Emancipation Proclamation DBQ Essay
By: Sofia Fornaca
When I was little, I’ll have to admit that I knew absolutely nothing about the Emancipation Proclamation, and just the Civil War in general. I thought the Civil War was just “another war,” and I can’t help but feel ignorant for not educating myself further. I didn’t seem to realize that it was a pretty brutal battle. The North wanted to abolish slavery, agitating the South. Abraham Lincoln, our president at the time, had seen the cruelty of slavery, and thought it was morally wrong, but he wanted his main goal in the war to be to keep the United States as one, and not let the South break free as their own nation. After 2 years of the bloody war, people were starting to ask themselves,
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It was then that Licoln created the Emancipation Proclamation. In the document, he told all slaves in the South that they were free, including Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. However, the border states, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were states Lincoln didn’t free the slaves in, in order to retain their loyalty and not anger them enough to make them want to secede from the Nation. In order for a slave to be freed in the South, they had to sneak out, and as long as they were not caught trying to flee the South, they were free. Seems like a good play off of Lincoln, right? However, the Emancipation Proclamation is in controversy. Some people believe that slaves freed themselves, while …show more content…
As I was reading Frederick Douglass's work, I came across the following, “ and, at his suggestion, agreed to organize men who would go into the rebel states, and carried the news of emancipation, and urge the slaves to come within our boundaries.” I know I said above that slaves had to escape themselves, but this shows that Lincoln was actually trying to help out the slaves by sending people to tell them about the Emancipation Proclamation. It shows that he really thought slavery was morally wrong, and actually really wanted to help them. I'm also going to use a quote from my second paragraph, and go a little bit more in depth about it; “... I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor Faithfully for reasonable wages.” Lincoln was not only trying to free the slaves but also offer them jobs! If he really was just trying to free the slaves to join his army, then why would he be giving them the opportunity to have jobs in the first place? So not only did he want to free the slaves but he wanted them to be successful! I'm also going to use something I used from my third paragraph, except I'm going to kind of use it in a different meaning. At the very end of a text written by Frederick Douglass, he says, “I refer to this conversation because I think that, on Mr. Lincoln's part, it is
In fact, in August of 1861 when Union General John Fremont adopted martial law in Missouri stating that anyone resisting the Federal army would have their slaves freed, Lincoln nullified it and even striped Fremont of his position (33-34). Lincoln continued to show that he very well never had any intentions of freeing the slaves with his acts against emancipation such as this. His entire position on slavery relied entirely on saving the Union. The facts of this in DiLorenzo book is unwavering and solid on this from the continued testimony of historical
Even though the Northern states wanted to end slavery they also benefitted from it as well by making a profit off of the cotton grown by slaves, however, both the North and South were pretty racist regardless of their views on slavery. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” You can tell that Lincoln is exhausted mentally, emotionally and financially, due to the fact that he’s sending in soldiers who are dying and the huge financial burden of war. However, it seems that he believes that the war shall not end until the price has been paid in full for the sin of slavery and goes on to say that if it’s God’s plan for it to continue than that’s what will happen until he determines whether or not the debt is/was paid. Slavery was very violent and would ultimately die a very violent death as
In the history textbooks of today’s educational institution, within the pages somewhere you can locate it stating either directly or indirectly that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Although that point is arguably true, you have to analyze his true motives and reasoning behind the emancipation proclamation. It’s understood that the primary object of the civil war was to preserve and restore the union over all states. Although, this was arguably the original reason, a disclosure made by Colonel Baldwin of the aims of the head of that party, are sufficient to prove that the real purpose was for other than the fabrication - to enlarge and perpetuate the power of his faction. Before the Civil war began Abraham Lincoln was clear about his focal
He was against slavery but he felt like if he spoke up it would not help that much. Lincoln knew that freeing the slaves will not be an overnight process. And that it would take a very long time even taking a century for slaves to be completely free. In document number three Abraham Lincoln’s eulogy for Henry Clay he explained how Henry Clay’s act for freeing slaves in kentucky supported a bigger clause. And, how he was setting the right direction for their future “countrymen” to follow.
In the summer of 1862, Lincoln said himself, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” However this was before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The same summer he said this, the border states had rejected compensated emancipation. This was when he realized that the emancipation of slaves was important. He stressed that emancipation would “strike at the heart of the rebellion.’’
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
Struggle for Change Abraham Lincoln wanted for slavery to be ended because he found it unfair to the African Americans who were imprisoned. He wanted for Congress to pass the thirteenth amendment for the abolishment of slavery. Lincoln made sure that Congress and the southern states understood that he wouldn’t give up until he got what he wanted, slavery to be abolished. Getting slavery abolished was a difficult task for many reasons. Abraham Lincoln wanted to end slavery, but it was a problem among many to resolve during the Civil War (Blair 1754).
As stated by “The 1860 Presidential Election”, “the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln were morally opposed to slavery” (5). This means that he is notoriously against slavery, but not abolitionist. This trait becomes especially apparent when “Slavery, Civil War, and Democracy: What Did Lincoln Believe?” mentions that, “Lincoln strongly believed slavery was ‘a great evil.’... Lincoln preferred to emancipate the slaves gradually by compensating their owners with federal funds”
According to Allen Guelzo, Lincoln’s goal was to preserve the Union to be able to introduce emancipation into people’s lives, and to undermine the Confederacy by targeting their labor force and encouraging enslaved individuals to seek freedom by joining the Union with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln said that “In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free”, what it means is that by granting freedom to enslaved people, the one already free will see their liberty strengthened and thus the Proclamation would provide benefits for everyone. In a 2013 interview Guelzo explained that “There has been a current that wants to reject the image of Lincoln as the Emancipator by questioning whether or not he emancipated the
He believes that both own slaves and believing against owning slaves are ideas that cannot coincide in America. Lincoln’s whole point to his speech is to show that divided, we cannot stand as one. The only way Lincoln suggests to fix it is to let it come to a point where one wins over the other or to overthrow the dynasty. Lincoln says, “To meet and overthrow the power of that dynasty, is the work now before all those who would prevent that
However, he had to do a lot to get to that moment. For Example, Lincoln had to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation allowed all people held as slaves in the South or Confederate States are from now on free. Lincoln thought the Civil war was a clash for the Union, not a conflict against slavery. Slaves could also enlist in the army to help out with the Civil war.
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to keep the Union of the nation together, basically trying to hold the country together. Even though he stated this many times before, southern states still believe that he would take away their slaves. Which they are half correct on that statement, Lincoln having said “My main object in this struggle is to save the Union. It is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it.
President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is
In fact he said that if he could save the Union without freeing any slaves he would do it. Lincoln did believe that all men (including black men) should have the right to improve their condition in society and to get paid for their labor. However, he did not believe that black men could
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.