Abraham Lincoln's Views On Slavery

In the 1860s the economy and Americans were moving westward and slavery was dragging along with the expansion. The underlying problem of slavery in the new states would be temporarily fixed with government documentation such as the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The north and the south had quickly begun to bicker and debate the idea of slavery on new land. Normal citizens like Abraham Lincoln and others had picked up the topic of slavery and studied it and became politicians. Abraham Lincoln's showed his view of slavery slowly as he kept the people on their toes as they listened to his political speeches. Stephen Douglas had a debate with Lincoln which showed him many sides of slavery that were unseen to him before. As the
Slavery was in the United States ever since the British were colonizing the Americas. The British colonists would bring Africans with them as a source for cheap and free labor. When the slave trade started around the year 1650, plantations grew big in the southern colonies and the owners started to treat the Africans as property rather than human. Slaves were not allowed to live in the same house as their owners; slaves had to live in small houses called “the quarters” and had to withstand gruesome living conditions. Food supplies were extremely limited and they were given just enough to be able to work on the field. African Americans were controlled by laws in the south called “slave codes” or “black codes” which took aways their rights. They couldn't own land, animals, or purchase anything without a permit. In 1831, Nat Turner led a rebellion that took place in Virginia that led to 60 whites being killed and added fuel to other slaves to rebel against their
By December 20, 1860, the south seceded from the United States and repealed the constitution from South Carolina.7 A total of eleven states followed to secede from the Union, resulting in the beginning of the Civil War. During the war, African Americans knew that Abraham Lincoln was going to be the president that would set them to be freedmen. The public thought it would be an easy fight but many years of war were soon to follow. After the Union had a big win at the Battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln used his war powers and issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. This made all slaves living in the southern states that were rebelling against the Union free.8 As a major step in the movement to abolish slavery took place, many African Americans quickly joined the union army and fled from their homes where they were tortured. The Union will begin to have more hope and win battle after battle and feel like slavery will be abolished for