Terms
The Treaty of Guadalupe is a peace agreement between the US government and Mexico’s republic which marked the end of the conflict that had befallen the two North American countries.
Hidalgo Free Soil Party is the party which only lasted for six years and was formed to halt the spread of slavery to the western states which had just joined the Union.
The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five bills the Congress passed to solve political confrontations between the free states and the states promoting slavery.
The Kansas Nebraska Act replaced the previous Missouri compromise and allowed the residents of the states of Nebraska and Kansas to decide for themselves whether they wanted to be a free or slavery state.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania a case in which Pennsylvania court found Prigg guilty of kidnapping and detaining a lady and her children to send them to slavery; however, the conviction was overturned by the supreme court which found that the state’s judge erred in interpreting the federal laws.
Dred Scott v. Sanford is the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the rights and privileges of the nonwhites were not enshrined in the Constitution, and only whites were considered citizens, thus, being accorded the privileges given in the supreme laws of the US.
John Brown was a radical person who believed in violence as the only means to eliminate slavery and make everyone free in the United States.
Lincoln/Douglas Debate (each one’s arguments) -Lincoln argued that there is a need for unity by either embracing slavery or antislavery. On the other hand, Douglas argued that people in every state should accept or reject slavery within their territory, and he viewed Lincoln as a radical.
The Election of 1860 was the most contested election with contagious issues of slavery and individual states’ rights and pitted Abraham Lincoln against Stephen Douglas, from a divided Democrat party.
Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential directive made by Abraham Lincoln aiming at freeing all the slaves from the states fighting against the Union.
The Homestead Act accorded the US citizens 160 acres of public land and encouraged people’s mass movement to the western side; however, they had to fulfill the condition of staying on the land for a period not less than five years and also pay the fee.
Black Codes Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th) – The 13th reconstruction amendment put a condition for all the states fighting against the government to abolish slavery and pay the damages caused to the Union before they rejoined the federal government. The 14th amendment required that all the black be accorded equal opportunity by the state governments.
The 15th reconstruction amendment granted election rights to all citizens without being judged based on race or previous status.
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal agreement that solved the previous year’s presidential elections and led to soldiers’ withdrawal from the southern states.
40 Acres and a Mule emerged after Gen. William T. Sherman gave an order to award all people who were previously enslaved but had been rendered free with a plot of land equal to or less than 40 acres.
The Role of Slaves
The Civil war and the Reconstruction period are important events which occurred in the history of the United States. During the civil period, the states which supported slavery fought against the Union, which was lobbying for the country’s unification. However, the Reconstruction period marked an era when slaves were freed and incorporated into the welfare of the nation. Although slaves were treated inhumanely, they played a critical role in the civil war and reconstruction period.
The Role of Slaves during the Civil War
Slaves worked as railroad repairers, plantations and industrial workers and freed the white men to engage in the battle participate in the war as soldiers in the confederacy. As the war intensified, more fighters were needed to participate in the war; thus, Confederate soldiers ordered slaves to take care of the farms while they fought in the war. They also enabled the whites who were working in the plantations to join other militaries on the battlefields. Hence, slaves played a crucial role in the Confederate army.
Slaves acted as real soldiers in the Union army and fought against the Confederate military. President Abraham Lincoln passed a law that enabled freed slaves to work as troops in the army, which offered reinforcement to the union soldiers (González et al., 2017). Although they received less payments compared to their white counterparts, they played a similar role in driving away from the enemy soldiers and capturing the southern states. Thus, enslaved people directly participated in the war as the soldiers on the battlefield.
The Role of Free Blacks during Reconstruction
Free blacks played a vital role in educating the illiterate slave population. Before Reconstruction, only whites were allowed to learn to read and write. Therefore, the educated free blacks from the north traveled to the south during Reconstruction to offer teaching services to the emancipated people (Alderman et al., 2016). Since they were black, the liberated widely accepted their offers because they were of their skin color. Thus, black people performed an important role in training the unknowledgeable slaves.
Succinctly, slaves and blacks performed a vital role during the civil war and Reconstruction, respectively. They ensured that agricultural fields in the confederate regions were attended to, and railroads used for traveling were also repaired. Also, they acted as the real soldiers in the Union army and provided reinforcements when needed. Finally, the blacks acted as the trainers of the freed slaves who had been deprived of education.
References
Alderman, D. H., Butler, D. L., & Hanna, S. P. (2016). Memory, slavery, and plantation museums: The river road project.
González, F., Marshall, G., & Naidu, S. (2017). Start-up nation? Slave wealth and entrepreneurship in Civil War Maryland. The Journal of Economic History, 77(2), 373-405. Web.