure it remains together as a country. While the North fought to preserve the Union, the South fought to preserve what they believed to be state rights. During the war, Abraham Lincoln created what is called the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that “all person held as slaves” within rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

He decided to make use of his war powers as president to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which promised freedom to slaves in the southern states. How he gained support for this is an interesting story in itself. He had to not only to secure the support of the soldiers, but also overcome the doubt of many of the influential members of his own political party. Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation was a huge step towards freedom for the slaves, but the amendment was still necessary to guarantee it. Surprisingly, the first effort to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, ending slavery, suffered a defeat in the House of Representatives by a vote of 93 to 65.

Southern congressmen issued what was called “the gag rule”, which prohibited discussion of abolitionist petitions. Thankfully, most of the nation resented the gag rule, as they recognized that it threatened free speech. It wasn’t until 1840 that the first anti-slavery political party, the Liberty Party, was formed. For the majority of abolitionists, this new party opened a big window for action. Among the abolitionists were women who started to realize the “social constraints of their activism” (Faragher

As a compromise, Maine was also admitted. This agreement also established the 36°30 line that allowed no slave states above it. This angered the south because it stopped them from spreading their political views to the rest of the states. Citizens who volunteered for the Confederate army put themselves through unimaginable horrors to protect things very important to them. Texans fought in the Civil War for states rights, sectionalism, and to keep their slaves.

Abraham Lincoln initially wanted to free slaves from the places where Confederacy resided but had to rethink his decision because that would be unfair to the African Americans who were still slaves. Because of the president’s quick thinking and smart planning such came out of the whole ordeal. Things were getting out of hand and were going from bad to worse therefore something had to be done to prevent utter chaos so the president had to step up because it was his duty to lead the United States in the right direction. Drafting the Emancipation Proclamation was an idea that was a last resort because Lincoln did not want to lose the war. As the Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery along the way more soldiers were added to the President’s army which he was the commander in chief of which would lead to victory.

Throughout the 19th century, many African American slaves lived a highly controlled life. They were forbidden from learning to read and write, and their movement and behavior was restricted. In the early 1830s, many people began realizing that slavery was an inhumane practice and antislavery groups started forming. Early antislavery societies believed that slavery had to be stopped gradually. Their primary goal was to put an end to slave trading.

Citizens. Slavery was deemed unconstitutional since beginning of the United States, but racist slave owning politicians interpreted the law to meet their demands. Slaves only purpose was to work the plantations land, not being allowed to be enlightened. After the war to “end slavery” concluded, the civil war was only regain the seceded southern states, not to abolish injustices towards African Americans. African Americans continued to be unrepresented until the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870.

Moreover, when our country was first founded on July 4, 1776, it had many problems, but the most critical one was slavery although back then it was considered acceptable. Throughout the years, this was overlooked and ignored by most until finally, we had a leader who believed in the abolition of slavery in Abraham Lincoln. His views on slavery were met as an abomination to white America as he was threatened to be killed. Eventually, Lincoln passed the 13th amendment in 1835 which eliminated slavery. Because of this, we had a civil war in which the persistent Union army triumphed over the discriminatory Confederate army to officially end slavery.

Southerners in 1861 in South Carolina had seceded from the Union and did not want a Union Fort in the South. Fighting broke out when the Union soldiers refused to surrender Fort Sumter. Initially President Abraham Lincoln wanted to believe that the reason for war was that the North was fighting to save the Union and not to free slaves. Yes, the Civil War was initially about slavery. However, the President and the Confederates tried unsuccessfully to portray that slavery was not the main cause of conflict and that is wasn’t the primary cause of the Civil War.

In fact, his state in him inaugural address that he had to real interest in abolishing slavery, in an attempt to reassure Southerners. Prior to his election, Lincoln took a very similar position when he ran for the US Senate. In his acceptance speech he stated "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free." He then went on to say that "slavery in the United States would eventually have to end everywhere or become legal everywhere in order for the nation to survive." Although Lincoln was not the kind of man to condone or approve of slavery, he did not take a stance against

When Abraham Lincoln became President there was a fear from the southerners that the southern way of life would end. The southerners thought that if the western territories became free states that the Republicans would change the Constitution and make slavery in all areas outlawed and many thought that they would leave the Union before this inflicted upon them. The southerners held back from the division until 1860 when Lincoln became President. In history it is known that South Carolina was the first state that began the secession. “On December 20, 1860, a state convention repealed South Carolina’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution and voted to withdraw from the Union.

I agree with your point. Perhaps, Jefferson realized that slavery was wrong way when it against his principles which he wrote about liberty and happiness of each person in Declaration of Independence. However, Jefferson is fearful of emancipation of the slavery because he knew it would threat to the Americans' life, and obviously he believed that Americans and slaves never can live in the same country. Therefore, as you mentioned, slaves must be removed from the country if they are freed

Jefferson believed that the relationship between master and slave had an unhappy impact on the manners of Americans. It led to violent passions and great despotism. ' Our children see this, and learn to imitate it,' he said. Could the liberties of the nation be secured when the people no longer thought that they were a gift from god? Ultimately, Jefferson feared some shift in fate that would make masters pay for enslaving Africans.