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Week 8: North and South Divided — Transcript

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0:03Welcome back. Last week we looked at
0:05activism and resistance in the leadup to
0:08the American Civil War as the United
0:10States looked to expand the system of
0:12slavery westward, making use of native
0:14dispossession and popular sovereignty to
0:17legalize slavery across the South.
0:20Reform and activism budded heads with
0:22southern land owners and politicians for
0:24decades. And today's lecture will see
0:27those tensions boil over into the open
0:30conflict known as the Civil War. Uh but
0:33to begin, I want to start with our case
0:34study. Charlotte Foron Grimkey was born
0:38on August 17th, 1837 in Philadelphia,
0:42Pennsylvania to a well-known
0:44abolitionist family. Her father, James
0:47Forton, who we spoke about a bit last
0:49week. He was a successful salemaker and
0:52a prominent African-American
0:53philanthropist and abolitionist.
0:56Her mother, Charlotte Van Dyton, was
1:00also deeply committed to the ideas of
1:02social reform. Raised in an environment
1:05rich in activism, Charlotte was
1:08surrounded by intellectuals, political
1:11leaders, and a circle of reform-minded
1:14individuals who believed in the power of
1:16both education and civil rights. So
1:20Charlotte's upbringing was deeply
1:21influential in shaping her worldview. As
1:25a child, she was taught by private
1:27tutors and attended the Philadelphia
1:30Female Anti-Slavery Society School. Uh
1:34her education, it was progressive,
1:36emphasizing not only academic subjects,
1:39but also social justice. and her
1:41exposure to abolitionists
1:44um uh thoughts set the stage for her
1:48lifelong commitment to the emancipation
1:50of enslaved people.
1:53In 1862 and during the Civil War,
1:56Charlotte Grimkey took a crucial step in
1:59her journey as an activist.
2:01She was one of the first black women to
2:03volunteer to teach freed African-Ameans
2:06in the South. At the time, many formerly
2:10enslaved people were fleeing to union
2:12controlled areas in search of freedom.
2:15And this mass migration created a need
2:19for educational opportunities. And
2:21Charlotte seized the moment to use her
2:23skills in a manner that aligned with her
2:25deep commitment to the abolitionist
2:27cause.
2:29So, Charlotte Grimkey uh accepted an
2:32invitation to work as a teacher um for
2:36uh the new uh the newly freed black
2:38population on the islands of uh South
2:41Carolina, particularly on Port Royal
2:44Island. This was uh came to be known as
2:48the Port Royal Experiment. uh and it was
2:51an early effort by the federal
2:53government to create a model of land
2:55reform and education for freed slaves.
3:00In this context, Charlotte's role as an
3:03educator was significant. She taught
3:05both children and adults, providing them
3:07with the basic skills of reading,
3:09writing, arithmetic. Uh her students,
3:13they were eager to learn, and the
3:14connection between educator and pupil
3:17was one of mutual empowerment. So the
3:19Port Royal experiment is viewed today as
3:22a rehearsal for reconstruction or making
3:26sense of the post-war period and trying
3:29to extend rights and liberties
3:32opportunities uh for black Americans
3:35after the civil war which we will see
3:37more about next week. But Griky's work
3:40during the Civil War was shared by many
3:42black activists. Many would look to the
3:45education as uh the most immediate way
3:47to contribute to the newly freed black
3:50populations in the south. But during the
3:53war, the freedom of slaves across the
3:56nation was by no means a foregone
3:58conclusion. The Civil War would be hard
4:02fought and would be won with the blood
4:04of soldiers, both white and black.
4:08So let's start at the immediate spark of
4:11the Civil War. In late 1860, Abraham
4:14Lincoln was elected president of the
4:16United States. The regional tensions of
4:19slavery uh reached a crisis. Abraham
4:22Lincoln was elected without any southern
4:25electoral votes and the southern slave
4:27populations believed they owed loyal uh
4:30no loyalty to a union which could elect
4:33a president without their regional
4:35support and began planning a withdrawal
4:37from the country altogether.
4:39So days after Lincoln was elected, South
4:42Carolina called for a secession
4:44convention or a rem to remove themselves
4:47legally from the nation and by December
4:50that same year declared their
4:52connections to the United States fully
4:54dissolved.
