1862: Antietam
and Emancipation
Antietam & Emancipation
On your notes worksheet, answer
the following question:
What does “emancipation” mean?
Antietam & Emancipation
Emancipation – The act of freeing
The War So Far
The War So Far
The Confederacy
was hoping that
Great Britain and
France might help
them in the war,
giving the
Confederacy an
advantage.
The War So Far
What was the war about?
Preserving the Union or
Freeing the Slaves?
Lincoln’s Problems- 1862
• Britain and France had begun to negotiate with
the Confederacy
• Lincoln was harshly criticized for not freeing
the slaves (Republicans/Abolitionists)
• Lacked the Constitutional authority to free the
slaves
• Northerners felt slavery was helping the war
effort in the south.
• He needed a Union victory so the announcement
would not seem like an act of desperation
Antietam
September 17, 1862
United States Colored Troops
• “If I could save the Union without
freeing any slave, I would do it; if I
could save it by freeing all the slaves, I
would do it; and if I could save it by
freeing some and leaving others
alone, I would also do that. What I do
about slaver,...I do because I believe it
helps to save the Union.”
Antietam
Activity
Read the Battle of
Antietam Summary.
Fill in the flow map
as a timeline for
that battle.
Antietam
Emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation
His first challenge
was that the U.S.
Constitution did not
prohibit slavery.
Individual states
could outlaw slavery,
but not the U.S.
Government.
Emancipation
Lincoln used his
background as a
lawyer to come up
with a solution more
or less based on the
following questions
that I would like you
to answer:
Emancipation
Question:
What did slave
owners legally
consider their slaves
to be?
Emancipation
Answer:
Slaves were
considered to
be property.
Emancipation
Question:
What happens to
property that armies
capture from their
enemy during a war?
Image courtesy Library of Congress
Emancipation
Answer:
The property
captured (called
contraband)
belongs to the
army that captured
it and its
government.
Emancipation
Activity
Look at your excerpt
from the Emancipation
Proclamation.
Let’s read the second
and sixth paragraph
together.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
Jan. 1of January, in the year of our Lord
"That on the first day
one thousand1863
eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons
held as slaves within any State or designated part of a
State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion
Only Slaves in the confederate states
against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
and forever free; and the Executive Government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority
The Union Government will support them.
thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such
persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such
persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
their actual freedom.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
because of
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose
Already said
aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as
Rebellion states
slaves within said designated States, and parts of States,
From now on
are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the
Executive government of the United States, including the
military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and
slaves
maintain the freedom of said persons.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
Emancipation
The war was no
longer just about
preserving the
union, it was also
about freeing the
slaves.
Since the war was now about freeing the slaves,
the Europeans decided to not get involved with
either the Union or the Confederacy.
Facts about the Emancipation Proclamation
• The Battle of Antietam provided the necessary
Union victory to issue the Emancipation
Proclamation.
• It did not free any slaves in Union states, it only
freed slaves in rebel states
• Slaves were encouraged to runaway, destroying
the Southern economy
• Britain and France were forced to stay out of the
war
• Escaped slaves were allowed to join the Union
army
• It changed the focus of the war.
United States Colored Troops
United States Colored Troops
In the Emancipation
Proclamation Lincoln
addressed the enlistment of
African Americans in the
United States armed forces.
Activity
In paragraph #8 Lincoln
discusses them being accepted
into the military. Let’s read it
together.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
And I further declare and make known, that
People physically capable
such persons of suitable condition, will be
received into the armed service of the United
man
States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and
other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in
The military
said service.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
United States Colored Troops
United States Colored Troops
Activity
Read the excerpt
from General Order
143, which created
the “United States
Colored Troops”
(USCT).
Image courtesy National Archives
EXCERPT:
Government dept.
Chief Administrative Officer of the
army’s
I -- A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office
for the record of all matters relating to the organization of
Colored Troops….
VI -- Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be
Brought together
groups of soldiers
afterward consolidated in battalions and regiments by the
Chief Administrative Officer of the army
Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim,
in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be
decided
named
determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated
Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops." (U.S.C.T.)
Image courtesy National Archives
African Americans & the War
• By Spring 1863
black soldiers were
fighting along side
whites- the 54th
Massachusetts
infantry (“Glory”)
became known for
their bravery in
battle.
United States Colored Troops
Question:
What do you think
were some
advantages for the
United States in
having African
Americans serve in
the military?
United States Colored Troops
Answer:
African Americans
joined the United
States military in
large numbers. This
led to a larger army,
one of the deciding
factors in the United
States defeating the
Confederacy.
United States Colored Troops
Key items to remember
from today’s lesson
• The “bloodiest” day in American history was the
Battle of Antietam, Maryland.
• The Union “victory” at Antietam allowed President
Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Great Britain and France remained neutral and did
not enter the war on the side of the Confederacy.
• The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the
Confederate States
(Eventually all states would free their slaves)
• With African Americans joining the armed forces,
the United States had a greater advantage over the
Confederate States because of its number of
soldiers and sailors.