The central questions of my thesis are: Why did American policy delay black emancipation and official enlistment until 1863, and what were the blacks’ motives for enlisting at all?
First I will investigate the political background, starting with introducing the three main parties in the emancipation debate, and continuing with the political steps toward official enlistment and the reactions of society to these developments. Secondly, I will focus on the black soldiers’ motives, including influences that had shaped them and obstacles which prevented emancipation in practice, and finally I will explore the war’s results for the black population. Throughout the whole analysis, the thesis focuses only on black soldiers and not on black participation in the war in general.
In answering my two-part question, I will quote key scenes of the movie Glory. Even though it is not expected that the movie conveys an accurate and historically verified picture of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, it gives a possible perspective of the blacks toward the war and will therefore be taken into consideration.
This thesis investigates black soldiers’ participation in the American Civil War and the struggles on their way to equality. It can be concluded that this war was decided by the people, because while society got lost in debating old prejudices and habits, and the president made numerous friendly overtures to the border-states in order to not offend any loyal Unionists, a big part of the population stood up and actively entered the debate. By coming in thousands, fugitive slaves forced policy to finally tackle the hushed-up issue of slavery.
Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 The Movie Glory as Inspiration
1.2 Composition of My Thesis
2. The Debate about Freeing and Arming Slaves
2.1 President Lincoln and the Republican Party
2.2 The Split of the Democratic Party
2.3 The Role of Fugitive Slaves
3. The Rocky Road over Emancipation to the First Black Regiments
3.1 The Arrival of the Fugitives
3.2 The Slavery Element – The Struggle with the Border States
3.2.1 Gradual Compensated Emancipation
3.2.2 The Emancipation Proclamation
3.3 The First Black Regiments
3.3.1 Prejudices against Black Regiments
3.3.2 The New York Draft Riots
4. A New Definition of Race and Nation
4.1 Three Ideas of Liberty
4.2 The Black Soldiers’ Fight for a New Nation
4.2.1 The Black Recruiter Frederick Douglass
4.2.2 Motives of Black Soldiers – Voices For and Against
4.2.3 Fifty-Fourth of Massachusetts and Assault on Fort Wagner
4.2.4 The Dispute over Equal Pay
4.3 The Transforming Potential of the War
5. Conclusion and Outlook
6. Works Cited
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