4:57When the southern states secceeded uh or
4:59removed themselves from the United
5:01States to form their own country, they
5:03did so claiming that it was because the
5:05north had denied them their rights as
5:07states to monitor their own economies
5:10and laws. This is what they call the
5:13states rights argument and you can see
5:16uh the division regionally especially
5:18between north and south uh here on this
5:21map. But they called this their states
5:23rights argument that their states rights
5:26to monitor their economies and laws had
5:28been denied them.
5:30However, I would ask this is the states
5:34rights to do what?
5:37When the southern states secede, uh they
5:41provide declarations of secession. um
5:45they would go these southern states go
5:47into further detail on what states
5:50rights actually mean to them. So in
5:52their founding document as a separate
5:55southern state Mississippi claimed that
5:57quote our position is thoroughly
6:00identified with the institution of
6:02slavery that the greatest material or
6:04economic interest of the world was the
6:07system of enslavement. Texas said
6:09something similar. In all the
6:12non-slaveholding states, the people have
6:14formed themselves into a great sectional
6:16party based upon an unnatural feeling of
6:19hostility to the southern states and
6:22their beneficient and patriarchal system
6:24of African slavery. Uh Texas here was
6:27believing that enslavement was a
6:30beneficial system for uh enslaved
6:33blacks, a civilizing system for enslaved
6:36blacks. Um and they accused the northern
6:39states of undermining this institution
6:41which they deemed essential to their
6:43prosperity and to their culture.
6:46Georgia they said that for the last 10
6:48years we have had numerous and serious
6:50causes of complaint against our
6:52non-slaveholding confederate states with
6:55reference to the subject of African
6:57slavery. The document specifically
7:00criticizes the North's efforts to
7:02restrict the growth of slavery and its
7:05influence.
7:07South Carolina, they said, an increasing
7:09hostility on the part of the
7:10non-slaveolding states to the
7:12institution of slavery is what has led
7:15to a disregard of these obligations and
7:18the cause for secession.
7:20This declaration accused the nor the
7:22northern states of violating the
7:24constitution by failing to uh enforce
7:27the fugitive slave act which would see
7:29the northern free states where slavery
7:31was illegal uh to force runaway slaves
7:34to return to the south. South Carolina
7:37framed the secession as a defense of
7:40slavery. Finally, in the Constitution of
7:43the Confederate States of America
7:45itself, the nation as it created itself
7:49argued that the right to own slaves was
7:52central to this secession movement. The
7:56Constitution of the Confederate States
7:58of America argued that there would be no
8:01law denying or impairing the right of
8:04property and negro slaves shall ever be
8:06passed.
8:08This clause institutionalized slavery as
8:12the cornerstone of Confederate
8:14governance, distinguishing it from the
8:17US Constitution. So these documents
8:20collectively demonstrate that the
8:22leaders of the secessionist states of
8:24the Confederacy viewed slavery as
8:27essential to their economies, to their
8:29social systems, to their identities.
8:32Their arguments framed slavery as a
8:35natural or divinely sanctioned
8:37institution under threat from the
8:39northern abolitionist movements and made
8:41it a central cause for secession and
8:43civil war. Decades of American history
8:47led to this moment. The South seceded
8:50because it wished to maintain their
8:52right as states to own slaves.
8:59By February of 1861, the states of South
9:02Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
9:04Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas formally
9:07seceded from the Union to create the
9:09Confederate States of America or the
9:11Confederacy.
9:13Their Constitution was modeled on the
9:15United States Constitution with the
9:17change that it explicitly protected the
9:19right to own slaves. The Confederacy
9:22elected Mississippi Senator Jefferson
9:24Davis as their president.
9:29Even while the South was working to
9:30secede, however, politicians across the
9:32United States were attempting to prevent
9:34secession and warfare. Congressmen tried
9:38to reinstate the Missouri Compromise to
9:40guarantee the protection of slavery
9:42south of the Missouri River. uh while
9:45Virginia called um a peace convention.
