Free at last Pt.1

Question 1

When was the emancipation proclamation issued and what did it state?

Answer 1

23rd September 1962
- All slaves in territory under direct control of the confederacy were freed from 1963 onwards

Question 2

How did the 13th Amendment come around?

Answer 2

• After 1863 it had become a Northern war aim
• Lincoln had been reelected in November 1864 and had made statements prior saying that he would abolish slavery if the opportunity arose
• Managed to convince Democrats as well as Republicans to vote on the issue

Question 3

What was the impact of the Thirteenth Amendment?

Answer 3

• Wiped out 2 billion in property (slaves being classed as property)
• 4 million new freedmen
• Ended the division between slaves and freedmen
• Ex-slaves gradually began to gain social equality as legislation was passed, for instance black witnesses could now be called in court cases and could ride streetcars

Question 4

What was the 13th Amendment and when was it passed by congress?

Answer 4

• Abolished slavery
• 31st January 1865 and was later ratified in December

Question 5

What was the problem with the immediate freeing of slaves?

Answer 5

• Almost all were uneducated and simple farm labourers who had no land/property/money
• Very large amount of help required to make black Americans truly equal and successful in society

Question 6

Comments on aims of newly freed slaves?

Answer 6

• New England white American man visiting South Carolina commented that the sole ambition of freed slaves was to have a small piece of land and live a peaceful life
• Much migration to urban areas in search of job opportunities, with ex-slaves also opening their own new schools and churches

Question 7

Who was William Sherman and what was his Special field order No.15?

Answer 7

• A Union General
• On 16th January 1865 issued the order that a large stretch of 400,000 acres of land (confiscated from Confederate hands) was to be distributed among the newly emancipated slaves
• Became the basis for the phrase 40 acres and a mule
• Sherman and many other abolitionists believed that ex slaves would be given their old owner’s lands

Question 8

Did large scale land distribution occur?

Answer 8

• Did not take place despite a law passed in 1866 to set aside 22 million acres
• Very few ex slaves had their own farms
• Many southerners were punished lightly without the confiscation of their plantations

Question 9

How were slaves not helped and initially discriminated against by southerners?

Answer 9

• Still lacked experience and education that was not provided by the government
• Lacked any money to buy equipment or land, while southern plantation owners didn’t want to sell them any
• Plantation owners wanted to replace slave labour with a system of free black labour

Question 10

What was Sharecropping?

Answer 10

• A new system of land rental where land would be provided for usually a 50% share of the crops
• White landowners benefited because it gave influence over their tenants

Question 11

Why did Sharecropping have a negative impact?

Answer 11

• Accelerated the depression of 1873 as Sharecropping seemed to be a more economic use of land over general employment
• By 1880 80% of land in cotton-producing areas became part of Sharecropping schemes, where both black and white people were taken advantage of
• Sharecroppers were forced to take out large loans with high interest rates in order to pay for equipment and generally survive, introducing a lot of debt that many illiterate people could not escape
• This made more taking advantage of the poor common and further still with the introduction of the crop lien system

Question 12

What was the Crop lien system?

Answer 12

• A system where Sharecroppers in debt would use more of their crops to pay it off, making a permanent cycle of debt

Question 13

How had the South suffered from the Civil war?

Answer 13

• Many areas had been pillaged and robbed
• Racism became common due to the absolute loss of property, livelihood and power from emancipation

Question 14

What was the Freedman’s bureau and what did they do?

Answer 14

• Established in 1865 to support newly freed slaves and poor white people suffering
• Provided food, housing and medical aid also establishing schools and legal assistance schemes
• Attempted to settle former slaves on confiscated/abandoned confederate lands

Question 15

Why was the Freedman’s bureau unsuccessful and when was it stopped?

Answer 15

• Had a shortage of funds and personnel while also dealing with the politics of race and reconstruction
• Closed in 1872 because of pressure from white southerners who resented attempts to help ex-slaves and get away from Sharecropping schemes

Question 16

How much violence was there against freed black Americans?

Answer 16

• Thought that the sudden and dramatic dislocation of a slave owning society was a clear factor, as well as obvious prejudice and financial losses
• Ex slave claims that up to 2000 black people were murdered in Texas alone in 1865
• Many saw that southerners were unwilling to make any change in social relations towards ex-slaves - even with treatment such as whipping, maiming and lynching continuing
• When black Americans attempted to leave their previous plantations and set up their own farms many were assaulted/murdered

Question 17

How was the need for political settlement helped or harmed?

Answer 17

• Lincoln’s December of 1963 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction ensured that a “full pardon with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves and high ranking Confederate officials” was offered.
  Not only this but a state government under the union could be formed if the oath of allegiance was made common practice and federal governments could take over control temporarily.
  Occurred in 3 states by 1865
• Black codes were introduced by state legislatures in the South, dictating heavily racist rulings towards the freedom of black people. Mississippi for instance did not allow black people to carry guns or alcohol and they could not own/buy land.
  For runaway or impoverished ex-slaves a punishment was a return to forced labour
• Lincoln could not complete his reconstruction and unification of the states due to being assassinated in April 1865

Question 18

When was Lincoln assassinated and who replaced him?

Answer 18

• 14th of April 1865 in a theatre
• Andrew Johnson (his vice president) took over the presidency but was a southerner who had remained loyal to the union