The
next unit that we did in class was titled, Freedom from above or from below?
The essential question from class was,"Who
'gave' freedom to enslaved Americans? Did freedom come from above or below? To
what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of
enslaved Americans?" We saw an image that represented Freedom
from above, and it was called Freedom of the Slaves. The next thing we did
in class was we read a couple of documents, the goal of the document was to
analyze the documents and find out what the goal for the war was. The last
thing we did in was watch a video and answer two questions from the video. The
questions were How did fugitive slaves influence the government’s and
Lincoln’s actions on slavery?' and 'What did Lincoln claim that he did not do
more for abolition at this point in the war?'.
To answer the essential question we had to learn what Freedom
from above and Freedom from below actually meant. Freedom from above was when
people with more power and influence than the slaves helped the enslaved people
gain their freedom. Freedom from below is when the slaves themselves actually
work together to make a difference without a higher authority. There were times
during this period in history were Lincoln definitely stepped in and
helped the slaves. During the Emancipation Proclamation he stated that all
men are created equal, "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Although
Freedom from above did exist so did the idea from Freedom from below. The idea
of Freedom from below was a big part of what the Civil war all about, document
X and document Y are examples of freedom from below, Document X was a letter
from General Burnside to the Secretary of War, Edwin M.
Stanton, "They seemed to be wild with excitement and delight— they
are now a source of very great anxiety to us; the city is being overrun with
fugitives from surrounding towns and plantations— Two have reported themselves
who have been in the swamps for five years.." This quote
was significant because it shows that the slaves are forcing people to pay
attention to them which was their man goal. Document Y Slaves from the plantation of Confederate President Jefferson
Davis arrive at Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi from
1863. This image is powerful because it shows slaves taking action and trying
to make a difference by working as a unit. In my opinion there was more freedom from above because it was more common but I do think that Lincolns decisions were influenced by the actions of the enslaved people.
Slaves from the plantation of Confederate President Jefferson Davis arrive at Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi
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