Slavery in the Civil War

Owning a slave in North America during the Civil War era was as common as having a house pet today. Slaves were being sold like cattle to work on the cotton fields for the farmers mainly in the Southern Region of the United States. In the North, the economy was based on factories and wages compared to the South who had large plantations which needed the slaves to pick cotton. These different economies caused divisions in the United States. Soon the states started separating themselves creating Southern States which believed that slavery was a good thing and Northern States who didn’t want the South to create their own country. Slavery was the absolute last thing the Union wanted to end. It would knock out the profit from the south. Even the important document at that time called the Emancipation Proclamation was made as an attempt to end the South’s separation, not to end slavery.

The Civil War erupted because the Southern States wanted to branch out and add some of the Union Border states as slave territories. The Union disagreed. Adamant that slavery was the best option, the Southern States wanted to succeed from the North and become their own country to do as they please without being pressured about slavery. The Union considered that option as a sign of rebellion and began to recruit troops to try and stop the South from seceding. Even during the war, the Union soldiers thought that if they found a runaway slave, they were supposed to return them to the master, which most of them did. Even President Lincoln didn’t want to free the slaves because in doing so, he would lose the support of the Border States, especially Kentucky.

Finally President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation which “declared freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America as did not return to Union Control”. It didn’t free any of the slaves in the Border States (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) or any of the Southern States already under Union control. It wasn’t because of compassion, it was to show power.

Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, the South found ways to still berate and abuse the African Americans who were once slaves. Jim Crow Laws found their way into society. The basic message was “separate but equal.” As in African Americans were not allowed into the