9:49Each of these efforts failed to find a
9:51compromise which could maintain the
9:54Union and the Confederacy mobilized for
9:56war, organized their own army and navy
9:59and took over forts. So, it's important
10:02to note that while the South was
10:03preparing a war to defend their right to
10:05slavery, the North was fighting to
10:08maintain the Union and would have
10:10accepted a peace compromise where
10:12slavery was still legal. On March 4th of
10:161861, President Lincoln addressed the
10:19Union in his inaugural speech as
10:21president, saying that I have no purpose
10:24directly or indirectly to interfere with
10:27the institution of slavery in the states
10:29where it exists. I believe I have no
10:32lawful right to do so, and I have no
10:35inclination to do so. So what Lincoln
10:38was arguing was that the states could
10:41not simply remove themselves from the
10:43Union legally as they had been bound by
10:46a perpetual compact where no state upon
10:51its own motion could lawfully remove
10:53from the Union and that quote acts of
10:56violence within any state or states
10:58against the authority of the United
11:00States were insurrectionary or
11:03revolutionary. So Lincoln was more
11:06interested in overturning secession on
11:09legal terms
11:11uh where the union um established by the
11:15American Revolution was one that needed
11:17to be respected and maintained.
11:21This fell apart uh at the Union
11:23stronghold of Fort Sumpter where South
11:26Carolinian forces began to mass and
11:29demand the island forts surrender.
11:31Confederate soldiers unleashed artillery
11:33fire into the fort when the fort's
11:35commander refused to surrender. And
11:38within a day, the Union forces at Fort
11:41Sumpter had no choice but to surrender
11:44to the Confederacy. And with this
11:46violence, the Civil War began. 3 days
11:49later, President Lincoln called for
11:5175,000 militia soldiers to travel south
11:54to put down this insurrection.
11:58The way that militias work is that the
12:00states would answer the call from the
12:02president and provide their own troops.
12:05Virginia refused to answer Lincoln's
12:08call for militia and the state organized
12:11convention where they too voted for
12:13secession.
12:15Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina
12:18joined the Confederacy
12:20um numbering 11 Confederate states who
12:23had seceded from the Union. border
12:26states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky,
12:29and Missouri remained in the Union with
12:32the support of federal Union troops.
12:35Within the states themselves though,
12:37there was military conflict. And even in
12:39Virginia, just west of the Confederate
12:42capital of Richmond, western counties
12:45seceded from Virginia to join again with
12:48the Union.
12:52Driving the conflict on both sides was
12:54patriotic fervor. Each side felt that
12:58God was on their side and neither
13:00believed that the war would take long to
13:02reach its completion and volunteers were
13:05signed on for only threemonth military
13:07commitments. In the north, many believed
13:10that their economic, material, military,
13:12and human resources would quickly put
13:15down the Confederacy. or southerners
13:18relying on fierce military leadership
13:20and fighting a war with a homeront
13:22advantage. Uh many believed that they
13:25would succeed in establishing the
13:27Confederate States of America. So 3
13:30months into the war, the Battle of Bull
13:32Run saw Union soldiers defeated by the
13:35Confederacy, which refused to back down.
13:38And it became evident the war would be
13:40hard fought and hard won.
13:44At the start of the war, free black men
13:46answered the call for Lincoln's
13:48volunteer militia. In Pittsburgh, the
13:50Hannibal Guards uh pledged to support uh
13:53the Union, writing that as we consider
13:56ourselves American citizens, although
13:59deprived of all our political rights, we
14:02yet wish the government of the United
14:04States to be sustained against the
14:06tyranny of slavery and are willing to
14:09assist in any honorable way to sustain
14:12the present administration in the Union.
14:16In Ohio, the Atox Guard likewise formed
14:19a regiment naming their group after
14:21Christmas Addex, who you might remember
14:24uh died during the Boston Massacre, uh
14:27marking the first person to die in the
14:29American Revolution, a black man. You
14:32can see pictured here some of the
14:34regimental flags of black men uh who
14:36hoped to join the Union cause.
14:40Despite their patriotic fervor, black
14:42military service for the North was
14:44rejected in all cases.
14:46Ongoing racism and fears of black
14:48insurrections met the continuous belief
14:50of white male superiority. And the war
14:53was labeled a white man's war with
14:55President Lincoln in 1862 claiming that
14:58if the Union Army armed black troops,
15:01quote, "In a few weeks, the arms would
15:04be in the hands of the rebels,"
15:06indicating a distrust of the abilities
15:09and loyalties of black men in wartime,
15:12despite their long history of engagement
15:14in the Revolution, the War of 1812, and
15:18beyond.
