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Romanticism Slavery The Story Of Term Paper

" By simultaneously freeing most of the southern slaves and permitting their admittance into the armed forces, Lincoln provided some indication of his underlying motives. One main reason for the Emancipation Proclamation was that it formally welcomed a very willing fighting force amid the Union ranks. Slavery, however, could not be eradicated so easily. Although it became illegal for one individual to be in servitude of another without pay, the southern states orchestrated a myriad of segregation statutes, or "Jim Crow" laws, which ensured the privileged positions of white Americans while trampling the rights of blacks. "In bulk and detail as well as in effectiveness of enforcement the segregation codes were comparable with the black codes of the old regime, though the laxity that mitigated the harshness of the black codes was replaced by a rigidity that was more typical of the segregation code." Essentially, black Americans were formally ostracized by whites in the south, and informally in the north. In short, the debt to black Americans could not be paid or even set right through the simple act of emancipation. There was no apology, no efforts to atone for the atrocities of the past, and there was little hope for black Americans to achieve any form of equality -- as officially set down by the Constitution -- without a massive social movement.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a result of unique political circumstances, and a deliberate military strategy. When the Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 the founders of the United States sought to put into writing the ideological basis for the nation...

The perpetuation of slavery was a direct contradiction to their premise that "all men are created equal," and many members of the Convention called for its abolishment. However, it was acknowledged that the Southern economy could not function without it; slavery continued, but only where it was indispensable. Yet its continuation was not necessarily ideological; it was not that Southerners were inherently more evil or cruel than Northerners -- the divide between the states over slavery possessed more practical origins.
Works Cited

Berlin, Ira and Barbara J. Fields. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War. New York: New York Press, 1992.

Kallen, Stuart a. Life on the Underground Railroad. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000.

Linden, Glen M. And Thomas Pressly. Voices from the House Divided: the American Civil War as a Personal Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. New York: Dutton Books, 2000.

Kallen, Stuart a. Life on the Underground Railroad. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000. Page, 10.

Berlin, Ira and Barbara J. Fields. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War. New York: New York Press, 1992. Page, 3.

Linden, Glen M. And Thomas Pressly. Voices from the House Divided: the American Civil War as a Personal Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Pages, 76-77.

Berlin 95.

Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. New York: Dutton Books,…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Berlin, Ira and Barbara J. Fields. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War. New York: New York Press, 1992.

Kallen, Stuart a. Life on the Underground Railroad. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000.

Linden, Glen M. And Thomas Pressly. Voices from the House Divided: the American Civil War as a Personal Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. New York: Dutton Books, 2000.
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