African Americans In The Civil War Essay

The civil war had a very profound effect on America and what it has become today. With the civil war many changes took place such as 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. Women’s rights were put forth into motion. Along with Reconstruction laws being passes and the push back that these laws caused. During this time the south became even more divided and started to take things into account and create their own laws in regards to racism.

Despite the many years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the war’s significance was still great enough to have caused such controversy with the public over its meaning. In David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion, the meaning of the war changes throughout the period of Reconstruction not due to the misconception of it solely, but due to what we wanted to interpret from the war (or rather, what we remembered from the war that eventually changed over time). Blight argues, “I am primarily concerned with the ways that contending memories clashed or intermingled in public memory, and not in developing professional historiography of the Civil War” (Blight, Prologue). With this being said, the meaning of the Civil War changed through what people felt and

On June 2 1865 the United States entered into its bloodiest battle it had ever gotten into since the founding of the country. Over 600,000 people died in battle and all over the issue of slavery. When the civil war was over many thought that slavery had ended and that black people would get the freedom that had been wanting. Although the civil war had ended, white southerners kept African Americans as slaves under new laws passed called Black Codes.

In this episode we learn about an African American hero named Robert Smalls. Smalls was a slave who acquired many skills as a slave and used it to his advantage. His will and persistence to one day be free is what gave him his courage. Robert Smalls acquired many trades but the one that set him apart was him becoming a captain on the CSS Planter. Smalls found himself fighting on the wrong side of the war when the Planter was used by the confederates to plant mines, carry ammunition and cargo. Robert strategically planned his escape one night when he and the rest of the slaves were left to watch over the planter. Many slaves were scared of the repercussions if caught. Robert had nothing to lose, his freedom meant more than his life. The mission

The African Americans had a big impact on the Civil War. They had to have all of these laws and papers wrote because of the slavery deal. They had the role of the debate for slavery. They were the slaves and they wanted to have their freedom. The Declaration of Independence said that, “All men are created equal”, but the slaves were not free. They shaped the Civil War by having the Emancipation Proclamation, the fourteenth amendment, and the fifteenth amendment. The consequences would be that at first the newly freed slaves wouldn’t have a place to go, because they never had no money and they didn’t have all their rights yet.

The Civil War is a big part of our nation today. It helped us understand that everyone should be treated equal. Abraham Lincoln was president during this time and he launched the anti-slavery movement against the southern states which was during the 1860s.

Although thousands of African Americans fought for freedom in the war. Many thousands were still enslaved when the war was over. Many planters freed slaves who agreed to fight the British, and General George Washington permitted them to join the Continental Army. He urged their participation in all phases of the war. Even if local militia leaders objected. After the Revolutionary war, many Americans realized that enslaving people did not fit in with the new ideals of liberty and equality. Even before the colonies fought a war for independence which nobody thought they had a chance of winning. Opposition to slavery had been growing. In its aftermath many Northern states took measures to outlaw

In 1975, Michael Shaara wrote one of the most classic Civil War books ever, The Killer Angels. In The Killer Angels, Shaara portrays the perspectives of many soldiers who fought in the Civil War including those from both sides, the North and the South. Civil War soldiers fought for something more than just manhood, duty, government, and their country. They fought for and against slavery, which for most soldiers was their primary motivation beyond defending their home. Slavery for many was more than just an institution, it was the fabric of their economic society that provided the wealth and opportunity to the South. Without slavery the South could not operate and prosper which made it impossible for the notion of emancipation. However, those in the North did not immediately rely on the institution of slavery in such dire manner. For Northerners, empathy was easier to practice. As the notion of emancipation became more widely discussed by politicians during the abolitionist movement tensions between the North and the South rose. The idea that the nation could eradicate the lifeblood of the southern plantations was deemed unacceptable and the southern states felt helpless. The South fought for state’s rights which is synonymous with slavery as that was the most important right they were fighting for, and the North fought to keep the South from seceding, largely due to South’s interest in maintaining slavery as

For years before the Civil War many countries and populations had slaves. Many were innocent people have been enslaved by their religion, their skin, their class, or native culture. For example the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and the Jews by the Nazis all because of religion. Native people in Central America and the Caribbean were taken by the Spanish to work for no pay and for no reason. Others have been enslaved by their skin like in the American Civil War innocent Africans were taken from their homes and forced to work for no pay, their class was very low and no one wanted them as citizens. African Americans used various methods to fight for their freedom during the Civil War such as passing information to the Union Army,

the slaves played a big part in the civil war. The civil war was for four years, from 1861 to 1865. In this battle it was the union against the confederate states of america. the death count in the civil war was more that 620,000, with millions more injured.The north the union army wanted the slaves to be free and to have their own equal rights as a human being. the south, or the confederate states of america , wanted the slaves to work on their plantation and pick cotton. the Missori law that was passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri had to stop having slavary. when In September of 1862, Lincoln declared that unless the Confederate States returned

African Americans had an extremely pivotal role in the outcome and consequences of the Civil War. This group of people were enslaved, and forced to work in horrible conditions, for the whole day, without pay. Slaves were one of the main causes of the Civil War. The issue of Slavery, which resulted in the eventual economic and social division between the North and South, caused the creation of the Confederate States. African Americans did not only unintentionally cause the war, but they also effected the outcome of the war, and the eventual consequences the nation would face after the war. During the war, blacks were used as motivation to fight, they were willing to help fight, and they even worked their way into the politics of the post war

Some black Southerners aided the Confederacy. Most of these were forced to accompany their masters or were forced to toil behind the lines. Black men were not legally allowed to serve as combat soldiers in the Confederate Army--they were cooks, teamsters, and manual laborers. There were no

In the years of the Civil War, African Americans played an important role in contributing to the Union Army and the confederate army. A great deal of African American men volunteered to join the Union Army but only after they gained freedom did they participate in fighting the war. Besides the Union Army, there was the confederate army which consisted of slave labor whom were forced to aid the confederacy following their masters. Later in the war, the Confederacy ran short on men and were in need to supply soldiers, leaving no choice but to enlist the colored men. Not only were African American men impacted from the war, but African American women also served to supply and aid in the war. Often they would accompany the men in their family and provide nursing to those in discomfort. The emancipation proclamation issued during the Civil War gave

While slavery in America was an institution that was started over 400 years ago, the affects were so horrific that it is still felt today by modern day African Americans. Many families had to deal with the constant stress of being sold which made it difficult to have a normal family life. Slaves were sold to pay off debts, an owner dying and his slaves were sold in an estate sale, or when an owner’s children would leave the home to begin a life of their own, they would take slaves with them. Often times, children were not raised by their parents, other family members of someone designated to watch the children because the mother and father had to work long hours and the children were too young to join them.

Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help.