How Free Were Freed Blacks After the American Civil War?

First it would be useful to mention the number of slaves and their situation prior to the emancipation that set them free. The modern day United States of America received a small share of the African slaves transported across the Atlantic compared to those that were transported to the West Indies or Brazil. From 1619 until the end of the 1850’s 400,000 black slaves reached the United States compared to the 9.5 million that had to face much harsher conditions elsewhere in the Americas. The United States produced enough food to feed its entire population plus newly arrived slaves and immigrants alike. There was also enough food available to promote rapid population growth. The black slave population grew at the same rate as the rest of the population, in other words by ten times during the entire period. That meant there were four million slaves by 1860, that rise continued even though no new slaves were imported after 1807 (in stark contrast to the West Indies and Brazil where harsher conditions and treatment led to a much greater death rate). The South relied on slaves for the production of cotton and for domestic service. The Northern states (although the four states of Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri that bordered the Southern states retained slaves) did not need slaves and was starting to expand economically and industrially at a greater rate than the South. Although the states had agreed to disagree over the slavery issue, the expansion of United States territory broke down that compromise. While many in the North saw slavery as morally wrong their counterparts in the South believed that it was vital to sustain the economic viability of the cotton plantations. The Southern states also did not like being dictated to by the federal government that none of them accepted, especially as they had all been against Abraham Lincoln in the first place.

The issue of slavery and whether it should be retained or abolished was a major cause of the American Civil War. The Southern states had felt so strongly about retaining slavery that they broke away from the United States leading to the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln winning the election in 1860 had prompted the formation of the breakaway Confederate states, but the outbreak of civil war had seemed likely for a long while as in the long term neither side was willing to compromise or give in. Abraham Lincoln partly due to his strong religious convictions and partly because of his own ascent to the presidency from ill-educated poverty seemed to want to help the enslaved black population gain their freedom and become full citizen of the United States. Lincoln had campaigned for abolition for many years, for instance opposing the Kansas –Nebraska Act that favoured the slave states whenever the country expanded to the west or to the south. However, Abraham Lincoln did not have enough support in Congress or the Supreme Court to have slavery abolished even though he had wanted to do so from 1860 onwards. President Lincoln did not wish to antagonize the four states within the Union that retained slavery, as their defection would have greatly enhanced the industrial and military capacity of the Confederacy. Whilst the Southern states openly fought the war to preserve the institution of slavery, the Northern states officially fought the American Civil War to prevent the permanent disintegration of the United States. Both sides claimed to protecting the constitution and have justice on their side. Abraham Lincoln was too astute a politician to openly have the abolition of slavery as an overt war aim. The enslaved blacks would of course prefer a victory for the Union to gain their freedom.