Abraham Lincoln and The Emancipation Proclamation

The African-American race changed drastically throughout the 19th century. The politics of Abraham Lincoln and The Emancipation Proclamation freed African Americans in the rebel states, and soon the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery completely. However, some properties and characteristics stayed the same. Religion stayed the same in the black community; the most common religion in the 19th century was Christianity.

The African-Americans were still enslaved in the beginning of the 19th century. Many enslaved African-Americans resided in living on plantations. The slaves had no constitutional rights; meaning they could not even marry or own land. There was also the domestic slave trade, which was the biggest and most significant in 1808. This term meant that enslaved African-Americans were being reallocated across all the states of the U.S.

Many changes started happening, but that was mainly during the American Civil war when Abraham Lincoln started popping up in the picture. Abraham Lincoln was often referred as ‘The Great Emancipator’, due to the fact that he was antislavery. Abraham Lincoln tried as much as he could to help the enslaved and came up with a policy, called Emancipation Proclamation. This was one of the main turning points for the African-Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that ‘all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.’ However, this policy was only applied to the rebellious states, such as Alabama, Florida, and Arkansas. Nevertheless, this policy aided the African-Americans vastly; as the proclamation declared that the Union army and navy will start accepting men of black skin. Almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom by the end of the war. Before the civil war ended, they made the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment was passed by congress on January 31, 1865; it stated the abolishment of all kinds of slavery in the United States. ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction.’

However, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't solve everything. The promise (saying) to the slaves ‘forty acres and a mule’ did not come to reality for the former slaves. After being freed withinside the United States post-Civil War, many African Americans sought to reunite with their households and collect their very own land. However, the guarantees of '40 acres and a mule' had been now no longer fulfilled for almost all of the former slaves. Ten years after emancipation, the handiest 5% of former slaves withinside the ex-Confederate states had been landowners. Those who did reap a little land often lacked the manner to increase it because of a loss of credit. While there had been many white Americans who took into consideration themselves abolitionists and antagonistic the group of slavery each earlier than and after the Civil War, there had been additionally white Americans who desired to keep the repute quo of slavery and separation of white and black communities. The identical styles of animosities persevered each earlier than and after the civil war.