One of the major turning points in United States history occurred on January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted. After the civil war, the country was split between Union and Confederate States which further divided the country. A number of white supremacy groups began to flourish in the post war south, specifically The White League and the Ku Klux Klan. Various legislative orders were enacted due to these groups. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Enforcement Acts changed the frame of the post war south. After the civil war the country was divided into two distinctive parts, the Union States (northern part of the country) and the Confederate States (southern part of the country). The Union States took the stance of …show more content…
It stated, “that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious areas are, and henceforward should be free.” 1 This was an important document because it was the start of some freedom for the slaves in the south. However, this document was more useful for the slaves that lived in the South; it did not help the slaves who lived in the Border States or Union States. This document included only the states that had already seceded from the Union, those who were in ‘rebellion’. This document was powerful because it gave hope to slaves, a chance for a better life. Even though this document did not fully guarantee freedom for the slaves in the North, it was a start at ending slavery. It also had an unintended consequence; it created a bigger divide in the country, over whether slaves should be free or …show more content…
For example, one major limitation was that it only provided freedom for slaves in the Southern states, although the Border States and Union States were excluded. For example, the Border States of Tennessee was excluded from the order because it was already under Union Control at the time and was not in rebellion. As mentioned earlier, t it further divided the country into people who supported the freedom of the slave’s verses those who did not. In the Proclamation it allowed African American’s to join the army. This was a major development for the Union Army, because they now had more troops to help fight the Confederacy, which led to the development of the United States Colored Troops. This was another large victory for the freedom of African
Thus, the South desired their lifestyle to be left alone, and if refused, the Constitution would be violated in one portion, which provoked the mentality to succeed from the union (Doc G). While the South argued for the right to own slaves since the idea of property is linked to the constitution, the North used the Constitution to prove that slavery was unconstitutional. Proven through the strict interpretation of the Constitution,as the word ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not written anywhere within the Constitution. Therefore, these slaves are not protected by the government, and the Union does not stand with these Slaveholders (Doc E). In regards to differing viewpoints between the Confederacy and Union, the Constitution was bound to break under the pressure of slavery.
Frederick Douglass, who was a towering figure of the abolitionist movement, initially believed the United States Constitution was pro-slavery. In Douglass’s article written in 1849, he enumerates the Article 1, section 2 to explain the clause of three fifth is just to compromise on the huge amount of slaveries but not for giving slavery with practical power. Afterward, he changed his view that a black man is indeed worth a complete person in a free State. Moreover, Douglass argues that the first article, ninth section of the Constitution is an authorization of the slave trade over twenty years. However, Williams points out that Douglass claims the Constitution is not encouraging slavery, whereas it is encouraging to gain freedom which means
It is true to say that by the 1850’s the Constitution went from an instrument of unity to a source of tension, and lead to the failure of the union. The Constitution originally helped maintain peace, but when issues over slavery appeared, it failed to provide the guidance the union needed. Because of differing interpretations of the Constitution and the multiple conflicts, it lead to disunion. Because not everyone could agree on what the constitution implied, it led to the failure of the union. Document E states: “The words ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not to be found in the Constitution, and therefore that it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system, it is sufficient to reply..
This proclamation stated that all people held as slaves, in the rebellious states, are and will be free. This was written after about 3 years of fighting in the civil war. The confederates in the south didn’t want to give up the privilege
In the declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention , it was stated “that every american citizen who retains a human being an involuntary bondage as his property is a man stealer”, and that “slaves ought instantly to be set free”(Document B). Because of this, they also claimed that “congress has a right... to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several states, and to abolish slavery and those portions of our territory which the constitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction”(Document B) .The North was no longer tolerating slavery in any part of the union, which led to turmoil between the North and the South. Also, in the past, the North was known to evade established compromises regarding slavery. Among individuals and the legislators of the North, there has been“a disinclination to perform fully their constitutional duties in regard to the return of persons bound to service with escaped into the free states”.
The Unsuccessful Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 In the time of slavery, the North and the South struggled to find a balance over African Americans civil rights. The United States began to segregate into the Union states, those who did not support slavery, and the Confederate states, those who did support slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was among one of the many acts enforced during this time. It was ultimately unsuccessful in establishing peace between the North and the South because it was not a peace intended act, it was ineffective, and it upset both sides.
Unit 7: DBQ Essay Introduction In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation applied to Southern states only, it politically would not apply to the Northern and Border States; so to have another try at abolishing slavery; in 1864, congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery everywhere, including in the South. Of course this still was not enough for the South, their whole economy is based off of Slavery. Finally, in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, now all the slaves that are free, had to be treated like citizens (1). To avoid giving freedmen full citizenship, southern states began to pass a series of discriminatory state laws collectively known as black codes.
According to Pants: “Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation Act. 1865- Free slaves, but never the less violence continue for a decade, The Reconstruction period, through the Southerner States, racial tension and violence against slaves, the confederate, for instance, the KKK. In the South. Much blood was shredded in the South through the civil war years, freed slaves suffered and a lot of them was killed, by hanging known as lynching, castrating ,burning their homes, churches and even the slaves because they wouldn’t return back to the plantations.
It only applied to states that seceded from the Union, which left slavery in bordering states. It also exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Union control. The most crucial was that the entire proclamation depended completely on the Union military’s victory. The proclamation did transform the character of the war though. Every advancement of the Union expanded the domain of freedom.
As Lincoln had hoped, the Proclamation turned foreign perspective in favor of the Union by gaining the support of anti-slavery countries. The last contribution the supposed emancipation of slaves made to the North was that the slaves in the North were in fact not emancipated at all. The crucial wording of the proclamation indicated that only slaves residing in rebellious states would be freed from that day forth. Slaveholding border states such as Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware were exempted from surrendering their human property. These slaves, who were living on the “good” side of the U.S., would be required to wait until April 8, 1864, the passing of the 13th Amendment.
This was another issue because as the Constitution did not say those who joined the Union had to stay, it left the door open for seceding. The Union tried very hard to keep the South as they made a series of compromises like the Crittenden Amendements, which would allow them the ability to keep slavery
The Emancipation Proclamation established a revolution that changed the law and social status of the African American race. It helped the slaves on their long road to freedom even though it took a while for African Americans to establish the freedom we have today. Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 without the support of any Southern states. While Lincoln was in office South Carolina seceded from the Union as well as six other states and four more threatened to leave. Eventually these eleven states became the confederacy.
Our nation contemporarily hails the Constitution as a protector of the people’s rights — but we often fail to remember that it accomplished grand measures to secure the system of slavery. The year of 1787, when the Constitution was signed, was a year of great tension among members of American society. Vast numbers of people were in support of slavery, and many of its opposers were afraid to speak up about their beliefs. The Constitution attempted to retain a neutral position on the issue, but it ultimately failed by instituting safeguards against the freedom or equal recognition of slaves as members of America.
The institution of slavery became an issue from the very beginning. Many pointed out the hypocrisy of declaring all men were created equal, yet still allowing for certain peoples to be held in bonds. The Declaration of Independence’s author, Thomas Jefferson summed up this feeling in a letter, “The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it.
On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo ’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.