Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867 2 Volume Set: Series I

by Edited by Ira Berlin , Barbara J. Fields , Thavolia Glymph , Joseph P. Reidy , Leslie S. Rowland

• ISBN13: 9780521132145
• ISBN10: 0521132142
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Package
• Copyright: 2010-03-10
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The American Civil War destroyed slavery in the South. At first, most white Americans denied what would eventually seem self-evident. But black Americans saw clearly that the sectional conflict was their greatest opportunity for liberation. This volume of Freedom presents a documentary record of the transformation of the Civil War into a war against slavery, and the slaves' role in their own emancipation. The Destruction of Slavery shows the process by which a war for Union became a war for freedom. It demonstrates how three interrelated circumstances opened opportunities to slaves: first, the character of slave society; second, the course of the war itself; and third, the policies of the Union and Confederate governments. Together, they made emancipation an uneven, halting, and often tenuous process in which slaves played the central role.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Editorial method

Symbols and abbreviations

The Destruction of Slavery 1861-1865

Tidewater Virginia and North Carolina

Lowcountry South Carolina, Georgia and Florida

The district of Columbia

Southern Louisiana

The Mississippi Valley

Maryland

Missouri

Kentucky

The Confederacy

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.