Freedom Didn't Fall From Above

Enslaved Americans got freedom from below. The fugitive slaves made themselves a problem in order to convince Lincoln to free them.

Abraham Lincoln did not give freedom to all slaves. His goal was to preserve the Union. He said in his reply to an open letter from Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune in 1862, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy Slavery.” If freeing all slaves meant saving the Union, then he would free them. However, if preserving slavery helped save the Union, he would do that. Lincoln said in the same reply, “I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.” Lincoln would prefer to free all slaves, but saving the Union is more important to him. Lincoln did free some slaves in order to save the Union. In the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1663, Lincoln stated, “All persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” He only freed slaves who were in a state that wished to rebel against the United States. Lincoln’s priority was saving the Union. Since some slaves threatened to go against the United States, they were freed by Lincoln. Freedom from above meant that slaves were granted freedom by people with power. Lincoln did not give freedom to all slaves and he only did give it to some to help the Union.

            The freedom of slaves came mainly from below. The slaves became a problem in order to cause some change. General Ambrose E. Burnside wrote to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, in a letter, “They are now a source of very great anxiety to us; the city is being overrun with fugitives from surrounding towns and plantations— Two have reported themselves who have been in the swamps for five years— it would be utterly impossible if we were so disposed to keep them outside of our lines as they find their way to us through woods & swamps from every side.” Fugitive slaves were camping out in Berlin and they refused to leave. The government was forced to give them freedom since they made themselves a problem. They worked hard to stand up for a change, which means their freedom came from below. The image below shows the fugitive slaves flooding into Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi and making themselves a problem in order to become free. These slaves were staying camping out on the land in Mississippi and they refused to leave. They revolted as an act of desperation to become free.

            Slaves in America became free from Lincoln by working hard. Lincoln wanted to do whatever would save the Union, no matter how that impacted slavery. Slaves got freedom from below by working hard to revolt.

Sources:

Letter from General Ambrose E. Burnside to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, March 21, 1862: Reprinted in Berlin, Ira, Barbara Fields, Steven Miller, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Free At Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom and the Civil War. New York: New Press, 1992, pp. 34–35.

Image: Engraving, “Slaves from the plantation of Confederate President Jefferson Davis arrive at Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi,” 1863