In What Way the African Americans Shaped the Course and Consequences of the Civil War?

To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to protect states’ rights. The contributions of African Americans for the Union war effort in the Civil War pushed the federal government. But controlled largely by the Republican Party, to fundamentally change the purpose of the war itself, changing the course of the conflict, and therefore, the social and political consequences that followed in the Reconstruction Era. Slavery was one of the primary disputes between the north and the south before the civil war continued to be a major debate throughout the war and contributed greatly to the North’s victory. In the first few years the Civil war in 1861 began were four open questions among Northerners and Southerners with regard to the slaves: First, would they rebel? Second, did they want their freedom? Third, would they fight for their freedom? And, finally, would they know what to do with their freedom if they got it? The answer to each question was yes, but in a manner that reflected the peculiar experience of blacks in white America."(Doc A) there was a consensus in the Union that the war was being fought over the Confederacy’s claims to protection of slave property and the power states’ rights over the federal government. Originally, the war was not fought for the

Bibliography: 1)www.ohiohistory.org%2Fhistoryworksohio%2Fclassroom%2Fplan.cfm%3Fid%3D9&rct=j&q=African+Americans+%2B+course+and+consequences+the+Civil+War&ei=1tNJS5WgJMWHuAef_-2LAg&usg=AFQjCNHpy9iiS82meKUYdoL5DSSC7zwTOg 2) American Pagent Textbook 3) Us History Textbook