MIn this unit we learned about the slaves and whether their freedom came from above from Lincoln, or below from themselves. In order to learn this we first annotated a picture of Lincoln with a slave bowing and kissing his hand. We had to imagine what each would be saying in this picture. The next thing we did was look at four different documents from Lincoln and tried to find three things I'm each document. The goal of the war, the official view on slavery, and Lincoln's personal opinion on slavery. We did all this to help answer the essential question, 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?
After reading all of the documents, we can answer the essential question. Their freedom came from below, as shown in the Letter from General Ambrose E. Burnside to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. This letter states "after the enemy & citizens fled from the
town, were committed by the negroes, before our troops reached the city— They seemed to be wild with excitement and delight" The slaves went into this city and forced themselves upon the soldiers who had to take them in. They couldn't just send them away, back into slavery, so they had to look after them and feed them which was hard because they didn't have a lot. This forced the General to request help for this problem to the government, he said "I hope to report to you a definite policy in reference to this matter, and in the mean time shall be glad to receive any instructions upon the subject which you may be disposed to give." This shows how the slaves took it upon themselves to help get their freedom. They forced the government to give them freedom, which proves that their freedom came from below.
town, were committed by the negroes, before our troops reached the city— They seemed to be wild with excitement and delight" The slaves went into this city and forced themselves upon the soldiers who had to take them in. They couldn't just send them away, back into slavery, so they had to look after them and feed them which was hard because they didn't have a lot. This forced the General to request help for this problem to the government, he said "I hope to report to you a definite policy in reference to this matter, and in the mean time shall be glad to receive any instructions upon the subject which you may be disposed to give." This shows how the slaves took it upon themselves to help get their freedom. They forced the government to give them freedom, which proves that their freedom came from below.
My personal opinion on the whole 'from above or below' topic is that if you want change of any kind, it has to come from below. For example, in track as a freshman no one knew who I was but I was pretty good and I wanted to be on varsity. So I tried to stand out and talk to the coaches and get them to notice me, and eventually I was put on varsity. This is just an example, but it works in mostly everything. If someone wants a change to happen then they need to take it upon themselves to try to change it, or get someone from above to notice them and have them change it, but it will ultimately come from below.
