On April 12th 1861, Confederate forces fired on a Union navy vessel trying to resupply Fort Sumter, setting off the American Civil War. Over time, African Americans gained more and more freedom thanks to federal programs like Freedmen's Bureau aiding them and setting up schools as well as assistance from various northern philanthropic agencies.
Most northerners did not wage war to end slavery, but rather sought ways to limit it.
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The Origins of Slavery
Slavery is an exploitation system in which individuals are purchased and exploited for their labor; whether paid for or unpaid. Enslaved persons may also be subjected to punishment such as whipping. Slavery can either be temporary or permanent in nature and it remains unequal since enslaved individuals do not share equal rights with their owners. Slavery does not form part of human existence and should be seen as both evil and morally unacceptable behavior.
Plantation-style slavery reached its zenith in North America. Under this model, large tracts of land were utilized to produce one single commodity such as cotton or tobacco for sale on large plantations farms utilizing slave labor as production workers. Such operations relied heavily on profits generated through sales.
Plantation owners were able to keep slaves under control through strict rules and codes that dictated how they should behave and where they could not go. Obedient slaves were rewarded with favors while rebellious ones received harsh punishment. Furthermore, plantations owners created a strict hierarchy where house workers and skilled artisans received greater favor than field hands or women slaves enslaved as field hands; husbands and wives would frequently be separated, and children born to slave parents usually became property of the master.
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, opposition to slavery spread rapidly across America. Many opposed it on moral grounds while others worried that too many African slaves imported would create economic instability. As a result, federal legislation that significantly limited slavery came into effect with a ban on transatlantic slave trading, effective from 1808 onward.
Southerners became increasingly defensive of slavery as time progressed. They claimed blacks were incapable of caring for themselves and that slavery provided essential services while also introducing Christianity. Furthermore, this claim made more money than any other business venture - however this reasoning had several flaws.
Slavery in the North
Before the Civil War, most Northerners owned no slaves and believed slavery undermined the Declaration of Independence's promise of equal treatment of men. Thus they increasingly voted Republican candidates who opposed expanding slavery into new territories while at the same time trying to limit federal power by curbing excessive spending and war profiteering.
In the 1850s, however, tensions heightened between North and South over slavery. A new party called the Republican Party emerged in the North as its central issue: prohibition of slavery within territories they controlled. This policy led to tremendous anger within Southern political leaders who embraced rapid industrialization to further expand their territory and their position within it.
As a response, Democratic leadership of Congress passed the Wilmot Proviso bill that specified slavery should not exist in any territory acquired from Mexico. Southern strength ultimately overrode this proposal and South Carolina Senator John Calhoun led by example by pushing through popular sovereignty legislation which overruled congressional edicts on slavery - setting up the nation on an inevitable collision course with slavery.
As the war progressed, the South cemented its hold on power while Northerners became dissatisfied with Washington's corruption and inefficiency, fearing an influx of freed black laborers into their labor market. Meanwhile, Southerners increasingly turned to religion for support of slavery while their children spent less time attending school due to farm or field duties requiring their attention.
Slaveholders generally used labor roles as a means to control their slave population, from house workers and skilled artisans to lowly field hands. Disobedience was punished severely while any involvement in sexual acts outside authorized limits led to swift punishments from Slaveholders.
However, slaves resisted their captors' efforts to keep them submissive through various protest tactics such as faking illness and work slowdowns; sabotage of machinery; even murder. Many slaves on more violent plantations joined interracial abolitionist movements.
Slavery in the South
The Southern economy was driven by tobacco, rice and cotton production - and slave workers were an essential component in its prosperity. Planters often invested their greatest wealth into slave labor while slaves produced enough cotton to rival even some of the nation's biggest manufacturing centers in the North.
Southern slaves lived under brutal and deplorable conditions. Slave owners enforced restrictive codes and rules in order to monitor the activities of their charges, creating hierarchies from house servants to skilled artisans to lowly field hands. Obedient slaves received preferential treatment while those engaging in rebellious activity faced severe beatings or even death penalties from masters.
Enslaved women were particularly susceptible to disease, often suffering from multiple illnesses that significantly decreased their lifespan and resulted in half as many years lived by white Americans. Common symptoms for enslaved people included rashes, eye problems and malnutrition; babies and children commonly experienced diarrheal illness due to whooping cough; while babies experienced diarrhea. Children often experienced diarrheal illness along with respiratory infections such as whooping cough; many also died young due to tuberculosis or other infectious conditions like tuberculosis or other infectious causes.
Slaves' daily work taxed both their physical and mental capacities to the limit. Their arduous pace caused great amounts of strain, with heavy machinery constantly abusing their bodies along with constant manual labor.
Many enslaved people struggled to maintain hope of freedom. Some broke free as fugitives or rebels. Others joined church groups that granted some level of independence - for instance in Virginia some Protestant churches permitted black congregants to meet independently without master permission and choose their pastors and deacons themselves.
During the Civil War, slaves became an integral part of military life. Some slave men and women were hired as nurses, cooks, laundresses, laundries and others to work at Union army hospitals; others were leased directly to individual officers or by Confederate medical departments, which used hundreds of female and male workers as caretakers for wounded soldiers.
Emancipating slaves had long been an aim of northern and western leaders, but due to war and secessionist tendencies of Southern states it became an issue that dominated national politics. Abraham Lincoln made this issue central to Union efforts in winning the Civil War with his September 1862 Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and January 1863 final Emancipation Proclamations issued on September and January respectively.
Slavery during the Civil War
Four centuries after slavery's end, its legacy remains one of the most influential periods in American history. Slavery played an essential role in shaping both its political and cultural development; our conception of America; our views about race; as well as how we see America as a melting pot where anyone can achieve greatness.
The American Civil War dramatically transformed enslaved people. While most slaves remained on their owners' plantations, thousands escaped for freedom - taking advantage of frequent Union army incursions into Virginia during the conflict. Areas near Union troops like Richmond, Henrico County and Rappahannock County experienced greater losses; Union forces captured 61% of adult male population by March 1865!
Others managed to escape by joining the Confederate military, which included many runaway children; others joined church groups that helped them flee; yet still others found work with government organizations such as Confederate Department of Engineers' engineering bureau who employed many enslaved people who defended cities and towns against Union attacks until late in the war.
War had made emancipation an urgent national priority, and its resolution prompted Northern Congressmen to support the Wilmot Proviso which stipulated that slavery would not be legal in any territory acquired from Mexico; however, Southern senators opposed its implementation.
As slave societies developed, their laws imposed strict class and color distinctions. Owners used violence to boost productivity and avoid rebellions; poor whites were required to serve in militia duty in order to police slave populations. While insurrections were rare, workers sometimes faked illness or caused production delays as a form of protest; other times they damaged equipment intentionally or committed acts such as arson and murder as ways to protest their situation.
After the Civil War had concluded, one way of addressing how to treat former slaves was through the Freedmen's Bureau, established in 1863 from previous work by an Inquiry Commission authorized by Secretary of War in March of that year.
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