Chapter Overview

A careful balancing act had been created by a gradual increase in the polarization between a proslavery South and an antislavery (if largely indifferent for most whites) North. This balance between North and South teetered on facts of economy, culture, and historical reality as much as slavery, but in the end slavery would be the "bloody shirt" that two armies would wave as they clashed in battle. In 1861, the militia of South Carolina attacked a Federal garrison at Ft. Sumter in Charleston's harbor, unleashing a series of secessions by thirteen states (collectively called the Confederacy) that would ultimately lead to all-out war. African Americans waited for the outcome of this war, anxious and hopeful for a Union victory and the implied promise of freedom from slavery for all black people.

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you should understand the following:

• The inconsistent policies of the United States that opened the door for dissent on the issue of slavery and ultimately triggered the war
• The fallout resulting from the Emancipation Proclamation, Union attempts to enforce abolition on a resistant South, and struggles to provide relief to the newly freed slaves from a diverse group of organizations
• The role of black troops in the American Civil War
• Methods and instances of slave disruption used to support Union efforts against the South
• The southern situation by the end of the war concerning labor shortages and the forced impressments of slaves to continue the war effort
• What the surrender of the Confederates meant for the former slaves, for the Union, for President Lincoln, and for southern whites