Freedom from above or below

During class, we looked at official documents written by president Lincoln during the civil war and other sources. By looking at the documents, we saw that Lincoln became increasingly willing to admit that the war was about slavery. We discussed whether freedom came from the actions of the slaves themselves or from the government to answer the essential question: Who 'gave' freedom to enslaved Americans? Did freedom come from above or below? To what extent were  Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans? 

The argument for freedom from above can be made by the fact that Lincoln passed the emancipation Proclamation which made slavery unlawful. Also, the union army went through the south freeing slaves that they came across on plantations. Another way freedom from above could be considered valid is that Lincoln shifted the focus of the war from being about protecting the union to freeing the slaves and made it clear that was the whole reason for the war.

Freedom from below is the idea that the slaves themselves gained their freedom through their actions. There is a lot of evidence to support this idea such as blacks fighting in the military to gain their freedom. Many free blacks in the north felt compelled to fight for the union and earn freedom for all slaves in America. Also, slaves that were freed from plantations in the south made themselves a nuisance to the union army so that they would be seen and force the government to do something about it. In president Lincoln's second inaugural address, he acknowledged the former slaves for their struggle and perseverance during the war to fight for their freedom and make the government notice them.

By analyzing both options, I believe that freedom came from below. Without the direct actions the slaves took to try and grasp freedom, they would've never got it. We see at the beginning of the war, Lincoln says that he is only trying to protect the Union and he does not care about slavery and I think he would've kept that mentality all the way through the war if it had not been for the efforts of the slaves.  Also, by fighting in the army, those slaves showed the rest of the union that they were seriously fighting for something serious. Finally, the most influential act the slaves performed is making themselves be heard by being a nuisance. Union leaders had to write to Lincoln asking what to do which made the Emancipation Proclamation a very good idea.

a picture displaying the slaves being freed

Civil war battles scavenger hunt

             To learn more about the battles in the civil war, each person in the class took a battle and researched it. They then put that research into a Google document and created a QR code that linked to it. Next we hung up our QR codes around the school and left a clue to find the next code at each place. After that, we proceeded to go around scanning the codes and taking the information from them.  Finally, we analyzed the battles and, based on the theater (east, west, naval), we said which army dominated over the other in a program called padlet.

Created with Padlet

               After doing the activity, we had enough information to answer the first essential question; who was the ultimate victor in each of the theaters and were they winning all along. In the western theater, the Union was the clear victor. First of all, they won almost all the battles fought there and there were only a few major losses. Also, they outnumbered the confederates in almost every battle And they had a strong infrastructure behind them with a network of railroads to supply them with munitions. In the eastern theater, the confederates held firm control in the beginning of the war, while the union gained ground later in the war. At first, the the confederates used superior strategy such as ambushes to rout the union forces. Also, a lot of military schools were in the south creating a strong army for the southerners.  Then, the union started to win when the confederates tried to push into the north like at the battles of Gettysburg and Antietam and they furthered their victories as they pushed the confederates into the south. Finally, in the Naval theater, the Union had dominance over the confederates. This was mostly do to the fact that the union had a pre-established navy and greater numbers than the confederates. overall, the union won the most in the three theaters, which makes sense because the Union won the war.

a depiction of the battle of Gettysburg

               Between all theaters there were similarities in the battles which produced the same outcomes. First of all, in almost all of the victories , the side which won had the other side outnumbered. Also, a lot of union victories happened because they were better supplied with munitions from their larger railroad system. A confederate advantage that caused them to win a lot of their battles is that they were on the defensive side, letting the union come to them. Finally, a commonality between many victories is the side that came up with a better strategy succeeded.