Assignment 1 Answer questions

-After the Republican President Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, what specific steps did some southern states take which precipitated/caused the Federal Government in 1861 to start a civil war to save the U.S.A./Union?

            The South Carolina legislature sensed danger when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The delegates decided to withdraw South Carolina from the United States of America. Following South Carolina's secession, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed suit, with Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, all threatened with secession. The Confederate States of America emerged from these states. In February 1861, when Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, declined to hand up southern federal forts, soldiers took them from the south of states. South Carolina soldiers repelled a supply ship attempting to reach national forces at Fort Sumter. The vessel had to return to New York, unloaded.

- Describe and explain African Americans' enthusiasm to participate in the Civil War.

            The Emancipation Proclamation claimed that all persons held by the states as slaves should be free. After years of being deprived from joining the army, African Americans now have the right to participate in the war. Aside from facing the challenges of combat, African-American troops experienced racial discrimination. Despite serving in the infantry and artillery, many African-American troops were given non-combat support jobs like as chefs, laborers, and teamsters. African Americans have always been treated inferior to the others.

-How specifically did Pres. Lincoln strategically use African Americans to help win the Civil War for the Union?

            With the Emancipation Proclamation, freedom would only be achieved if the Union won the war. This is President Lincoln’s underlying purpose of implementing the proclamation. That is why the African American soldiers used this as their driving force in the war, which led them to succeed.

-What is your new understanding of President Lincoln; and what is your new understanding of the President's famous executive order - the famous "Emancipation Proclamation"?

            I now understand that Lincoln used the emancipation proclamation and the African Americans who desperately aim for freedom as instruments to win the war. By the end of the war, though the proclamation only applied limited to rebellious states, it also influenced and abolished slavery in other states.

-After exploring the issues related to the US Civil War, what questions or wonderments remain in your mind?

            I want to learn more on what role did women and children had during the civil war, and how the war influenced and changed their lives.

Assignment 2 Answer questions

-In your view, was the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) fought to end enslavement or to stop the expansion of slavery into the new and growing western territories/states?

            I believe the U.S. Civil war fought to only stop the expansion of slavery into the new and growing states, because even with the emancipation proclamation, the discrimination and racism against African Americans still continued.

-Describe how the following 7 Reconstruction and Reparations efforts were used to help the "freedmen" recover from the holocaust of enslavement:

A) The 1862/3 "Emancipation Proclamation"

It claimed that the US will abolish slavery for good.
B) Gen. William T. Sherman's Special Order 15 ("40 Acres & a Mule"),

Confederate territory seized by Sherman was set aside for freed slaves under Field Order 15. Sherman sent Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton to distribute the land among the families.
C) 13th, 14th & 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,

It intended to guarantee freed slaves' equality. This amendment prohibited slavery and all involuntary service, save as a penalty.
D) Freedman's Bureau,

The Freedmen's Bureau fed millions, constructed hospitals, and helped ex-slaves sign work contracts and resolve labor disputes. Also, it aided black soldiers and enabled former slaves legally marry.
E) Charlotte Forten (Grimke),

Forten was the secretary of the Boston Freedmen's Union Commission, which recruited and trained freed slaves to teach.
F) African American elected officials (approximately 1,465)

African Americans now have authority and influence as they are allowed to be elected as part fo the government.
G) American Missionary Association

The American Missionary Association established many more institutions and universities for emancipated slaves. Assisting Northern instructors relocated to the South, the American Missionary Association established the Freedmen's Aid Society.

-What was the political compromise which ended the Reconstruction period (1865-1877); and how was the federal government's cancellation of Reconstruction in 1877, a betrayal and a set-back for African Americans?

            The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten agreement reached between US Congressmen that decided the 1876 presidential election. It ended Reconstruction by withdrawing the final US soldiers from the South. The secret agreement guaranteed that Rutherford Hayes, the Republican nominee, would be elected president and that the Democrats would retake control in the southern states. Once in power, conservative white Democrats enacted new state constitutions that disenfranchised black votes through arbitrary literary exams and poll fees. Southern lawmakers also enacted strict new segregation laws that barred or restricted African-American access to public facilities including libraries, parks, hotels, and restaurants.

-Relative to the opportunities and betrayal of Reconstruction period, what are you left wondering about?

            I wonder how the African Americans coped up with the betrayals from the Reconstruction period, and if slavery once again became prevalent after that period. I want to learn how African Americans continued their efforts to fight and achieve the freedom they deserve.