Afro-American History since the Civil War
Notes Organized by Class Date
1-12-12
--in election of 1848, furthest extension of party issues devoted to African-Americans was the
Free Soil Party, which only gained a small percentage of the vote
--Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 with the nickname of the slaveholder’s republic;
people had revolted in part because of fear that Mexico would not respect slaves as property
--significant issue that developed after Mexican War was incorporating new states from
territories for a balance of free and slave states in the senate; compromise of 1850 arose where
California was admitted as a free state along with a Fugitive Slave Act
--African-Americans at this time face severe restrictions of right to vote and faced violent attacks
in reaction to labor demands; Fugitive Slave Act obligated any federal agent to arrest any blacks
who could not demonstrate a legal presence and then be sent to the South
--northern states had passed liberty laws, which stated that any persons on free soil was entitled
to due process of law; new Fugitive Act repealed state laws and caused slaveholders to rely on
power of federal government to protect what is seen as a state right to own slaves as property
--increasing northern hostility and question of even being allowed to stay on northern soil
threatened safety to point of going to places such as Canada; northerners were allowed to be used
in effort to capture runaway slaves and enforce act; even northerners who were not for the cause
of African-Americans were adamantly opposed to act for invasion of liberties
--runaway slaves became a tremendous political issue as all of them put together have a potential
to bring down the institution of slavery; runaways highlight contradictions of a society dedicated
to liberty and equality
--according to southern law, African-Americans are not considered to have personhood or any
rights to be respected; designation considers them to have no independent will, but that of the
master; system is that of chattel slavery where slave is seen as any other property or commodity
--chattel designation takes away legal rights such as identity, testifying in court, and marrying;
runaway slaves escaping are asserting identity and personhood, which challenges status of being
happy and content and forces slaveholder to use legal system to regain runaway; use of legal
system is a contradiction as it recognizes that runaways do have some sort of identity
--northern states had passed laws that took away rights of blacks to things such as the vote,
owning property, and testifying in court
--according to northern law, blacks are inferior and do have basic rights of life, liberty, and
happiness; blacks are seen as deserving freedom, but are not seen as social equals; blacks have
right to freedom and opportunity to participate in labor and keep the results of that labor in a
system of free labor
,--in south, blacks are inferior and have no basic rights at all; southerners fear that northerners
want to extend system of free labor throughout the nation where northerners fear extension of
slave labor; dividing fear and contradicting Fugitive act helps in forcing sides to defend ideas
--runaways forces northerners to decide if they are willing to jeopardize own liberties by forcing
blacks to return to slavery without due process; fear develops that federal government might
extend restriction of due process to other groups
--Lincoln initially asserts that Civil War is not about slavery, but preserving the Union and
attacking the constitutionality of succession; Confederates assert that war is about defending
slavery in an effort to preserve southern way of life in economics, politics, and society
--for the north, war turns from one of just preserving the Union to also include goal of ending
slavery in rebellious areas; key turning point was increasing influence and power of blacks from
growing importance in war through labor, information, and fighting; goal of ending slavery also
came about as northern forces serving as invaders and conquerors come across significant scores
of slaves that are seeking to escape; problem arose of contradiction of sending back property
without due process and not having more opportunity to support war effort; issue of labor itself
forces issue of emancipation over those who would rather work for the Union army rather than
serve under the Confederacy
1-17-12
--blacks gained power from provision of manpower during time of shortage, question of what to
do with runaway slaves crossing Union lines and having status of being without person leading
to legislation addressing position; fighting in military provides essential aid in defeating the
enemy and proves possession of intelligence, courage, loyalty, discipline, patriotism, sense of
purpose and mission, selflessness and sacrifice to cause greater than self
--connecting war and citizenship presents problems such as how much citizenship is given to
those who do not fight, war being the only way to prove citizenship, and promoting values of
violence over others
--blacks see Emancipation Proclamation as key source of jubilation despite the uninspiring
language because it reveals how emancipation is on the horizon and will be a consequence of
northern victory; emancipation and victory are now seen as inseparable
--is recognized that work is far from over and that eternal vigilance must be used as a price for
liberty; laurels must not be rested on emancipation because slavery may be gone, but everything
behind it will still be there
--eternal vigilance means not becoming complacent with situation being somewhat better as it is
selling oneself short by not claiming the same rights as those who are being held above you; be
