What was the role of African American soldiers in fighting for the Union in the Civil War quizlet?

The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century, California Edition

1st EditionGerald A. Danzer, J. Jorge Klor de Alva, Larry S. Krieger, Louis E. Wilson, Nancy Woloch

614 solutions

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1st EditionAlan Taylor, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, Michael Roberts, Peter B. Levy

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1st EditionAppleby, Brinkley

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At first, when the Civl War broke out in 1861, Lincoln wanted only to preserve the Union and bring the southern states that had seceded back into the Union. His premise at the outset of the war was that the Confederate states had no right to secede, that their actions were traitorous, and that the Union was justified in trying to bring the Confederacy back into the nation.

However, as the Union Army began fighting, Lincoln realized that the war would be difficult to win. It became necessary for him to provide a rationale grounded in democracy to motivate the Union troops and the North and to provide a broader context for fighting the war. IN 1862, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in 1863 and freed the slaves in the Confederacy. Though this was largely a symbolic action, it signified Lincoln's eventual commitment to ending slavery and providing a more meaningful rationale for tithing the deadly and long Civil War.

In addition, Lincoln knew that by supporting the abolition of slavery, he would make it difficult for European powers such as England to support the Confederacy. This is because there was a strong abolitionist sentiment in England.

BLACKS were allowed as SAILORS but not SOLDIERS for a while, for fear of 1. white soldiers' unwillingness to fight alongside blacks and 2. alienation of border slave states that remained in the union by enlisting BLACK SOLDIERS. For BLACK SOLDIERS themselves, military service proved to be a liberating experience. Out of the army came many of the leaders of the Reconstruction era. At least 130 former soldiers served in political office after the Civil War. In time, the memory of black military service would fade from white America's collective memory. Of the hundreds of Civil War monuments that still dot the northern landscape, fewer than a dozen contain an image of a BLACK SOLDIER. But well into the 20th century, it remained a point of pride in black families throughout the US that their fathers and grandfathers had fought for freedom. Within the army, however, BLACK SOLDIERS received treatment that was anything but equal to that of their white counterparts. Organized into segregated units under sometimes abusive white officers, they initially received lower pay ($10/month, compared to $16/month for white soldiers). They were disproportionately assigned to labor rather than combat, and they could not rise to the rank of commissioned officer until the very end of the war. Nonetheless, BLACK SOLDIERS played a crucial role not only in winning the Civil War but also in defining the war's consequences. Thanks in part to black military service, many Republicans in the last 2 years of the war came to believe that emancipation must bring with it equal protection of the laws regardless of race. One of the first acts of the federal government to recognize this principle was the granting of retroactive equal pay to BLACK SOLDIERS early in 1865. The service of BLACK SOLDIERS affected Lincoln's own outlook. In 1864, Lincoln, who before the war had never supported suffrage for African-Americans, urged the governor of Union-occupied Louisiana to work for the partial enfranchisement of BLACKS, singling out SOLDIERS as especially deserving. At some future time, he observed, they might again be called upon to "keep the jewel of Liberty (italicized) in the family of freedom."

The Americans

1st EditionGerald A. Danzer, J. Jorge Klor de Alva, Larry S. Krieger, Louis E. Wilson, Nancy Woloch

1,094 solutions

The Americans

1st EditionGerald A. Danzer, J. Jorge Klor de Alva, Larry S. Krieger, Louis E. Wilson, Nancy Woloch

1,094 solutions

What was the role of African American soldiers in fighting for the Union in the Civil War?

What was the role of African American soldiers in the Union Army during the Civil War quizlet?

Which is true of black soldiers fighting for the Union Army during the Civil War quizlet?

Did African Americans fight for the Union in the Civil War?