Who Really Freed The Slaves Analysis

Who Freed the Slaves? Who really freed the slaves? The people most responsible for freeing the slaves is the slaves themselves. There are a lot of other factors that led to the freeing of slave but, the most influential thing was blacks fighting for their own freedom. Without slaves fighting in the Union army, the North would have lost the war. Also, the slaves who came from the South to fight for the North, influenced Abraham Lincoln to pass the Emancipation Proclamation. The slaves fighting for the Union also influenced General Butler to allow them to fight in the war to obtain their freedom. The African Americans were the ones who freed themselves because they fought in the Union army for their own freedom. Slaves in the South escaped their masters to come to the North during the war because the North promised that if blacks, Came Forward, and at once Enroll you Names for the Three Years’ Service. Strike now and you are henceforth and forever Freeman!”(Poster from document 1) The North promised all slaves from the South could enter the Union army and fight for the Union. If they went and fought …show more content…
Since the slaves fighting for the South came and to the North and wanted to join the army. General Butler labeled them as “contrabands of war”(Slaves as contraband handout; document 2) so that the North could have the blacks fight for them in the war. If Butler said that the runaway slaves were freemen then they would have to be returned to their slave owner because the Emancipation Proclamation was not passed yet. But, he was smart enough to call them contrabands of war, which meant they are property of the government and can be used to help win the war for the North. But, without the thousands of slaves escaping to the North and wanting to fight in the war, General Butler might have never came up with his brilliant