Ap Us History Dbq

APUSH DBQ 6 All throughout the 1800s, slavery was a very controversial topic. During the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln was asked about his views on slavery. He simply stated that he would do anything with slavery to preserve the union. A few months later, Lincoln issued the Emancipation and this went slightly against what he had said earlier. Once this was issued, the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery became the main goal in the war. I believe that Lincolns main goal was to preserve the Union and although he felt that slavery was morally wrong, he was willing to do anything to keep it together. There were many instances where Lincoln made his beliefs on slavery very clear. Although he believed that it was morally wrong, he still did not believe that blacks should have the same rights as an american. He wanted them to be free. Just free somewhere else. During his presidency he tried very hard to do whatever needed to be done to preserve the Union. Lincoln restated this again in August of 1863 when he reminded people of the democratic party that the civil war was being fought in an effort to put the Union back together. Feelings on slavery did not matter but freeing slaves would make things easier because Confederate war effort would become more difficult. I march of 1862, Lincoln decided that it would be best to award states that freed their slaves with money. With this, people were not able to say that they didnt receive money for getting rid of slavery. This was simply a bribe though. He was not forcing anyone to abolish slavery and it was completely the states decision. Although that made the thought of abolition seem less awful to the confederates, they were still unsure. When speaking to a Committee of Religious Denominations of Chicago in September of that same year, Lincoln admitted that slavery was a big part of rebellion. He also stated that emancipation would prove to Europe that the U. S. had morals (image of strong ally). Emancipation would then also weaken the rebels by taking their laborers. Although this was a good plan, people were also still curious as to what would happen to all of the freed black people because they are uneducated and not smart enough to do the average white persons work. Fredrick Douglas, brought up the idea of letting black people fight in the war, and Lincoln felt that it was a good thing for blacks to do. 54th Massachusetts was famous because it was the first all black regiment. All black people fought for free until they were seen as equal. At first, Lincoln was scared that they would not be good soldiers and they would not be loyal to the fellow troops. Another fear he had was that White regiments would be angry and refuse to fight. 54th Massachusetts did the assault on fort Wagner and although there were many casualties, they continued to fight. This impressed both Sherman and Grant. That concern was put aside when all the focus was pointed towards Lincoln during his famous Gettysburg address in July of 1863. During the historic speech, he stated that all men were created equal and pointed out that during the revolution, they fought for equality of all men. This meant that by having slavery, they were lying about the revolution. Lincoln made it a point to say that were an example to all other countries that wanted democracy. He called the United States a â€Å"test case† with slavery. They had to keep fighting for those who already died or they might as well have a monarchy. Everything was going smoothly until there was a race riot later that year. White people were beating up black people because they felt that they were stealing their jobs. Buckner was confused because these northern people were treating blacks like southerners. Abusing them and refusing to draft. He pointed out that the black people were fighting for a country that didnt even appreciate them. The memorable statement of his speech was that the freed men were braver than all the men in that room combined. As people argued about whether slavery should be abolished or not, Lincoln always made it clear that the one thing he cared about the most was the preservation of the Union. The southern states mainly insisted on keeping slaver for economic needs and the North was more open to the idea of abolition because they did not need slave help. With such a controversial topic, it was hard to compromise but with Lincolns will to do anything, the Union was once again united.