constantly aware of what those who have power are trying to do against you in opposition
--only way of preventing powerful from blocking aspirations and hindering previous success is
constantly being aware
,--those in power who pass declarations and laws that benefit African-Americans were intended
to be as limited as possible; is up to blacks to be constantly vigilant by expanding scope as much
as possible and then making sure that they are being enforced; blacks were the ones who pushed
for success and must preserve success or face regressing through complacency
--someone has to force the people in power to respond and keep responding through constant
vigilance and action
--confrontation is a much stronger method than simply persuasion; conflict is essential because
those in power will do nothing if there is not something that can force them to act; not acting
preserves their power
--essential and significant question of Reconstruction is how to create the moral equivalent of
war to continue addressing matters of citizenship and equality when there is no war taking place
--blacks want to be paid appropriate wages for their work and be given assurances that those
wages will honestly be paid and that employer will have no personal rights over the employee
--having a system of free labor allows blacks to have a sense of equality and power through
negotiating and determining how much their labor is desired and valued; there is the ability to
say no and go elsewhere
--slavery as a system of labor may be destroyed, but many significant questions must still be
addressed such as how to readmit states into the Union, what will take the place of slavery and
how that system will be carried out, and what will be the status of former slaves and how that
status is addressed
--issue that arises is the status of the planter/ex-master; is accepted that slavery will not be
restored, but effort is taken to create world that is as close as possible to slavery
--as blacks are thought to need force and compulsion to work, planters fear that end of slavery
will mean a profusion of lazy people who do not want to work; leads to laws that will force labor
and work of blacks at any point when it is not being done
--effort is taken to have no legal boundaries between public and private lives of blacks and take
control over both just as during slavery; in 1865, efforts are more urgent for need to plant crops
--part of effort to control lives is not recognizing marriage rights because that means husband
will not have control over wife and children, but that the employer will
1-19-12
--key issues arise at the beginning of Reconstruction such as what will be the status of freed
slaves and who will decide that as well as how states will be readmitted and who will carry out
that process
--questions arise over the boundaries of freedom; blacks declare freedom being considered the
absence of slavery as a cruel mockery, which is the position of planters
, --much of the fight over the status of former slaves is labor that will continue compelling them to
work for others
--planters argue that new world will be a disaster if they cannot control the labor situation of
former slaves; to do so, legal power is essential for granting absolute authority in an effort to
limit freedom of blacks to work and limit chaos
--to make them a dependable work force, is believed that it is necessary to deny them the right to
vote, access to politics, and many other civil rights
--labor contracts are used as a method to provide planters with ability to force former slaves to
work in gangs and live in centralized barracks just as during slavery, which provides overseers
with right to go into barracks and compel workers to go into the field; terms of contracts are also
set out so that workers have limited compensation
--planters expect blacks to obey employers just as under slavery and stipulate that blacks cannot
marry without employer authority; laws were also used that compelled children without
designated caregivers to work until age of twenty-one
--under labor contracts, workers are given a portion of the profit when crops are sold and receive
nothing if they leave at any period of time
--former slaves want to escape the former humiliations of slavery; desire existed to have claim
over leisure time and control over private lives, a boundary that the planters cannot cross over
--way to assert authority over private lives and time is economic independence and autonomy;
economic autonomy is desired that has more grounding in ownership of economic resources than
selling of labor
--most key thought of resource ownership is land because of ability to determine what will be
grown and where it is sold; owning land means that person is their own proprietor and has
control over what they do rather than the planter
--free labor operates on an open and fluid society where people are taught how to work better in
order to reach a higher position; worker of today is capitalist of tomorrow and vice versa; society
is a relationship where there are no boundaries between the different classes
--key component of free labor is reinforcement of work ethic; high work ethic is seen as
including reliability, endurance, discipline, frugality, ambition, industriousness
--incentive of wages under free labor is seen as morally superior than the discipline of the lash;
incentive of wages is defined by the sanctity of the contract that is reached through negotiations,
thus making the interests of the worker and employer be in harmony
--northern whites who push for a system of free labor take just as much of a supremacist view as
those of the planters; also assume that former slaves are lazy and have no habits of work because