15:21Even with this rejection of black
15:22service, uh, northern blacks and
15:25abolitionists looked for opportunities
15:26in the war. Quickly, emancipation or the
15:30freeing of the enslaved became a central
15:32war goal in these abolitionist groups.
15:36Frederick Douglas, for instance, wrote
15:38that any attempt now to separate the
15:40freedom of the slave from the victory of
15:42the government. Any attempt to secure
15:45peace to the whites while leaving the
15:47blacks in chains will be labor lost. The
15:50American people and the government at
15:52Washington may refuse to recognize it
15:54for a time, but the logic of events will
15:57force it upon them in the end that the
15:59war now being waged in this land is a
16:02war for and against slavery. Frederick
16:05Douglas would uh be uh would foresee
16:09this as what would in fact happen. While
16:12black northerners and abolitionists
16:14looked forward to emancipation, Lincoln
16:16maintained that the war was solely to
16:18subvert the rebellious southern states
16:21into submission for the sake of the
16:23Union's preservation.
16:25He feared the alienation of border
16:27states like Maryland in particular,
16:29which bordered Washington DC and the
16:32center of the Union.
16:34Um, without the support of Maryland, the
16:37capital of the North lay subject to
16:40hostility and to southern invasion. To
16:43maintain control of the border states,
16:45in April of 1861, President Lincoln
16:48suspended the writ of hobbyist corpus.
16:51And what this means is that thousands of
16:53people were arrested or detained uh
16:56without trial or charges, including
16:59political opponents of Lincoln. This was
17:01a controversial act and the Supreme
17:04Court ruled it as unconstitutional. But
17:06Lincoln ignored this court order.
17:10Regarding emancipation, Lincoln instead
17:12put forward a plan for gradual and
17:14compensated slave emancipation,
17:17making use of popular sovereignty and
17:19the states to begin the process, not the
17:22federal government.
17:25None of the border states adopted this
17:28plan for gradual emancipation.
17:30At the same time, Lincoln signed the Act
17:33for Ending Slavery in Washington, DC,
17:36and nearly 3,000 slaves were freed.
17:40Several hundred chose to relocate either
17:42to Haiti or to Liberia, set across the
17:45Atlantic with $100 to aid their
17:48relocation.
17:50The western territories west of the
17:52Mississippi were also subject to
17:54legislation which ended slavery in those
17:56areas not yet organized into states. The
18:00Confederacy took these actions as
18:02predictors of northern legislation
18:04against southern enslavement, which
18:06hardened their resolve to maintain their
18:08slave economies in the South and
18:10therefore continuing the war.
18:14By the fall of 1862, Union incursions
18:17toward the Confederate capital of
18:18Richmond had failed, and the Virginia
18:21army was moving northward. Uh, led by
18:25General Robert E. Lee.
18:27Faced with an imperiled north, Lincoln
18:30famously held on to his vision of a
18:32unified nation without emancipation.
18:35Lincoln proclaimed in a speech that his
18:37paramount object in the struggle is to
18:41slave the Union and is not either to
18:44save or destroy slavery. What I do about
18:47slavery, he said, and the colored race,
18:50I do because I believe it helps to save
18:53the Union. I have here stated my purpose
18:56according to my view of my official
18:57duty, and I intend no modification of my
19:00personal wish, that all men everywhere
19:03could be free. So he was essentially
19:06saying that personally he believed that
19:08enslavement should be ended but that
19:10legally as president he had no right to
19:13infringe upon the system in this early
19:16period of the war.
19:19In the midst of the chaos of the war
19:20many slaves took the opportunity to run
19:23away and join Union lines. The first
19:26historical account of this happening uh
19:28were where men named Frank Baker, James
19:31Townsend, and Shepherd Mallerie uh who
19:34had been sent in May of 1861 to create
19:36Confederate fortifications, but instead
19:38stole a boat and escaped to Union Fort
19:41Monroe. Uh the general there, Benjamin
19:44F. butler um
19:47refused to return them to their owners,
19:50instead using the Confederate definition
19:52of slaves as property to call the
19:55runaway slaves contraband of war or
19:58property which had been confiscated and
20:01taken by the North. Thousands of slaves
20:04would make their way to Fort Monroe with
20:06over 10,000 living in camps at the fort
20:09while Confederates retreated at the end
20:12of the summer of 1861.
