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By: Aruba Chowdhury and Ashley Hollands
The Underground Railroad
The Emancipation
Proclamation
Between 1810-1850, the South lost over 100,000 slaves, likely because of the Underground Railroad. Slaves had a lot of help escaping. For example, John Fairfield was the son of a slaveholder, and he still helped rescue tons of slaves. Levi Coffin also assisted more than 3,000 slaves. And of course, Harriet Tubman made 19 trips back to the South just to escort over 300 slaves to the North and Canada and out of slavery.
The Underground Railroad was a path that led slaves from the South to some parts of the North and Canada. Slaves often traveled at night, going from home to home hiding out at people's houses. These people were called "conductor's." They often offered the slaves food, new clothes, and a temperary home until a message was sent to the next home to let them know there were more people coming. The Underground Railroad was established sometime between 1810-1850.
With the Emancipation Proclamation, the aim of war changed to include the freeing of slaves in addition to serving to Union. By the end of the Civil War, over 200,000 African Americans would honorably serve for the Union because of the proclamation. Initially the proclamation only freed slaves in the rebellious states, but by the end of the war the proclamation influenced and prepared citizens to support and accept abolition for all slaves in both the North and South. It also paved the way for the 13th ammendment, adopted on December 6th, 1865, which officially abolished slavery in the United States.
Slaves were, by law, free after they reached certain parts of the North and Canada. But by white citizens, they weren't treated much differently. Everything from churches, schools, stores, bathrooms, and drinking fountains were segregated: one for the whites, and one for the blacks. What the blacks did get usually wasn't the best quality, if it was usable. Whites still weren't happy the blacks were there, When in public, blacks were often assaulted, murdered, and a part of violence. Police officers and other city officials didn;t stand up for the blacks either.
The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if the states did not return to the Union by January 1st, 1863. In addition, freedom would only come to the slaves if the Union won the Civil War. The proclamation authorized the recruitment of free slaves and blacks as Union soldiers. On September 22nd, 1862, after the Battle of Antietam the Emancipation Proclamation was issued and it would take into effect on January 1st, 1863.
The Emancipation Proclamation required all Confederate States to return to the Union and start acting like a whole nation by January 1st, 1863. If they did not, Abraham Lincoln would free all slaves, and take them in as Union soldiers. All the while, the South was losing slaves through the Underground Railroad. Many runaway slaves came to work for the Union in the Civil War. At the beginning of the war, states were fighting about how they had to become a whole nation or they would lose their slaves. However, throughout the war, mindsets changed and the South began fighting for their slaves back because they depended on them so much for their economy.
The Southern states used slaves to support their armies on the field. So, president Lincoln at the time thought that if slaves in the South were freed, then the Confederacy could no longer use them as labores to help them fight in the army field in the Civil War. This would give more man power to help the Northern side. President Lincoln used the Emancipation Proclamation as a "fit and necessary war measure" to prevent the Confederacy's use of slaves in the war effort.