Emancipation and Refugees

Toward a War of Emancipation

• self-emancipation continued and grew
• abolitionists and “radical” Republicans in Congress pressured Lincoln for:
    * emancipation as a war measure
    * African American enlistment
• northern opinions on emancipation shifted as the war intensified
    * White Union troops especially
      * saw slavery as the cause of the rebellion
      * argued that destroying slavery was the only way to permanently save the Union
      * during war’s final years, a way to make their suffering mean something
    * civilians too, but many stayed opposed
• Congress also moved emancipation policy forward:
• first confiscation act, august 1861
    * authorized US government to seize private property in rebel states used to promote rebellion (including slaves)
    * left status of “contrabands” unclear
• second confiscation act, July 1862
    * expanded and clarified
    * freed enslaved people belonging to anyone aiding the rebellion

Life for African American Refugees

• 300 “contraband camps” in total
• many different arrangements:
    * some spontaneous, some planned
    * camps or barracks alongside the US Army
    * confiscated plantations leased out by the federal governemtn
    * some land redistribution and agrarian colonies
• refugees found only limited safety/security
    * Union forces moved frequently, refugees weren’t the main priority
    * private humanitarian aid insufficient
    * shifting opportunities for work and support
    * poor treatment conditions
      * epidemic diseases
      * abuse by soldiers and civilians on both sides
• an “embattled freedom” for refugees
    * federal policy developed slowly and unevenly
    * refugees pushed for government support and protection (not always successful)
    * for most, emancipation was a process, not a single event or moment