Why did the Union change its

policy regarding blacks in the

military?
Diana Ciuca
Zachary Zlatev
 The Civil War
n The Civil War
began April 12,
1861 with the
Battle of Fort
Sumter
n Lincoln called for
75,000 men to
enlist in the
national military
n Many more than
that amount
showed up, and
the blacks were
 Desire to fight
n Blacks saw this war as the largest
opportunity presented yet to gain
freedom
n Blacks in New York even formed their
own regiments and began training
(Hine 269)
n Black military clubs even formed in
Ohio, New York and other Northern
States, claiming their right to fight
n Even officials in the war, such as General
Hunter and General John Fremont
attempted to recruit black troops in
 Justice Denied
n “Where justice is denied…and where any
one class is made to feel that society is an
organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and
degrade them, neither persons nor property
will be safe.”
n Frederick Douglass, African-American
Politician and Abolitionist
n Military policy at the beginning of the war
was to not accept even free slaves in or
“contraband” from Confederate states
n Slaves who ran away were returned to
their masters (Fugitive Slave Law;
Lincoln did not want to interfere with
this as he explicitly stated in his
inaugural address)
 Why?
n  POLITICS
n Lincoln did not want to alienate the
slave states
n  RACISM
n Blacks were still generally regarded as
inferior
n  EXPATRIATION
n Cannot become part of society
 Politics
n Lincoln desired to keep the Border
States not yet seceded in the Union
n The 4 slave states remaining were
North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee,
and Arkansas
n  Allowing slaves to fight could be
“interpreted as interfering with
slavery” and cause them to leave
too (Hine 268)
n  Would go against preserving the
Union
 Racism
n “Racial discrimination in the
North and enslavement in the
South” further promoted the
concept that blacks were not
capable of being in the military.
(Glatthar 270)
n Due to black codes and laws
preventing blacks from even
owning armament, they were
deterred from joining the army.
n
 Expatriation to Central
America
n Lincoln among other leaders did not
want free blacks in America
 -Their plan was that blacks should be
freed and sent to “another country or
territory” to live (Jayne 141)
n The colonization scheme was in full
swing, with “funds appropriated to
the project” to send African
Americans to Central America (Wright
307)
n Allowing blacks in the military would
illustrate that they would be allowed
into American society, something
 What Changed it?
n PERSISTENCE
n “Without a struggle, there can be no progress” -
Douglass
n THE NEED FOR MORE SOLDIERS
n DESIRE TO WIN
n “America will never be destroyed from the
outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it
will be because we destroyed ourselves.” –
Abraham Lincoln
n BRITISH SUPPORT
n President did not officially allow African
Americans in combat until he explicitly
stated in Emancipation Proclamation
on January 1, 1863 that “And I further
declare and make known, that such
persons of suitable condition, will be
received into the armed service of the
 Black Persistence
n Black volunteers still desired to fight even after the
Secretary of War, Simon Cameron declared “’This
Department has no intention at the present to call into
the service of the government any colored soldiers.”
(Hine 269)
n Frederick Douglass gained Lincoln’s respect
and influenced his decisions
n Over time, the black intellect, Frederick
Douglass “was determined to demonstrate that his
own ideological war aims had now become Lincoln's
as well.” (The Lincoln Institute)
n Since many African Americans believed this
was a war against slavery, countless
“wanted to join the fighting and
continued to put pressure on federal
authorities.” (PBS Online)
 The necessity for more
troops
n When recruited resumed in May 1862,
the populations of unemployed,
adventurous and impoverished had
been “depleted” (Marvel xiv)
n Soldiers had to come from
somewhere
n
 British Support
n Lincoln and the Republican formed a
platform against slavery
n Both the south and the north needed
support “claim to British interest”
followed by other European countries
n Britain hoped the North would quickly
bring about the South’s collapse (St.
Clair)
n Through the Emancipation
Proclamation, the Union ensured
British support and eliminated
“any chance that Great Britain or
France would offer diplomatic
recognition to the Confederate
 North’s Desire to Win
n Emancipation Proclamation
n The Civil War had no longer had become a
war for the Union, but a war against
slavery (The Lincoln Institute)
n The South was integrally dependent
upon slavery (O’Sullivan 76-77)
n By taking Southern blacks into the
army, not only did the Union further
their own cause, they also hurt the
Confederacy’s economy
n Similar to Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation
in 1775 which aimed at hurting the
 Outcomes
n African Americans hurried to enlist.
n “Their heroism in combat put to rest worries
over the willingness of black soldiers to
fight. Soon other regiments were being
formed, and in May 1863 the War
Department established the Bureau of
Colored Troops.”
n Of the 178,000 black males who actually
served in the Union Army, 144,000
came from slave states. (Glatthar 280)
n Throughout the war, US Colored Troops
totaled more than 200,000 on the Union
side in 166 Regiments, with free Blacks
from the North as well as ex-slaves from
the South comprising their ranks.
n 104,487 of which were procured in the
 Works Cited
n Glatthar, Joseph T. “’Glory,’ the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, and Black
Soldiers in the Civil War.” The History Teacher 24.4 (1991): 475-485.
Print.
n Hine, Darlene Clark, William C Hine, and Stanley Harrold. The African-
American Odyssey. Vol. 1. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
n Jayne, Allen. Lincoln and the American Manifesto. Amherst, New York:
Prometheus
     Books, 2007. Print.
n The Lincoln Institute. “Frederick Douglass.” Mr. Lincoln and Freedom.
The Lehrman Institute, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2009.
<http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/‌inside.asp?
ID=69&subjectID=4>.
n Marvel, William. Preface. Lincoln's Darkest Years. By Marvel. New York:
Houghton
     Mifflin Company, 2008. iX. Print.
n McConnel, Ronald C. “Concerning the Procurement of Negro Troops in
the South During the Civil War.” The Journal of Negro History 35.3
(1950): 315-319. JSTOR. Web. 25 Nov. 2009.
<http://www.jstor.org/‌stable/‌2715702>.
n O'Sullivan, John, and Edward F. Keuchel. American Economic History:
From
     Abundance to Constraint. New York: Markus Weiner Publishing,
Inc., 1989.
     Print.