![]() However, it was the initial step towards ending slavery. They were property seized to hurt the Confederate war effort and aid the Union. Contraband status was not full freedom or full citizenship. The outbreak of war allowed Union officers to consider these fugitives as “contrabands of war” and refuse their return to their masters. While the federal government was not initially concerned with the status of enslaved people, runaways now in its camps forced reconsideration. This number soon rose to thousands, reaching hundreds of thousands by the end of the war. Immediately, hundreds of African Americans escaped enslavement and fled to Union lines. As soon as it began, news of the war spread through Black communities across the South. However, African Americans forced the federal government to reconsider the status of the enslaved through their own actions. When he first called for volunteer soldiers to crush the rebellion, the war was a conflict between white men, with little consideration for enslaved African and Native Americans. ![]() Lincoln wanted first and foremost to preserve the United States. Slaveholding states in the South seceded out of fear of slavery’s destruction after Abraham Lincoln was elected President. ![]() When the eleven Southern states seceded from the Union, however, the federal government did not plan to end slavery. The enslavement of African Americans was the root cause of the American Civil War.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |