POS 4624 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Emancipation Proclamation, Confiscation Act Of 1862
10 May 2018
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Chapter 17: History’s Emancipator
• South seceded
o South had land worth more than the 4 million enslaved upon it, so the north tried
to compromise (spoiler alert: didn’t work)
o Florida justified it’s secession by saying blacks everywhere have to be enslaved
because of their natural inclination towards “idleness, vagrancy and crime” (wow,
it’s almost like Trump’s speech about refugees)
o Jefferson Davis became president of the new Confederate States of America
o Produced literature and propaganda that depicted black runaways as returning to
the south upon the realization that slavery was “better” and black confederates
defending slavery (All probably had some anecdotal evidence of occurring, but
the commonality was probably extremely small)
• War:
o Originally upheld the Federal Fugitive Slave Act and probably returned more
slaves in the first 3 months of war than in the previous presidency
o Soon starting changing their tune as they realized they were heavily out-resourced
by the south (and rumors that blacks were being forced to help the confederates)
o Confiscation Act – slaveholders forfeited their ownership of any property,
including enslaved Africans, used by the Confederate military (don’t be fooled,
no one REALLY wanted this to pass. Lincoln begrudgingly signed it, but they
needed legal resources)
▪ Slaves became “contraband” – 1/4 of the 1.1 million men, women and
children in the contraband camps died – only 138 physicians were
assigned to care for them
▪ Despite the conditions, slaves kept runaway in huge numbers proving the
south’s depiction of content slaves was propaganda (surprise, surprise)
o Second Confiscation Act (sent to Lincoln on July 17)
▪ Declared all Confederate-owned Africans who escape to Union lines or
resided in territories occupied by the Union to be “forever free of their
servitude”
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