Sherman Argumentative Essay
In 1860 the race for executive office was in full swing. Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln competed against Southern Democrat John C.Breckinridge, John Bell and Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was well liked throughout the North, but Southerners were not big fans of his. In the end Abraham Lincoln won the election becoming the 16th President of the United States without any support from southern Americans. As a result of his victory Southern states like Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and many others succeeded from the Union leading to the creation of the Confederacy. Tensions were high and on April 12th, 1861 an attack erupted on Fort Sumter in the South Carolina Bay. The attack began the spark which ignited the Civil War. The
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Union verse the Confederacy. During the war Abraham Lincoln helped free slaves in the south with the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. By freeing slaves it helped the Union with more manpower as some African American men joined in the fight against the Confederacy. African Americans weren't slaves any longer, but what now? Where would majority of them live and how would they survive? How could these free men, women and children move forward and finally begin to live for the first time? As the battles raged on in the war General William T. Sherman of the Union Army confiscated land in Georgia from Confederate soldiers. With this land Sherman promised African American families 40 acres of land to live on with a mule to help farm it. General Sherman's idea of giving land he took from Confederate soldiers to African Americans was an exceptional idea at that time.
These men who now were set free considered Sherman a hero.
As soon as the Civil War would end his promise would hopefully be put into law. African Americans could finally be able to own land. Majority of them had no way of buying land, so this plan Sherman came up with was better than nothing, “Northern philanthropists helped some freedmen buy land. But for most ex-slaves the purchase of land was impossible. Few of them had money, and even if they did, whites often refused to sell” (Murrin, 446). While these men were guaranteed land a governmental agency the Freedmen's Bureau assisted freed slaves in the south. They wouldn't have to work in cruel conditions, and families could live together rather than being split up. The land they’d obtain extended far. General Sherman states in his orders that, “The islands from Charleston south, the abandoned rice-fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. John’s River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States” (Forty Acres and a Mule: Special Order No. 15). Men who joined the Union in battle would be rewarded land set aside for them. African Americans used to be property, but now they’d have
property.
All looked well for freed slaves, but before General Sherman's proposal became official President Lincoln was assassinated. Andrew Johnson stepped in as the next president. Instead of disturbing the land to the men and women it was promised to he decided to pardon the Confederate soldiers who previously owned the land and returned it to them. No one came up with a solution for these ex-slaves. Sherman was the only person who provided them hope. His actions showed theses people he cared.
Union verse the Confederacy. During the war Abraham Lincoln helped free slaves in the south with the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. By freeing slaves it helped the Union with more manpower as some African American men joined in the fight against the Confederacy. African Americans weren't slaves any longer, but what now? Where would majority of them live and how would they survive? How could these free men, women and children move forward and finally begin to live for the first time? As the battles raged on in the war General William T. Sherman of the Union Army confiscated land in Georgia from Confederate soldiers. With this land Sherman promised African American families 40 acres of land to live on with a mule to help farm it. General Sherman's idea of giving land he took from Confederate soldiers to African Americans was an exceptional idea at that time.
These men who now were set free considered Sherman a hero.
As soon as the Civil War would end his promise would hopefully be put into law. African Americans could finally be able to own land. Majority of them had no way of buying land, so this plan Sherman came up with was better than nothing, “Northern philanthropists helped some freedmen buy land. But for most ex-slaves the purchase of land was impossible. Few of them had money, and even if they did, whites often refused to sell” (Murrin, 446). While these men were guaranteed land a governmental agency the Freedmen's Bureau assisted freed slaves in the south. They wouldn't have to work in cruel conditions, and families could live together rather than being split up. The land they’d obtain extended far. General Sherman states in his orders that, “The islands from Charleston south, the abandoned rice-fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. John’s River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States” (Forty Acres and a Mule: Special Order No. 15). Men who joined the Union in battle would be rewarded land set aside for them. African Americans used to be property, but now they’d have
property.
All looked well for freed slaves, but before General Sherman's proposal became official President Lincoln was assassinated. Andrew Johnson stepped in as the next president. Instead of disturbing the land to the men and women it was promised to he decided to pardon the Confederate soldiers who previously owned the land and returned it to them. No one came up with a solution for these ex-slaves. Sherman was the only person who provided them hope. His actions showed theses people he cared.