...the South were freed so that they could join the army. The Border States including Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky were not included in the Emancipation Proclamation. The Civil War was not a war to end slavery it was a war to get the South to join the Union once again. “That aim remained the restoration of the Union, but the Emancipation Proclamation meant that it would be a transformed Union, one without slavery” (Crowther, Edward R.”Emancipation Proclamation”.14 Mar.2012) Many believe that even if the Emancipation was not signed that slavery would of come to an end. But the question is was the Emancipation Proclamation needed to win the Civil war? The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in states rebelling against the Union, but the slaves in the Union and Border States were not at all affected by the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war strategy that Lincoln hoped would help him win the war. As Lincoln stated many times, he was not trying to abolish slavery in the beginning of the war but he would do anything to put the country back together with or without slavery. The Emancipations Proclamation did not actually free any slaves but it freed slaves for a short term period until the war was over. To actually free slaves Lincoln would need to win the war because he was not legally able to confiscate the South’s property because they had seceded from the Union. On January 1, 1862 Lincoln signed the final draft of the Emancipation...
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...The reconstruction period was a time when American waged a sustained debate over who was an American, what rights should all American s enjoy, and what rights would only some Americans possess. During this time many African Americans were released from slavery. They had to find a way to survive on their own. During the reconstruction period, America had to adjust back to the way of life before slavery and the Civil War. Throughout the article “Reconstructions and the Formerly Enslaved,” it discussed the dispute between the north and the south, the civil war, freeing of the slaves, citizenship, and economy in the south. While slave were trying to be freed, there was a huge dispute between the north and the south. White Americans in the north believed the slaves should be freed. They supported the idea of allowing the slave Americans to have a free and prosperous life. The white Americans in the south totally disagreed with the idea of freeing the slaves. Whites in the south did not agree because they would lose their biggest source of income and the productivity of their crops. They thought that it would hurt them economically because they would not have the free labor...
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...Civil War and Slavery January 30, 2011 HIS 325: African American History Civil War and Slavery The decade of 1850s was a very fateful and turbulent time in the US history. This is when the seeds of the US Civil War began due to the North and the South disagreeing on the status of the slaves and the idea of slavery. The South had many plantations that were run by the slaves and the North was in favor of abolishing slavery. The South knew that if slavery was abolished, they would stand to lose a lot as they would have to pay their farmers instead of them being their slaves. The North was more industrialized and it really did not have much need for slaves and slavery. It is perhaps most interesting to note that slavery had a very direct relation with the Civil War as one of the root causes for the start of the war was because of slavery. Slavery was introduced in the America during the early colonial times and the American Revolution had established that all men should be equal. There was a lot of debate amongst the Americans and the North and the South came across a rift when it came to the ideas regarding slavery. The South had more plantations and needed more workers and this is why they favored slavery. The North had different ideas and they wanted the freedom of the slaves. This caused a rift and was the cause of the Civil War between the North and the South. The South really needed the slaves to work on...
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...Sean Flores Mr. Drummond American Government December 1, 2015 The fight for rights and freedoms for African Americans has been a long and painful one. It goes all the way back to the pre-civil war area were all African Americans were slaves around white civilian households. During that time it was normal to have slaves but little did they know a civil war and reconstruction would occur that would help slowly lead to change in the way of life for not only African Americans but also white civilians. Some states will fight to keep their right to contain slaves while others fight to free them but eventually slowly it will lead to how we know African Americans today which is U.S. Citizens. Pre-civil war slaves had little to no rights. They were bought from their mainland and then sold here on U.S. soil for usually labor purposes. They would work on huge plantations such as tobacco, cotton, and rice plantations. These were mainly in the south because these plantations required a lot of labor but in the north it didn’t become as widespread because there were little farms and people made a living off of manufacturing goods. During this time people would defend slavery by saying it was a necessary evil or that it was a good thing to have slaves because it helped everyone involved. This would cause some friction between people in the north who thought slavery was wrong and people in the south who relied on slavery to run their plantations. Even though slowly congress would try...
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...How have African-Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights? For centuries, African Americans have played and continue to play a significant role in American history. While today, African American no longer face the laws of segregation and discrimination, they continue to fight for equality and civil rights. This continued fight is one of a long past with several triumphs and tragedies all which are an integral part of history. This essay will discuss how African Americans worked to end slavery, segregation, discrimination, freedom, and isolation. It will also discuss what led to the civil right implementation and how it was executed. Equal rights for African Americans have been contentious, and fought for decades. They have fought to impede ethic discrimination, gain equal opportunity and their civil rights since slavery in the 1600s. When slavery started in 1620s, African Americans only made up about 3 to 4 percent of the population in America. Although the number grew slowly at first, by the end of the 17th century, the population of African American slave grew to well over 650,000. (Becker, 2000) In America, slave labor became the key component in agriculture and booming capitalist economy of the 17th & 18th centuries. (County, 1999) In the beginning, Africans were exchanged for food and place as “indentured servants” by the Dutch. This practice was also true for many poor Englishmen who were...
