preview

Civil War Dbq

Decent Essays

Nelson Mandela once said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” The goal of the Union when the Civil War first started was to save the Union, it was not their intent to free slaves. Once Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, the goals of the Union changed. The goal of the Union was to now both save it, and free slaves from bondage in the South. Before the Civil War could take place to free slaves, there were justifications white Americans came up with to keep the slaves, as well as laws that kept slaves in bondage. Two of the main reasons for justifying slavery were that it was God’s will and that slaves were happy on plantations with their …show more content…

White women and children were slaughtered during a slave revolt, so many women wanted slavery abolished to protect themselves from slaves. A group of women, the Ladies of Augusta, wrote to the Virginia General Assembly in favor of abolishing slavery to protect white women. White women and children were harmed and even killed during a slave revolt and asked their husbands and legislature that they consider abolishing slavery to protect white women from getting harmed in a slave revolt again. This is a selfish reason to abolish slavery, but white women were afraid that another slave rebellion would occur again and that the slaves would come for them and kill them like they killed the other women and children in the last slave …show more content…

In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. The Fugitive Slave Act was a federal law that was passed as a part of the Compromise of 1850, and required authoritative figures in the North to help southern slaveholders recapture their slaves that ran away. These arguments also affected state laws. For example, Alabama laws that concerned slaves denied slaves the right to bear arms, to visit another plantation without the consent of the master, and deprived slaves of the right to own animals and many other possessions. When lawmakers denied African Americans and slaves basic rights and freedoms, this reinforced the idea that slaves were inferior in a white slaveholders mind. Fortunately, these same laws that were passed also strengthened the Abolitionist movement because it gave the group a reason to push for the abolition of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act also divided the North and South even further, and set the stage for the Civil

Get Access