Black Coffee discussion

All I'm not sure if this is the right way to post this as I couldn't find the 'new thread' button so apologies in advance .
My daughter is studying A levels at collage and for her extended project, she has chosen the following topic : '
did the emancipation proclamation really mean freedom for Those in slavery ?' .

This is where we are looking for help and I said my friends on this group may be able to help!
So if anyone wants give your opinion, we can use this as part of the research , I'd be so grateful no matter how long or short your answer.
If you do take time please leave your name , state or location and country
Thankyou ever do much x
Wendy

What an interesting question. I have never thought otherwise. My novel to be released in Spring of '19 has a component that deals with The Emancipation Proclamation, but I don't think I am much help here, since I have always assumed and been taught that it afforded freedom to all who were enslaved. I'll be very interested to follow your daughter's progress on this. Thank you for posting.
Diane C, McPhail

It did not, per se, but it changed the purpose of the War on the
Union side from preservation of the unified country to eliminating slavery. It only applied to the rebel states and was enforceable by the executive branch as a war power. If the executive branch (Union soldiers or policemen) wasn't around to enforce it, it had little to no effect. Hence it could be enforced in border states to free black soldiers fighting on the rebel side, which reduced the size of the southern army.

This link is to a good high-level site. Also any of Eric Foner's lectures or articles are reliable and helpful.

https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articl...

Carol B, N.C., U.S.

Wow! I'm so pleased you have taken the time to reply, both brilliant and I am hoping I can quote you both? I'm more than happy to post her completed paper (5000 words) once she's completed it , Thankyou both

Thanks Carol , will look at the link now :-)

Wendy wrote: "Wow! I'm so pleased you have taken the time to reply, both brilliant and I am hoping I can quote you both? I'm more than happy to post her completed paper (5000 words) once she's completed it , Tha..."

Wendy, please don't quote me. I'm no expert and post here as a private person. In any event, what she should be quoting is historians and primary sources, IMO.

Of course I really was really only to show we had done our own research, totally agree !

There were virtually no black confederate soldiers for the North to be concerned with. Apparently in the final weeks of the war, some confederates reluctantly agreed to "free" some slaves to form a fighting unit that may never have fought. Most white southerners would choose to lose and die in the war rather than allow black folks the humanity of being able to fight by their side. As Howell Cobb said, “If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-myt....

But, yeah, as far as I know, the emancipation proclamation was just that, a proclamation, and it was uncertain whether a legal foundation for the abolition of slavery would be established until the 13th Amendment was ultimately ratified. But the emancipation proclamation was surely the *signal* of the end.

If I were a slave, I would say "Don't trust it." After all, the slaves had already been "freed" by proclamation by the British during the revolutionary war (see Dunmore's Proclamation), and in Haiti all slaves were freed by the French until the French changed their mind, and Black Napoleon Toussaint L'ouverture had to fight the White Napoleon's army to really bring an end slavery.

Which brings us to an interesting point, and the teacher probably will see this as a point on which the opinion of the essay hinges. What is the end of slavery? Some would argue that even the 13th Amendment didn't really end slavery except as legally recognized chattel slavery (slaves to be disposed of as legal property), but sharecropping brought the freed slaves back to a virtual slave-state that lasted for decades, at least for the large majority. From that point of view, the emancipation proclamation may have been the signal only of a long process ahead, and some might argue the process is still ongoing.

What a superb answer Zadignose, absolutely vital point as the end which she (and I) had never even thought of! Thankyou ever so much

Cheerio.

She's made up with all your comments by the way !

I let my comment on the other thread started, didn't realize this one was it too. Interesting information for sure.