Question

The Gettysburg Address

President Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Based on the document Gettysburg Address, what actions did enslaved people take during the Civil War and how were they treated by the Union army? How did the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, change the purpose of the Civil War?

Answer 1

Based on the document Gettysburg Address, what actions did enslaved people take during the Civil War and how were they treated by the Union army?

Slave resistance was present even before the start of civil war. And during the civil war both north and the south used slaves for military purposes and as labors etc. But during the war in south the Union Army was expanding its power, and slaves were attracted to it because of their liberal attitude towards the colored people. In the south the Confederacy was consisted of people who believed that slavery was essential and suppressed any protest by them using physical punishment. Slaves began protesting in their plantations and farms and discontinued working, plotted revolts, fled to the north. The underground railroad was a result of many Blacks and Whites mobilizing to help slaves escape.

In 1861, the Union General Benjamin F Butler in command at Fort Monroe, Virginia, decided that the return of the escaped slaves to their former masters will result in grave danger for them and would aid the enemy. As a result, they formed the Grand Contraband Camp. And employed the slaves in the quartermaster department. Followed by which on August 1861 the congress passed the First Confiscation Act. According to this it was legal for the government to confiscate all properties of the Confederacy including slaves. The escaped slaves later came to know as contrabands.

Around 200000 of the escaped slaves joined the union army. Initially they joined as laborer’s but in the course of time due to the extreme need of manpower, the Union Army decided to consider the freed slaves to join the Army as volunteers and work soldiers. In 1862 as a result of the works of Jams H Lane and John W Phelps the enlistment of Blacks into regiments without War Department authorization began. This resulted in the formation of the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and Louisiana Native Guards consisting largely of freeman. The slaves want to contribute to their own emancipation and freedom. The Union Army later started enlisting of freed slaves for the army. Initially they were enlisted as volunteers and later could be officers and even decided to arm them. All these changes happened I one year, the year 1862, from may to September. Even though many such actions were dealt with opposition from within the congress, eventually it was accepted.

How did the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, change the purpose of the Civil War?

The first and foremost reason for Civil War was the differences between the free and slaved states. It questioned the ethics of the country which was born as a nation which gave equal rights to all men by the Declaration of Independence remaining as the largest slaveholding country in the world. After the emancipation and the Gettysburg address black soldiers became common and most of them were former slaves. This was met with great resistance from the Confederacy and they started to invade the Union camps and killing the slaves. To which the Union responded drastically. This resulted in an all-out war by 1864. The aim was to destroy the institution of slavery in the south completely and start afresh. This was in contrary to their old goal of limited war. This was essential at the time because for three years the war wan continuing and was not met with any positive results. This followed a series of war which resulted in the victory of the union over the Confederacy. In 1864-65 General William Tecumseh Sherman defeated the Confederacy in Georgia and South Carolina, destroying their economic infrastructure. And General George Thomas destroyed the Confederacy army at Tennessee.

By the capturing of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in May 1865 the resistance collapsed, and the war ended. The idea of limited war was not met towards the end because of the greater resistance from the Confederacy. This is how emancipation changed the purpose of the Civil War. As hard as they tried to avoid a total war it became eminent during time. The Gettysburg Address contributed largely to the emotion of the Army to end the war and reconstitute the great nation on its founding pillars. This also contributed to the idea of eliminating the powers which worked contrary to the idea of the Nation of America.