20:15General Butler's actions shaped Union
20:19policy on the ground. Slaves who escaped
20:22to the northern army were not considered
20:24free, but were seen as subordinate to
20:26the army and employed as workers with
20:29army rations while depriving the
20:31Confederacy of their of their labor
20:34force.
20:35So the process of wartime contraband as
20:38an answer to runaway slaves was
20:40formalized in the first confiscation act
20:42of 1861. the Confiscation Act of 1861,
20:47which broadly voided the claims of
20:49southern slave owners. That same year,
20:53Union Major General John C. Fremont, an
20:56outspoken abolitionist, declared martial
20:59law in Missouri, which freed the slaves
21:01of disloyal owners. But President
21:04Lincoln, still under that impression
21:06that the border states were key to
21:08maintaining the Union, voided the order
21:10for martial law.
21:12Commands to emancipate slaves in
21:14Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
21:17were also voided by Lincoln with some
21:20former slaves joining a freedman
21:21regiment until that was also prevented
21:24by Congress.
21:27By running away, three related
21:29developments occurred. First, individual
21:32commanders had to choose what to do with
21:34runaway refugees.
21:37This led to the second development which
21:39was union military policy as a whole and
21:42the confiscation act of 1861.
21:45Third was a growing acceptance in the
21:48north of former slaves as joining the
21:50Union military especially as laborers.
21:54It was with these formerly enslaved, now
21:57labeled contraband communities uh that
21:59the Port Royal experiment would find its
22:01supervision under um Union military
22:05officials and educated by blacks like
22:07Fort and Grimsky.
22:09To finally answer the question of the
22:12legal status of refugee slaves, Congress
22:14passed the second confiscation act in
22:18July 17th, 1862, which declared freedom
22:21for all slaves whose owners were an open
22:25rebellion and for any refugee who made
22:27their way to Union Territory.
22:31Um, this freed slaves uh who des who uh
22:35deserted their Confederate owners. It
22:38did not affect the slaves in border
22:40states. However, um it also granted
22:44widespread power to the president to do
22:46with persons of African descent uh
22:49whatever way they deemed necessary to
22:52end the rebellion. So, generals were
22:54meant to return runaway slaves back to
22:56pro- union planters uh those who would
22:59swear loyalty to the Union in exchange
23:02for protection of their property, both
23:04plantation and human.
23:08With little progress made to taking
23:10Richmond and fugitive slaves taking uh
23:12forcing the issue and definition of
23:14freedom and slavery on the cautious
23:16Lincoln, the war began to take a
23:19decisive turn in the summer of 1862 and
23:22leading into 1863.
23:25While outwardly cautious, Lincoln began
23:28considering the diplomatic benefits of
23:30linking the war to a broader
23:33anti-slavery lens, lending political and
23:36moral weight for the Union, especially
23:38in Europe, uh for the international
23:41community, where anti-slavery sentiment
23:43was now strong. Privately, Lincoln
23:46formulated a plan to take the bold step
23:49of announcing the Union's policies on
23:51enslavement.
23:53At the behest of his adviserss, so as
23:55not to appear that he was desperate or
23:57under abolitionist pressure, he waited
24:00until military success. And that
24:02military success presented itself with
24:04the uh with the Union victory at the
24:07Battle of Antidum.
24:11This battle forced Confederate uh Robert
24:13El Le's troops back to Virginia and
24:16reversed the military forces of the
24:18Union and undercut British interest in
24:21recognizing the Confederacy.
24:23Five days later on September 22nd, 1862,
24:27Lincoln issued the Emancipation
24:30Proclamation which declared that on the
24:33first day of January uh in 18 uh 63, all
24:38persons held as slaves within any state
24:41or designated part of a state. The
24:43people whereof shall then be in
24:45rebellion against the United States
24:47shall be thence forward and forever
24:50free. and the executive government of
24:52the United States, including the
24:54military and naval authority, will
24:56recognize and maintain the freedom of
24:59such persons, and will do no act or acts
25:02to repress such persons or any of them
25:05in any efforts they make or their actual
25:08freedom.
25:10The proclamation gave the Confederacy
25:13100 days to end their rebellion, or
25:16those enslaved in the South would be
25:17declared free in the eyes of the
25:19Northern Union.
25:21Lincoln's efforts to tie emancipation to
25:24compensating owners and relocation
25:26colonization efforts remained the policy
25:29of this draft of the proclamation re
25:32recommending that Congress offer loyal
25:34slave states monetary assistance to
25:37press for gradual emancipation.