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...The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 Leonard Stinson HIS204: American History Since 1865 Instructor John Durr December 5th, 2011 The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 This was a time when America was trying to find herself. These were the years known as the Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877. During this time period, the African-American people became free from slavery but one can only imagine what free really is. While the nation search for ways to establish true meaning of equality, African-American people continued to struggle to find out just what equality means and to have the same rights and freedom as the white people in the nation. Whether as slaves or free people, the political and social status of African Americans has always been to obtain the ability to participate in the nation’s economy. While many historians believe that slavery and politics can be attributed to the Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died and with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation to start the motion to free the slaves, America became even more a divided country in 1865 than the previous earlier years (Bowles, 2011). Although freedom in the post-Civil War years did not guarantee equality, African Americans continued to struggle from racism, segregation and discrimination for many years, but the birth of equality is beginning to grow and show that all men and women are created equal. The effort to integrate...
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...events that happened between the beginning of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era forced our government to step up and make decisions that would further shape the future development of our country. The United States Government was set in place to maintain a certain measure of control for the country. The Government regulates schools, businesses, utilities and modes of transportation and is necessary to maintain a certain standard of living. Since the formation of this country, there have been many changes to our Government to aid in our growth. Although, there have been incidences where the Government had to be more autonomous based on certain situations that arose. The Civil War, the acts that were passed, the reconstruction period after the war and the Civil Rights Movement for total equality were very important incidents that shaped the way the United States is today. The American Civil War had occurred because of different views and opinions between Americans. The U.S. Federal Government was supported by twenty mostly Northern free states where slavery had already been abolished and by five states that had become known as the Border States. It had taken four years but the Confederacy had surrendered and slavery was abolished everywhere in the nation. In the events leading up to the war, during the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states that had already abolished...
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...a long and hard move for the South. In the 1800s-1900’s segregation was enforced to keep African Americans separated from whites. During this time African Americans had to deal with the symbols of what was called Jim Crow’s, (Whites Only and Colored Only) signs; which are found today in museums, old photographs, and documentaries. Now since an African American has been elected President of the United States, a person could say segregation seems as old-fashioned and distant as watching an old black and white television. Although, the major challenge is to explain the reasons for the legacy of segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights, that African Americans worked to end. The best way to describe the shape of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, “according to eminent historian Robert Wiebe, the answer was isolated island communities,” (Bowles, 2011, Section 1.1, Para 1). Wiebe used the symbol of the island because cities were very much separated and isolated from each other and had a weak system of communication between them. The time came, after the divisiveness and devastation of the Civil War, when the nation searched for order economically, politically, geographically, and racially. Although, emancipation came during the Civil War, nearly 4 million freed slaves struggled to make a home for themselves as citizens during a period known as Reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 to 1877. “Though Reconstruction was...
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... Tiffany R. Sims African American Art Dr. Akua McDaniel 11/20/12 Struggle. Hope. Change. Since the colonial period, and even many years before this time period, African-American people struggled with inequality, lack of rights, and racial injustice. This struggle came to a historical high during The Civil War in the 1860’s. With much effort and persistence, the war ended and slavery was abolished in the nation. The result brought hope to black people in the United States. This newfound faith amongst black people was captured in many different forms, such as propaganda, literature, and most importantly, art. Two black, female artists portrayed this spirit in the forms of sculptures. During the Post-Civil War era, Edmonia Lewis and Meta Warrick Fuller created works that symbolized the struggle for freedom, hope for the future, and a need for change for African-American people. The American Civil War was arguably one of the most deadliest and important events in the nation’s history. Political tensions came to an all-time high and caused a split and war amongst the States from 1861-1865. Slavery was a root cause of the war. The North, also known as the Union, was fighting for the abolishment of slavery while the South, also known as the Confederacy, was fighting to preserve slavery laws in the nation. In the end, the North prevailed and laws were made to end slavery and give black people the rights and privileges they deserved. The end of the war brought about a new...
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...References acadamia.com, studymode.com, Franklin, J., & Moss Jr., A. (2000). From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans. Eighth Edition. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Lawson, Steven F. “Segregation.” Freedom’s Story, Teacher Serve©. National Humanities Center. Retrieved on July 7, 2012. http://www.history.com/topics/slavery. NAACP: 100 Years of History. Retrieved from http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history My Dearest Friend Charlotte, It is nice to hear from you after all these years that we have been apart and gotten so busy in our lives to keep in regular contact. I am glad to hear that things are going so very well for you and your family. In your last letter I read that you would like to knowmore about my race and would like to use some of it for your paper for your class. I would be very happy to share some insight on my race and give you some background information on African Americans. The African decent has shaped the course of American history for over 500 years, such as the fight against slavery to the March on Washington. In the early 17th century white European settlers turned and went from indentured servants, which were mostly poorer Europeans to a cheaper labor source: the African slaves (History, 2009). In 1619 a Dutch ship brought 10 Africans to the British colony on Jamestown, Virginia. From that time on slavery spread quickly throughout the American colonies. The Stono Uprising in September of 1739 in South Carolina was the...
