Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Power of the Proclamation

We have already discussed the idea that the Emancipation changes the course of the Civil War--from a war to preserve the Union to a war to abolish slavery.

BUT, by the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the idea of slavery seemed to take a new form.  Confederates believed that they were political slaves to the Union's oppressive government.  At the same time, Union soldiers would willingly seize fugitive slaves as contraband, which, to an extent, acknowledges the concept of slaves as property.

There is no denying that the Emancipation was at least one of the fulcrums that shifted the balance of power and strength between the Union and the Confederacy.  But if it doesn't end slavery, then why is it so pivotal?  Consider not only what we've already discussed, but other items that this particular article teaches us...

11 comments:

  1. As the blog says, the Emancipation Proclamation changed the course of the war because it gave a lot of advantage to one side of the country. First of all, after the Emancipation, the South suffered a "crisis"(we could say) because their economy without slavery went down and down since they depended on the culture of cotton. Also, the slaves that were freed by the north, felt that they had to owe their "Liberators"(as they called them) and so they went to fight with the Union Army, giving to the Union 200,000 more volunteers to fight. I believe that was the biggest advantage that the Union had after the Emancipation. But also, Europe started to support more the North and for example Britain stopped trading or supporting the South.
    With the Emancipation Proclamation, however, the South was willing to fight much more harder and quicker because they probably wanted their slaves back. Therefore, as the populaiton of the South was much more motivaed than they already were, the unmotivated Northerns (that existed from the beginning of the war) started protesting more and more since slavery was abolished (because they could not understand why the war should continue).
    In conclusion, I believe the Emancipation was pivotal not only because it freed slaved but above all because it gave the north so many advantages to win the war. But I believe also, that the Emancipation Proclamation was such a war strategy and not a moral thing as it is normally supposed to be.

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  2. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the United States. But more importantly it changed the war. With all the slaves serving in the union army abolishing slavery would get many African Americans to join the army and serve. So in other words, Lincoln abolished slavery for many reasons but one was to just make no longer slaves to join the union army and make them willing to fight to keep slavery abolished. Like Laura said 200,000 slaves joining the Union was a big help. all these no longer slaves wanted to flee to the north and join to help.

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  3. The Emancipation Proclamation was so pivotal because it turned the tide of the war, after all, it was a military action and not a social one. President Lincoln even said that if he "could save the Union without freeing any slave he would do it." Clearly, the Federal government's goal was to win the war and ensure its authority over the Union rather than to free the slaves. Nonetheless, it was the freeing of the slaves that ultimately allowed the North to win the Civil War. That action changed the war from an empire-like government crushing revolutionaries to a fight to free the slaves. This not only gave Northerners a motivation to fight, but it helped the North to gain European support. Before this, England supported the Confederacy and was close to recognizing it as a real country, afterwards it had to side with the Union because it was strongly against slavery. Also, although the Emancipation Proclamation did not technically free all of the slaves, it freed enough so that the numbers that enlisted in the army made a difference in the war, as we saw in the movie Glory. So the Emancipation Proclamation is so important because it was a major factor in the Union's victory in the Civil War.

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  4. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery, it is considered such a pivotal point in slavery history because its one of the first big turning point for a push towards ending slavery. Even though it was a slow abolishment towards slavery it changed the course of the war for both sides. Even though the Union is fighting to end slavery and the fact that they would willingly seize fugitive slaves as contraband I think that in a sense it was okay to make those slaves fight. Even though it may not be morally right I think that from a war point of view, seizing the slaves and making them fight for their cause is ok because in other wars the other side usually takes prisoners and tortures them, so that fact that they allow the slaves to fight for a good cause is better then punishment. And in the end that fact that the union started to allow black troops to fight increased the amount of men the army had and the results of the proclamation seemed to be working.

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  5. While the emancipation proclamation didn't seem to end slavery right away, it definitely affected it in a big way, and led to many changes. While it didn't end slavery, it was pivotal because it freed many slaves, the slavery after the proclamation was just less obvious and/or direct. Also, like Chandler said Lincoln wanted the slaves to join the union army, because the slaves were a good amount of the army, and as we saw in the movie the black troops were a large part of the changing in the direction of the war. Especially since as the north invaded the south the blacks were "their only allies." andd the proclamation only applied to areas still in the rebellion, and none of the boarder states.

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  6. The emancipation proclamation proves so pivotal at this point because of the underlying message it gave to the Confederates. It was the union stepping in again as though they had power when this whole war is because the south didn't want to be under their influence. Although Lincoln is commended for this and is seen as the president who freed the slaves, this was done completely as a war strategy. It gave the union a huge advantage which the confederacy was obviously not okay with. The union already had the advantage of man power now with the added number of slaves they basically had an unlimited recourse. We also mentioned how both sides wanted the support of europe, the south more because of their economical situation, leading to even more resentment in the south when the union finally gains their official support. The emancipation proclamation basically just gave the confederates more reason why they should continue fighting this war.

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  7. Although it did not end slavery, as the blog question said, it was the fulcrums of the which shifted the balance of power between the north and the south. This was exactly the action that Lincoln promise that he would do "If I could save the Union by freeing some slaves and leaving the others alone I would do that". Lincoln was trying to win the war but freeing slaves might wasn't his first intention, but maybe he did want to free all slaves. I am not sure. Now, people might argue that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in Confederates, and it basically didn't free anyone. Also it, to an extend (as the blog said), "acknowledges the concept of slaves as property". So people would argue that the Emancipation Proclamation was just a device to win the war. yes, it is true that EP helped the Union to win the war, and I don't oppose the idea which without EP or instead, freeing all slaves might make the Union lose. My opinion is that the way Lincoln only free slaves in the south definitely gotta be something that he planned elaborately. I like the comment from a London newspaper. It is so ironic and true "The Principle is not that a human being cannot justly own another, but that he cannot own him unless he is loyal to the United States". In a conclusion, EP was definitely a smartly elaborate idea so that some border states would rejoin the Union then the North could win the war (+ abolish slavery).

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  8. The emancipation proclamation obviously did not completely eliminate slavery at first, but it allowed for some things to change. The Civil War was something that was based largely around slavery, so when the emancipation proclamation was made it caused many things to happen not only in the war but also in each the North and the South alone. The confederates were no doubt more affected by slavery, so once the emancipation proclamation was made the south completely changed. It took time, but many changes were made. The north was affected, but not as much because they had less slaves to begin with.

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  9. Unlike what’s known, Lincoln did not free the African American population because he favored the African American population. Lincoln was actually a person who wanted to send the Africans back to the african continent. Lincoln only issued the Emancipation Proclamation because he wanted to gain advantage militarily. Not only issuing the Emancipation Proclamation give motivation for the North, but also a lot of black population volunteered to fight for the Union. Plus, Issuing the Emancipation Proclamation from the North made South immoral and brought England to their sides.

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  10. The reason that the emancipation proclamation is so important is because that it adds a purpose to the war other than preserving the union. This enable many free black (200,000) to join the union armies, and also encourage black slaves in the South to fled out to the North. Diplomatically, the emancipation proclamation help established the North's reputation among England and other European countries as liberal and moral. At South's perspective, the emancipation just raged its population and cause turmoils.

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  11. After reading this, I'm one hundred percent sure that Lincoln was given too much credit for helping the slaves. The only reason he passed the Emancipation Proclamation was to get back the South for separating and breaking apart the Union. Although in the long run it helped out the North by getting them more troops and most importantly by giving the North a reason to fight.

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