25:41However, when the final emancipation
25:43proclamation was signed on January 1st,
25:451863, these limits were in place. slaves
25:49in pro- Union territory would remain
25:52enslaved.
25:53The signed proclamation also abandoned
25:56the compos uh the compensation and
25:58colonization schemes while noting that
26:01military and naval authorities could
26:03recognize the freedom of free blacks.
26:06Lincoln wrote that upon this act
26:08sincerely believed to be an act of
26:10justice and warranted by the
26:12Constitution, upon military necessity, I
26:15invoke the considerate judgment of
26:17mankind and the gracious favor of
26:19Almighty God. Here the war to save the
26:23Union had been irrevocably tied to the
26:27war to free the slaves. When the Union
26:30was restored, it would be a nation no
26:33longer built on the backs of slaves.
26:37At the Israel uh Bethl amme church in
26:40Washington DC, uh word of the
26:43proclamation spread quickly and was met
26:45with enthusiasm and joy. The pastor of
26:48the church, Henry McNeel Turner, wrote
26:50that upon hearing the proclamation, men
26:53squealled, women fainted, dogs barked,
26:56white and colored people shook hands,
26:58songs were sung, great processions of
27:01colored and white men marched to and fro
27:03and passed in front of the White House
27:05and congratulated President Lincoln on
27:07his proclamation. It was indeed a time
27:10of times and a halfime. Nothing like it
27:14will ever be seen again in this life.
27:18Free blacks in the Fort Monroe community
27:21likewise gathered to hear a reading of
27:23the proclamation. And others like the
27:25first regiment of South Carolina
27:27volunteers, a regiment made of former
27:29slaves, broke into a spontaneous
27:32rendition of my country tis of thee, the
27:34song uh upon receiving an official Union
27:38flag for their union uh for their unit.
27:43Slave owners in the south uh tried their
27:45best to prevent word of the proclamation
27:48from reaching their slaves, but as Union
27:50forces marched southward, word spread
27:53rapidly and like wildfire.
27:57The Emancipation Proclamation formally
28:00declared that blacks could join the
28:01Union Army. And in May of 1863, the
28:04Union created the US Colored Troops
28:06Bureau to oversee those regiments.
28:09Without citizenship, many black soldiers
28:13refused to join the war effort. Others,
28:16like Frederick Douglas, argued that
28:18black military service would push for
28:20blacks to be able to receive
28:21citizenship. And he said, "Once the
28:25black man uh gets upon his person, the
28:27brass letters US or those military uh
28:31insignias, let him get an eagle on his
28:34button and a musket on his shoulder,
28:36bullets in his pocket, and there is no
28:39power on earth or under the earth which
28:42can deny that he has earned the right of
28:44citizenship for the United States."
28:48Widespread military service would make
28:50it difficult for the nation to turn a
28:52blind eye to their veteran populations
28:55regardless of race.
28:58Ultimately, over 179,000 black men
29:01enlisted or 10% of the Union Army was
29:04made of black soldiers and they
29:06participated in over 250 battles and
29:09suffered over 37,000 casualties.
29:13The limits of racial prejudice would
29:15prevent integrated military service or
29:18units where whites and blacks would
29:20serve together. However, black units
29:23were often led by white officers, many
29:25of whom barely tolerated their black
29:28troops. A shining exception to this was
29:31the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer
29:34Infantry Regiment, uh, which you see
29:36pictured here on the screen. This
29:38regiment was raised by abolitionists and
29:40was the first organized black unit and
29:42included two of Frederick Douglas's own
29:45sons.
29:48Even so, the inequities of wartime
29:51engagement remained. Black soldiers were
29:54often uh left to non-combat rules or
29:57placed under inept leadership where they
30:00would face excessive casualty rates.
30:03Um, captured black soldiers were also
30:05subject to execution or reinsslavement
30:08as per Confederate policy.
30:11Black soldiers also received far less
30:14pay, clothing, and armaments. This
30:17remained until 1864 when Congress
30:20equalized the pay of black and white
30:23soldiers.
30:26Within the battles of the Civil War, uh,
30:28black soldiers exhibited grand heroism
30:31and courage. And one former slave wrote
30:34that they should, uh, that they showed,
30:36uh, great endurance and had created a
30:39new chapter in American history for the
30:42colored man.
