The Status of African-American Soldiers in the Regiments of Massachusetts

The civil war in America lasted between 1861 and 1865. This war happened because the country was divided in many ways. In many of the people's minds, the south and north were so different that they were almost more like two neighboring countries then as one nation. America was also divided by the laws. Slavery was the biggest factor in this because as many people know the south revolved around slavery and the north legalized it. When war broke out both sides had brave people fighting for their cause and many of them are now famous today. Everybody knows most of the brave generals, leaders and even some soldiers by name. Not many understand or know about those who fought not with words or weapons but with simple actions influenced the war. One of these people is Amy Morris Bradley. A teacher and civil war nurse who was strongly against slavery (American National Biography, Bradley).

The Civil War was fought in America from 1861 to 1865. Many people refer to this war as “The War Between the States.” Tensions were high between states before the war officially started. During the period of time preceding the war, people were arguing with each other and a majority of them hated each other. The reason they were fighting was, for the most part, over the issue of slavery and what rights a state had. Since there were only eleven states when this happened, the problems they were faced with divided all of them. These issues often came up in the presidential debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham Lincoln and the North believed that all slavery should end, while Stephen A. Douglas and the South thought that every state had a right to choose if they wanted slavery or not. By the time the Civil War started, people were as furious as they possibly could be at each other. The war officially started when Southern troops attacked Fort Sumter, South Carolina. When the battles started, the Northern states and Southern states were both fighting for what they believed to be right. Although the North had more men and supplies than the South, it was still a hard fought battle. Countless people died during this war and, the most gruesome battle was the Battle of Gettysburg. The war itself is not considered quite controversial, but the issues of it are and there are many reasons as to why.

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

Beginning in 1861, the civil war was fought over many political questions regarding slavery, yet was barely focused on the actual freedom of the slaves themselves. It is often taught that the Union fought for the freedom of slaves at the beginning of the war. However, it is more accurate to say that Abraham Lincoln’s primary goal at the beginning of the war was to reunite the Union after the majority of the slave-owning states seceded to protect their way of life: slavery. Yet, by the end of the war, the Union’s goal was to free the slaves. Though the laws securing slaves freedom and suffrage were contributed to by many, the primary driving forces behind them was the African Americans. Through their willingness to fight and support the Union cause, African Americans made the United States acknowledge their struggles and transformed the war into a fight for reconnection and freedom. Though hindered by racist people and policies, the African Americans’ participation during the war and Reconstruction greatly contributed to tremendous cultural change as well as the securing of legal rights to blacks.

On April 12, 1861, a date that changed our great nation, began the Civil War when Confederate soldiers invaded the Union’s Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay. Made up of eleven southern states, the Confederate Army battled the Union in a bloody war that resulted in the deaths of approximately 618,222 men. The key issue as to why the Civil War began was states’ rights. The southern states wanted authority over federal government and the power to abolish laws that did not benefit them, such as laws prohibiting slavery. This caused a great split in our young nation and resulted in significant leaders on both sides of the armies.

To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to

Thesis: The pressure of abolitionists and radical republicans lead to an increase in Lincoln’s support of the slaves; Lincoln’s support acted as a catalyst towards African Americans enlisting in the military.

The Massachusetts 54th was an African-American regiment in the civil war. It was organized by Massachusetts governor John Andrew. After Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation stating that all slaves are now free. According to the History website, Fredrick Douglas and others tried to encourage black men to join the military. Two of Frederick Douglass's sons join the military. More than 1,000 black soldiers were with the Massachusetts 54th. Their motivation wasn’t to save the union, it was for equal rights. They started out doing manual labor such as building railroads, burying the dead, and supplying weapons. Later on, they are well known for the attack on Fort Wagner. The African American soldiers also faced a lot of obstacles

The Civil War occurred between 1861 and 1865. Soldiers from the Union and Confederacy disagreed on the purpose of the war. Southerners believed that slavery was the primary cause of the war. Union soldiers were attempting to

The Civil War arose over the idea of freeing African American slaves. This became controversial between white southerners and white northerners because southerners wanted to keep the confederacy and maintain the slaves, as northerners wanted to keep the Union free. In order to defeat this war against the Confederates, President Abraham Lincoln acquired a few more states to fight under the Union. In fear of losing the states that he obtained Lincoln selected only white men to fight in the war. Even though that was the case African American men were still dedicated and motivated to fight in the war because they supported Unions logic (Section 11).

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states, and they wanted to prohibit slavery in the territories that haven’t became states yet. President Abraham Lincoln won the election in 1860 and at the time he was pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven states in the South created a new nation which was called the Confederate army. Most of the North which was the Union army didn’t agree with the South, so that’s when

Have you ever had a fight with a family member that turned into a war? Well that’s exactly what happened in the Civil War: The US was split into two brother political parties, the Union and the Confederacy. Both parties had opposing views on a lot of things and those opposing views led to the Civil War. The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865. The Civil War was inevitable because of the Kansas Nebraska Act, the Tariff of Abominations and Slavery.

The American Civil War started because the North and the South disagreed on the main issue of slavery and lasted for four years. They could not agree whether to prohibit slavery in territories that had not become states yet. After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the Southern states had a major conflict with Lincoln becoming president and seven slave states succeeded from the Union and made the Confederate States of America. The Union refused to recognize the southern states in that way. Lincoln declared these acts to be illegal and asked Congress for 500,000 soldiers to conquer what was threatened to be an

The study therefore will examine a number of records and primary sources through a variety of archives available. I have already examined a large number of primary sources which were readily available to me through the use of a number of texts I located in the Nottingham Trent library. More notably I discovered a number of online archives which contained many primary sources ranging from photographs to letters to journals and a massive array of records which were available. As well as this I found it incredibly useful looking on various American university sites as they often contained a number of primary sources that were both useful and relevant to my research. I have also created a collection of all my research including context on the period, both primary and secondary sources. This is through the huge database of primary sources available on the government archives. This collection of sources will be used to show whether the role played by African Americans in the American Civil War in both the North and Southern states had an impact on gaining their emancipation and will determine the overall evaluation of this

The Civil War was fought between the union and confederate states over the ongoing issue of slavery. When the war first began in 1861, president Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to help quell the southern insurrection. The war lasted four years and ended when the confederate states and their leader Robert E. Lee surrender to