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...Do you know how the 15th Amendment was treated, and how people avoided it. The 15th amendment allowed the black to vote and if it wasn’t for the civil war African Americans still might not be able to vote. The 15th Amendment was passed by Representatives on February 25, 1869 by a vote of 39 to 13. The amendment did help a lot of slaves, but even though they were given the right to vote, some people put obstacles in their way. A poll tax, which is a tax put on voting, block slaves from voting (poll tax). Most slaves didn’t have much money so, putting a tax on voting, targeted most African Americans from voting. Even though most slave couldn’t make money, some could make money by having special abilities or such. Those how made money though, would usually want to spend it on their freedom not on voting. Poll taxes were pretty harsh, but there were still some that are way worse....
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...Essay on African American History Introduction In the essay “On the Evolution of Scholarship in Afro- American History” the eminent historian John Hope Franklin declared “Every generation has the opportunity to write its own history, and indeed it is obliged to do so.”1 The social and political revolutions of 1960s have made fulfilling such a responsibility less daunting than ever. Invaluable references, including Darlene Clark Hine, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); Evelyn Brooks Higgingbotham, ed., Harvard Guide to African American History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001); Arvarh E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., eds., The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001); and Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, eds., Dictionary of Afro- American Slavery (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1988), provide informative narratives along with expansive bibliographies. General texts covering major historical events with attention to chronology include John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000), considered a classic; along with Joe William Trotter, Jr., The African American 1  Experience (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001); and, Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold, The African American...
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...merica's Post Civil War America’s Post Civil War Growing Pains HIS 105 – Contemporary U.S. History January 30, 2013 “America’s post civil war growing pains” In 1619, African-Americans were forced into slavery and roughly 244 years later, in 1863, as the nation approached its third year of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that all persons held as slaves were to be freed (U.S. National Archives & Record Administration, 2013). Despite the vague verbiage of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln, the proclamation was repressed in many ways and did not end slavery as implied, or intended (Freeman, J., 2011). In January of 1865, began the downfall of the Confederacy. In the U.S., post Civil War, Reconstruction began abolishing slavery (Freeman, J., 2011). The Union victory at War promised a new future for the South's 4,000,000 freed African-American men, women and children, who were once slaves (Freeman, J., 2011). After the Civil War ended in May 1865, freedom was to put forth new opportunities for the newly freed African-American slaves (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The year following the Civil War, congress passed the Civil Rights act of 1866 (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every...
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...In the 1800’s, slavery was a crucial dispute in the United States. It was the hopes and dreams of many that the Civil War would completely abolish slavery. Even though slavery was made illegal in 1865 after the Civil War ended, African Americans did not acquire freedom during the era of Reconstruction. African Americans did not attain independence partially because of disenfranchisement. For example, it was obligatory to pay a poll tax if they had the desire to register to vote. In innumerable cases, the tax was not affordable for African Americans anyhow. Additionally, African Americans would have had to take a literacy test. This discriminatory examination was made to purposely fail African Americans, generating the idea that they couldn’t vote. According to document J, “she had to take a literacy test and pay a poll tax of $1.50, a sum worth about $25 today.” Lastly, the Grandfather Clause exempted voters from those registrations if their grandfathers had voted, undoubtedly eradicating blacks. Disenfranchisement during the era of Reconstruction was one considerable justification why African Americans...
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...The American Civil War, simply know as the Civil War throughout the United States was fought from 1861 to 1865. It was a fight between the north and the south, formally referred to as the Confederacy and the Union. The origin of the war revolved around the pressing issue of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into the western territories. In 1865, after four years of bloodshed that left over 600,000 Confederate and Union soldiers dead, the Confederacy collapsed and much of the south’s infrastructure had been destroyed. The Civil War had come to an end. Slavery was abolished and the difficult process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing civil rights to the freed slaves began. This period is noted in history as the Reconstruction Era. Working towards a progressive tomorrow, the American Civil War marked the start of a dramatic shift in America’s thinking. At the start of the Reconstruction Era (post Civil War), the South was left torn apart. Roads and houses needed to be rebuilt and the people needed assistance. From 1863 to 1865, presidents Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln took adequate steps designed solely for the purpose of bringing the South back to a level of economic stability. Radical Republicans consisted of American politicians within the Republican Party. They supported the rights of African Americans to vote, hold political office, and have the same economic and legal freedoms and opportunities as the whites. During the whole of the Reconstruction...
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