30:44Black troops faced greater risks in
30:46combat, but also held a uniquely
30:48personal stake in the war's successful
30:51end.
30:53With Union victories in Vixsburg,
30:55Gettysburg, and elsewhere, the tide had
30:58turned in favor of the Union North.
31:01Commemorating the fallen at Gettysburg,
31:04Lincoln delivered a short speech
31:05announcing a new birth of freedom for an
31:09American nation conceived in liberty and
31:12dedicated to the proposition that all
31:14men are created equal. loudly
31:17proclaiming here at the Gettysburg
31:19Address that the war was fought not only
31:22to preserve the Union and democracy, but
31:25also to abolish slavery altogether.
31:30Many white Democrats in the North
31:32disagreed with Lincoln's shift in
31:34rhetoric, just as many free blacks in
31:36the North were cautious of Lincoln's
31:37sudden change of heart. riots in New
31:40York City against the military draft
31:42were so unpopular uh that violence broke
31:46out.
31:47Part of the reason for this was that the
31:49draft allowed for the purchase for the
31:51rich uh to pay $300 and uh give
31:56themselves an exemption and avoid the
31:58military draft while the poor and
32:00working class were forced to serve.
32:03The New York City draft riots led to
32:05ransacking of black neighborhoods as
32:07thousands were left homeless, dozens
32:10were lynched, and several murdered in
32:13their homes. The violence only subsided
32:16as federal troops made their way from
32:17Gettysburg directly to New York.
32:20Emancipation
32:22for many whites was not popular or even
32:25welcome. Being asked to fight and die
32:28for the freedom of slaves was directly
32:30opposed to many of the racial attitudes
32:32of the time, especially as freeing the
32:35southern slave population would bring
32:37more competition or jobs in the north.
32:42The riots also showed that the war's end
32:44would not guarantee peace for free
32:46blacks. In December of 1863, when
32:49Lincoln issued the Proclamation of
32:50Amnesty and Reconstruction, uh, which
32:53provided a process for former
32:54Confederate States to form pro-UN
32:57governments and re-enter the Union, uh,
33:00pardoning Confederate military and civil
33:02officials who would swear allegiance to
33:05the Union. The way that these plans
33:07worked, that was if 10% or more of a
33:11southern state cast their vote to swear
33:13loyalty to the union, the union would
33:16impose the reestablishment of a state
33:18government and representation in
33:20Congress. This plan guided the beginning
33:23of the process titled reconstruction
33:27or the be or the bringing of the south
33:30uh and making sense of the desolation of
33:33the civil war for all involved. this
33:36reunification process.
33:40By mid 1864, many free blacks in the
33:43south, roughly 10% or 400,000 of them,
33:47were no longer under Confederate
33:49control, but were working for the Union,
33:51carting supplies and goods, were working
33:53as cooks, servants, or even spies.
33:57To preserve the slave system, southern
33:59whites created slave patrols and clamped
34:01down on free black mobility and
34:03relocated slaves altogether from war
34:05zones to prevent union control. Others
34:09found that they would need to yield to
34:10slave demands to maintain control, such
34:13as allowing slaves their own plots of
34:15land to farm their own crops. As most
34:18runaway slaves were male, southern slave
34:21owners found themselves relying heavily
34:22on female slaves for sustaining their
34:26households.
34:28And as the war progressed, these female
34:30slaves, too, sought refuge from
34:32Confederate control behind Union lines,
34:36joining the northern war effort where
34:37they could. Harriet Tubman, for example,
34:40continued her work on the Underground
34:42Railroad through the war while also
34:45working as a scout, spy, teacher, and a
34:49nurse. Uh, other free blacks in the
34:51north organized abolitionist uh
34:53organizations such as the Contraband
34:55Relief Association as people like
34:58Frederick Douglas and Sojourer Truth
35:00helped to raise money for black
35:02regiments and refugees.
35:06While the Union looked certain to win by
35:091864, Lincoln's re-election was
35:12imperiled by his 10% plan for
35:14Confederate states and reconstruction.
35:18In Congress, the Wade Davis bill was
35:21passed in summer of 1864, which
35:23challenged Lincoln's authority and
35:25demanded that a majority of a state's
35:28white male citizens must first take an
35:31oath against the Confederacy. So Lincoln
35:34had his 10% plan where 10% of people
35:36were required to rejoin the Union.
