Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

Open Ended

Describe what you see in this image. According to the image, what was Lincoln's role in ending slavery? What were enslaved people's role in ending slavery?

In​ his first speech as president, delivered on March 4, 1861, Lincoln announced that it was his first responsibility to stop the southern states from starting their own country. He wanted to preserve the Union. He also declared that he had no plan to end slavery where it existed, or of getting rid of the Fugitive Slave Law – a position that horrified African Americans and their white allies. President Lincoln insisted that the war was not about slavery or black rights; it was a war to preserve the Union. Most white northerners were not interested in fighting to free slaves or in giving rights to black people. For this reason, the government turned away African American volunteers who rushed to enlist. Lincoln upheld the laws barring blacks from the army, proving to northern whites that their race privilege would not be threatened.

Multiple Choice

What did Abraham Lincoln feel like his main responsibility was at the start of the Civil War?

• Preserve the Union

• End slavery

• Punish the south

• Protect northern economic interests

Multiple Choice

How did the United States treat African American volunteers who tried to fight for the Union?

• They were welcomed into the army.

• They were turned away.

• They were allowed to fight in segregated units.

Multiple Choice

Regents Practice: You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect and defend” it.

When President Abraham Lincoln made this statement, he indicated his commitment to

• allow the Southern States to leave the Union

• defend the institution of slavery throughout the United States

• take strong action to preserve the Union

• make fundamental changes in the United States Government

Slaves did not wait for their freedom to be handed to them. They began forcing the issue themselves. The federal government had a hard time deciding what to do about escaping slaves. As the northern army pushed southward, thousands of fugitives fled across Union lines. Because there was no law about what to do with escaping slaves, Army leaders made their own decisions. Some put them to work for the Union forces; others wanted to return them to their owners. Finally, on August 6, 1861, fugitive slaves were declared to be "contraband of war" if their labor had been used to help the Confederacy in any way. And if found to be contraband, they were declared free.

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Though "contraband" slaves had been declared free, Lincoln continued to insist that this was a war to save the Union, not to free slaves. But by 1862, Lincoln was considering emancipation (freedom for slaves) as a necessary step toward winning the war. The South was using enslaved people to aid the war effort. Black men and women were forced to build fortifications, work as blacksmiths, nurses, boatmen, and laundresses, and to work in factories, hospitals, and armories. In the meantime, the North was refusing to accept the services of black volunteers and freed slaves, the very people who most wanted to defeat the slaveholders.

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Open Ended

According to the text, what roles did slaves play in fighting for their freedom?

On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State in rebellion against the United States, shall be forever free. 

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander- in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States. . .do order and appoint the following States as being in rebellion:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

And I further declare and make known, that such persons will be received into the armed service of the United States.

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Multiple Choice

What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

• Ended slavery everywhere

• Ended slavery in states in rebellion against the U.S.

• Created the 13th Amendment

• Extended slavery into western territories

Open Ended

How does the Emancipation Proclamation show a change in policy toward African Americans?

(Possible sentence starter: "At first . . . , but now, . . . "