Abolitionism †African American Essay

With abolition is found the gateway towards freedom. The African American influence in this area was of great authority especially in rural districts such as Lancaster and Chester Counties (Pennsylvania). In these groups sometimes the blacks worked alone and sometimes they partnered with whites. With this movement, African Americans used brute force to gain what they wanted (Bordewich, 138). Abolitionism was a great aid in spearheading the rights of blacks serving as soldiers. The abolitionism movement was fueled with evangelical religion, which deemed slavery as a sin. With this motto, members of the movement (both white and black) demanded that slavery be done away with, and terminated completely (Glatthaar, 15). The abolition movement is one in which its essential existence is tied integrally with that of African Americans, for it is their freedom which is at stake and is the goal of the movement. In the abolition movement is found the beginnings of the Anti-Slavery Society that has this as its constitution, This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that thus they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites, of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will never, in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force. Here is established the beating heart of the movement, to liberate the black community, and restore to them their God-given rights as humans to live freely, without adversity, without a fundamental challenge to their worth as part of humanity. Conclusion The myriad of influences the African American culture and people had on the Civil War is vast in its subjects, from black soldiers, the abolitionists, to their role in religion, African Americans have proven that their participation in the Civil War is essential. Black soldiers were only given praise and trustworthiness after they had proven themselves in the field of battle as equal compatriots to the Northern white soldier. During the clandestine times of the Underground Railroad, African Americans showed their dedication, and their strength of will through traveling thousands of miles to be free, and then they traversed the same paths in order to allow for other fugitives to find their way to the North. In Frederick Douglass there was found a man who stood for what he believed, not only in speech, but also in action. His deliberate animosity to ignorance in owning slaves helped to fuel the fires of the abolition movement, and thus the public awareness and knowledge of what slavery truly is: a vile creature, distorted with hate, and allowed to live only through dictatorship, and autocracy. McPherson states of the Civil War, â€Å"The Lincoln administration and the Republican press, even antislavery newspapers such as the new York Tribune, declared emphatically that the purpose of the war was the restoration of the Union, and that the issues of slavery and the Negro had nothing to do with the conflict† (22). Without the establishment of the Underground Railroad, the Abolitionist movement, and the fight for freed blacks to become soldiers, the Civil War would not hold for a history about the emancipation of a race, but the unification of a country instead. The ultimate influence that the African Americans had in the Civil War was their participation in all aspects of it; they were not going to be denied their human right to be their own masters, and without their voices and contributions in the war, slavery might not be an old issue. Without the personal stories of African Americans such as Frederick Douglass then the war would be empty of freedom. As McPherson quotes of Susie King Taylor, In this ‘land of the free’ we are burned, tortured, and denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro-hating white man. There is no redress for us from a government which promised to protect all under its flag. It seems a mystery to me. They say, ‘One flag, one nation, one country indivisible. ’ Is this true? Can we say this truthfully, when one race is allowed to burn, hang, and inflict the most horrible torture weekly, monthly, on another? No, we cannot sing, ‘My country, ‘t is of thee, Sweet land of Liberty’! It is hollow mockery. The Southland laws are all on the side of the white, and they do just as they like to the negro, whether in the right or not†¦(313). African Americans made this their war. Through fortitude and strength of will, they placed their faith in the decency of the Northern states and abolitionists to see the truth of the hate and prejudice in the country. The Civil War would not be about freedom, and the extraction of the activity of slavery in America if not for African Americans. African Americans paved the way for their own rebellion by speaking up, by acting, by using their talents in the field of battle and fighting for themselves, for liberation, for their sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers. Without the influence of African Americans, the Civil War would have been just about unification. Work Cited Bordewich, Fergus M.Bound for Canaan. The Underground Railroad and the War for The Soul of America. HarperCollins, New York. 2005. Elkins, Stanely. Slavery. University of Chicago Press. 1976. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. The Free Press. New York, 1991. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. Pantheon Books. New York, 1965. McPherson, James M. Ordeal by Fire. McGraw Hill. New York. 2001 Tracy, O. 2005. http://www. teacheroz. com/index. htm.