The US Civil War

  Before the war started there slaves held in 15 states. Four of these slave states stayed in the Union. They were called the border states. Lincoln asked volunteers to fight for the Union and right away thousands of free African Americans rushed to sign up. But Lincoln thought that if African Americans fought the war  that the Union might lose the four border states to the Confederacy. Lincoln did not want people in those states to think the Union was fighting to end slavery. So the armed forces turned African Americans away from volunteering. So Lincoln explained his war goals in a local newspaper:  “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, it is not either to save or destroy slavery.If i could save the Union without freeing and slaves i would do it;and if i could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if i could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone,I would also do that.   Lincoln wanted a quick end to the war and so did abolitionists(people who opposed to slavery. They were pressering him to act. They wanted President Lincoln to free enslaved African Americans. On January 1,1863 Lincoln wrote a statement it said all slaves in the states fighting against the United States would be “forever free” This action was called Emancipation Proclamation. African Americans and white Northerners who were against slavery celebrated. The proclamation did not end slavery in the Confederacy. Lincoln knew that the South would have to be defeated before all the people there would be free The proclamation also did not end discrimination. Discrimination is the unequal and unfair treatment of a person or group. Even free African Americans in the North did not enjoy the same rights that Whites enjoyed. In most states African Americans could not vote or attend public schools. Many states African Americans could not own property. The South Surrendered in April 1865. African Americans had won their freedom. However, the fight to end discrimination in the United States was just beginning.