they were always forced to work
Notes Organized by Class Date
1-12-12
--in election of 1848, furthest extension of party issues devoted to African-Americans was the
Free Soil Party, which only gained a small percentage of the vote
--Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 with the nickname of the slaveholder’s republic;
people had revolted in part because of fear that Mexico would not respect slaves as property
--significant issue that developed after Mexican War was incorporating new states from
territories for a balance of free and slave states in the senate; compromise of 1850 arose where
California was admitted as a free state along with a Fugitive Slave Act
--African-Americans at this time face severe restrictions of right to vote and faced violent attacks
in reaction to labor demands; Fugitive Slave Act obligated any federal agent to arrest any blacks
who could not demonstrate a legal presence and then be sent to the South
--northern states had passed liberty laws, which stated that any persons on free soil was entitled
to due process of law; new Fugitive Act repealed state laws and caused slaveholders to rely on
power of federal government to protect what is seen as a state right to own slaves as property
--increasing northern hostility and question of even being allowed to stay on northern soil
threatened safety to point of going to places such as Canada; northerners were allowed to be used
in effort to capture runaway slaves and enforce act; even northerners who were not for the cause
of African-Americans were adamantly opposed to act for invasion of liberties
--runaway slaves became a tremendous political issue as all of them put together have a potential
to bring down the institution of slavery; runaways highlight contradictions of a society dedicated
to liberty and equality
--according to southern law, African-Americans are not considered to have personhood or any
rights to be respected; designation considers them to have no independent will, but that of the
master; system is that of chattel slavery where slave is seen as any other property or commodity
--chattel designation takes away legal rights such as identity, testifying in court, and marrying;
runaway slaves escaping are asserting identity and personhood, which challenges status of being
happy and content and forces slaveholder to use legal system to regain runaway; use of legal
system is a contradiction as it recognizes that runaways do have some sort of identity
--northern states had passed laws that took away rights of blacks to things such as the vote,
owning property, and testifying in court
--according to northern law, blacks are inferior and do have basic rights of life, liberty, and
happiness; blacks are seen as deserving freedom, but are not seen as social equals; blacks have
right to freedom and opportunity to participate in labor and keep the results of that labor in a
system of free labor
,--in south, blacks are inferior and have no basic rights at all; southerners fear that northerners
want to extend system of free labor throughout the nation where northerners fear extension of
slave labor; dividing fear and contradicting Fugitive act helps in forcing sides to defend ideas
--runaways forces northerners to decide if they are willing to jeopardize own liberties by forcing
blacks to return to slavery without due process; fear develops that federal government might
extend restriction of due process to other groups
--Lincoln initially asserts that Civil War is not about slavery, but preserving the Union and
attacking the constitutionality of succession; Confederates assert that war is about defending
slavery in an effort to preserve southern way of life in economics, politics, and society
--for the north, war turns from one of just preserving the Union to also include goal of ending
slavery in rebellious areas; key turning point was increasing influence and power of blacks from
growing importance in war through labor, information, and fighting; goal of ending slavery also
came about as northern forces serving as invaders and conquerors come across significant scores
of slaves that are seeking to escape; problem arose of contradiction of sending back property
without due process and not having more opportunity to support war effort; issue of labor itself
forces issue of emancipation over those who would rather work for the Union army rather than
serve under the Confederacy
1-17-12
--blacks gained power from provision of manpower during time of shortage, question of what to
do with runaway slaves crossing Union lines and having status of being without person leading
to legislation addressing position; fighting in military provides essential aid in defeating the
enemy and proves possession of intelligence, courage, loyalty, discipline, patriotism, sense of
purpose and mission, selflessness and sacrifice to cause greater than self
--connecting war and citizenship presents problems such as how much citizenship is given to
those who do not fight, war being the only way to prove citizenship, and promoting values of
violence over others
--blacks see Emancipation Proclamation as key source of jubilation despite the uninspiring
language because it reveals how emancipation is on the horizon and will be a consequence of
northern victory; emancipation and victory are now seen as inseparable
--is recognized that work is far from over and that eternal vigilance must be used as a price for
liberty; laurels must not be rested on emancipation because slavery may be gone, but everything
behind it will still be there
--eternal vigilance means not becoming complacent with situation being somewhat better as it is
selling oneself short by not claiming the same rights as those who are being held above you; be
