Pg. 28 1862:
-Republicans abolished slavery in Washington D.C.
In 1863:
-the Emancipation Proclamation was issued freeing all slaves in the southern States in rebellion
-many black Americans gathered in groups eagerly awaiting for its arrival on midnight of December 31, 1862
-The Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863
-Fredrick Douglas was in attendance at one of the rallies and once passed he exclaimed:
“It was one of the most affecting and thrilling occasions I ever witnessed, and a worthy celebration of the first step on the part of the nation in its departure from the thralldom (bondage) of the ages.”
Pg. 29 1864:
-following the Emancipation Proclamation, several civil rights laws were passed by Republicans
Freedmen’s Bureau Bill:
-equalized pay for soldiers in the military, whether black or white
-the fugitive slave Law was repealed even with the unanimous opposition by the northern Democrats still in Congress
-Republicans worked to end slavery and secure civil rights
-the new nation of southern Democrats was determined to head in the opposite direction
-Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens (Democrat from Georgia) delivered an 1861 speech entitled: “African Slavery: The Corner-Stone of the Southern Confederacy”
-Stephens acknowledged that the Founding Fathers, even those in the South had NEVER intended for slavery to remain in America
***Thomas Jefferson and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature
-that it was wrong in principle: socially, morally, and politically
–it was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was the institution of slavery would pass away
Pg. 30 Vice-President Stephens
-expressed his view and that of the new Confederate nation about the anti-slavery ideas of the Founding Fathers
“Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error.”
“Our new government, the confederate States of America, is founded upon exactly the opposite idea–the great truth that the Negro is NOT equal to the white man. That slavery–subordination to the superior (white) race is his natural and moral condition. The new Confederate government is the great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
Truth:
-there is a clear difference between the philosophy of Republicans and Democrats
-polkar opposites on the issue of race and racial equality
-Southern Democrats had been willing to form an entire nation on the foundation of white supremacy
-the south was strongly Democratic
Pg. 31 1871: Congressional hearing:
-South Carolina Democrat:
“Almost nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of the decent people of South Carolina belong to the Democratic party;...the Republican Party is composed entirely of the colored people.”
1864 reminders: Republican President vs. Democratic military general
-southern Democrats were still fighting against the Union
-the presidential candidate for the Democrats that year was a Northern Democrat named Union General George B. McClellan
-McClellan was running against his own commander-in-chief
“Our bloody civil war has now lasted nearly four years under the mismanagement of Abraham Lincoln. Nearly one million white men have been sacrificed.”
“He (Lincoln) has declared his intention to convert it (the Civil War) into a war for forcible abolition and Negro equality, social and political.”
-McClellan ran on electing him he would stop white lives being lost and keep slavery in place
-Abraham Lincoln had tried twice to replace him for failing to obey Lincoln’s orders to launch aggressive attacks against the Confederacy
-the Democratic Union General held opinions about slavery and blacks that were in agreement with the Democrats of the South whom he was fighting
Ex. when southern slaves escaped from their masters and fled to his Union troops for protection, General McClellan, refused to receive those black refugees and ordered them returned to their Southern slave masters from whom they escaped
-McClellan’s pre-southern sympathetic behavior was in direct contrast with the other northern military leaders
Col. Fletcher Webster
-son of anti-slavery statesman Daniel Webster
-organized the 12th Massachusetts who adopted the popular abolitionist Anthem “John Brown’s Body” as its regimental song
-that unit saw some of fiercest action in the War
-Fletcher Webster gave his life in the fight against slavery being shot down at the Second Battle of Bull Run
Pg. 33 Republican Frederick Douglas:
“We have the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863. It was a vast and glorious step in the right direction. But unhappily, excellent as that paper is - and much as it has accomplished temporarily - it settles nothing. It is still open to decision by courts, canons (agency interpretations), and Congress.”
-understanding that something was needed that was more far reaching than just the Emancipation Proclamation or the various civil rights laws
***there needed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery completely
-the Republican Congress worked on this constitutional amendment
-Abraham Lincoln won re-election to a second term
Pg. 34 1865: Civil War finally came to a close
-the slaveholding States had been defeated
-President Lincoln and the black troops of the 29th Connecticut Regiment visited Richmond, the former capital of the Confederate States of America
-An officer in that black regiment recorded the scene:
“Thank God for His goodness; we have seen His salvation.”
-colored people waved their handkerchiefs, hats, and bonnets expressing their gratitude by shouting
-the white soldiers cheered along with them
-a woman shouted, “Thank you, dear Jesus, for the is sight of the great conqueror.”
-Lincoln was seen with tears in his eyes as he looked out at the sea of colored people who were once slaves
-Lincoln heard the blessings uttered from thankful hearts and thanksgiving to God and Jesus
-thousands of colored men in Richmond would have laid down their lives for President Lincoln