The Role of African Americans in the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln always believed that slaves should be emancipated, he created a program in which they would be freed gradually. Early in his presidency, still convinced that gradual emancipation was the best course, he tried to win over legislators. To gain support, he proposed that slave owners be compensated for giving up their "property." This was not helping to gain support. In September of 1862, after the Union's victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary decree stating that, unless the rebellious states returned to the Union by January 1, freedom would be granted to slaves within those states. The decree also left room for a plan of compensated emancipation. No Confederate states took the offer, and on January 1, Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared, "all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the United States. Rather, it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control. William Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, commented, "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free." Lincoln was fully aware of the irony, but he did not want to antagonize the slave states loyal to the Union by setting their slaves free. The proclamation allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union -- soldiers that were desperately needed. It also tied the issue of slavery directly to the war. After the Emancipation Proclamation, came three amendments very important to the reuniting and rebuilding of the United States. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. In the 14th, African Americans were made citizens of the United States. It guaranteed that no state could deny life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The 15th amendment states that no state can deny the right to vote on account of race, color, or precious condition of servitude. Also, the 54th Regiment helped to ensure that blacks were granted the same rights as whites. It allowed blacks to serve in the military along side of white people. Even though these laws were in place many white southerners found loop holes to keep discriminating against blacks. African Americans, even though legally equal to whites, still were not treated the same.