constantly aware of what those who have power are trying to do against you in opposition
--only way of preventing powerful from blocking aspirations and hindering previous success is
constantly being aware
,--those in power who pass declarations and laws that benefit African-Americans were intended
to be as limited as possible; is up to blacks to be constantly vigilant by expanding scope as much
as possible and then making sure that they are being enforced; blacks were the ones who pushed
for success and must preserve success or face regressing through complacency
--someone has to force the people in power to respond and keep responding through constant
vigilance and action
--confrontation is a much stronger method than simply persuasion; conflict is essential because
those in power will do nothing if there is not something that can force them to act; not acting
preserves their power
--essential and significant question of Reconstruction is how to create the moral equivalent of
war to continue addressing matters of citizenship and equality when there is no war taking place
--blacks want to be paid appropriate wages for their work and be given assurances that those
wages will honestly be paid and that employer will have no personal rights over the employee
--having a system of free labor allows blacks to have a sense of equality and power through
negotiating and determining how much their labor is desired and valued; there is the ability to
say no and go elsewhere
--slavery as a system of labor may be destroyed, but many significant questions must still be
addressed such as how to readmit states into the Union, what will take the place of slavery and
how that system will be carried out, and what will be the status of former slaves and how that
status is addressed
--issue that arises is the status of the planter/ex-master; is accepted that slavery will not be
restored, but effort is taken to create world that is as close as possible to slavery
--as blacks are thought to need force and compulsion to work, planters fear that end of slavery
will mean a profusion of lazy people who do not want to work; leads to laws that will force labor
and work of blacks at any point when it is not being done
--effort is taken to have no legal boundaries between public and private lives of blacks and take
control over both just as during slavery; in 1865, efforts are more urgent for need to plant crops
--part of effort to control lives is not recognizing marriage rights because that means husband
will not have control over wife and children, but that the employer will
1-19-12
--key issues arise at the beginning of Reconstruction such as what will be the status of freed
slaves and who will decide that as well as how states will be readmitted and who will carry out
that process
--questions arise over the boundaries of freedom; blacks declare freedom being considered the
absence of slavery as a cruel mockery, which is the position of planters
, --much of the fight over the status of former slaves is labor that will continue compelling them to
work for others
--planters argue that new world will be a disaster if they cannot control the labor situation of
former slaves; to do so, legal power is essential for granting absolute authority in an effort to
limit freedom of blacks to work and limit chaos
--to make them a dependable work force, is believed that it is necessary to deny them the right to
vote, access to politics, and many other civil rights
--labor contracts are used as a method to provide planters with ability to force former slaves to
work in gangs and live in centralized barracks just as during slavery, which provides overseers
with right to go into barracks and compel workers to go into the field; terms of contracts are also
set out so that workers have limited compensation
--planters expect blacks to obey employers just as under slavery and stipulate that blacks cannot
marry without employer authority; laws were also used that compelled children without
designated caregivers to work until age of twenty-one
--under labor contracts, workers are given a portion of the profit when crops are sold and receive
nothing if they leave at any period of time
--former slaves want to escape the former humiliations of slavery; desire existed to have claim
over leisure time and control over private lives, a boundary that the planters cannot cross over
--way to assert authority over private lives and time is economic independence and autonomy;
economic autonomy is desired that has more grounding in ownership of economic resources than
selling of labor
--most key thought of resource ownership is land because of ability to determine what will be
grown and where it is sold; owning land means that person is their own proprietor and has
control over what they do rather than the planter
--free labor operates on an open and fluid society where people are taught how to work better in
order to reach a higher position; worker of today is capitalist of tomorrow and vice versa; society
is a relationship where there are no boundaries between the different classes
--key component of free labor is reinforcement of work ethic; high work ethic is seen as
including reliability, endurance, discipline, frugality, ambition, industriousness
--incentive of wages under free labor is seen as morally superior than the discipline of the lash;
incentive of wages is defined by the sanctity of the contract that is reached through negotiations,
thus making the interests of the worker and employer be in harmony
--northern whites who push for a system of free labor take just as much of a supremacist view as
those of the planters; also assume that former slaves are lazy and have no habits of work because
they were always forced to work