35:39Congress pushed for a simple majority to
35:41be able to rejoin the Union.
35:44Other Republicans like John C. Fremont
35:46questioned Lincoln's command as having
35:48been too cautious and Fremont ran
35:50against Lincoln as a radical Republican.
35:53He eventually dropped out in support of
35:55Lincoln in September of that year. While
35:57Lincoln chose uh the Democratic senator
36:00and governor of Tennessee and notable
36:02racist Andrew Johnson as his running
36:05mate to plate the border states.
36:09The Democrats, meanwhile, sent Union
36:12General George Mlelen in opposition.
36:15Lincoln and Johnson won by only 400,000
36:18out of 4 million votes cast. And in his
36:21second inaugural address, Lincoln
36:23acknowledged that slavery had been the
36:26cause of the war and that the war was
36:29God's punishment for that national sin
36:32of enslavement.
36:34Yet he ended his address with a vision
36:36of reconciliation. He said, "With malice
36:40toward none, with charity for all, with
36:42firmness in the right, as God gives us
36:46to see the right, let us strive on to
36:48finish the work where we are in, to bind
36:51up the nation's wounds, and to do all
36:54which may achieve and cherish a just and
36:56lasting peace among ourselves and with
36:59all nations."
37:03Generals in the field like William took
37:06Sherman were more radical in their
37:07response to Lincoln's caution. General
37:10Sherman issued special field order
37:12number 15 which granted Confederate land
37:15to former slaves with up to 30 acres of
37:18land for each former slave in Florida,
37:21Georgia, and South Carolina. these freed
37:24men uh would only need to wait for
37:27Congress's formal approval um to settle
37:30in those lands. But this approval would
37:33never come.
37:35Meanwhile, the Freriedman's Bureau was
37:37also established in 1865, a government
37:40agency meant to enable former slaves to
37:43transition from slavery to freedom while
37:45providing food, clothing, shelter, and
37:48monetary systems, and enforcing labor
37:50contracts, or creating schools, creating
37:53courts to protect exslaves civil rights.
37:59In response to this turn of events, the
38:01South likewise considered an
38:03emancipation plan of their own here in
38:05these twilight moments of the
38:07Confederacy.
38:09This would uh free and arm slaves in
38:12their territory to overcome the military
38:14advantage of the Union who had armed
38:17their own fugitive slaves. General
38:19Robert E. Lee supported this plan and by
38:21March of 1865, Confederate Congress had
38:25asked the law, but the war was already
38:28nearly over. General Lee surrendered to
38:31the Union at Appamatics Courthouse, uh,
38:34Virginia on April 9th, 1865.
38:37A simple dish towel was used as the flag
38:40of truce by Confederate troops at Lee's
38:42surrender. Uh, also signifying that the
38:45final flag of the Confederacy was a dish
38:47towel. Um, but this flag of surrender
38:51brought the end of the Confederacy.
38:55Within days, however, President Lincoln
38:58was shot in the back of the head by
39:00Confederate sympathizer John Luke's
39:02Booth, and Lincoln died the next
39:04morning. The previous four years of war
39:07had been led by Lincoln, and without a
39:10strong leader at the helm, there was a
39:12lot of uncertainty as to how
39:13reconciliation and reconstruction would
39:16continue.
39:18Between September of 1864 and February
39:21of 1865,
39:23a new state constitution in Louisiana,
39:26Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee had
39:28all abolished slavery.
39:31In February of 1865, Congress approved
39:34the 13th Amendment, which abolished
39:37slavery everywhere in the Union, finally
39:39freeing slaves in the border states of
39:42Kentucky and Delaware.
39:44But freedom would not mean equality.
39:48Discrimination across the country would
39:50continue after the war, both on
39:52interpersonal and legal levels as whites
39:56who believed in their racial superiority
39:58would work to counteract the civil
40:00rights of free blacks. Even as many like
40:03Charlotte Fort and Grimkey worked
40:05through the war to establish systems of
40:07support for the newly free populations
40:10of blacks across the South. Emancipation
40:12and the 13th Amendment were just the
40:14first steps to achieve civil rights and
40:18citizenship would be a continuous battle
40:20after the Civil War.

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