Whether people viewed emancipation as morally right or not, it became increasingly clear throughout late 1862 into 1863 that no successful war for Union could not also be a war to destroy slavery. Yet there was much resistance in the North to the idea of emancipation – indeed, abolitionism in the most moral sense was probably a minority position. So how does the North, operating as it does in a white supremacist paradigm (we must accept that the vast preponderance of white Americans at the time bought into the Western notion of black inferiority – an idea common in Europe as well and bolstered by pseudoscientific ideas) come to embrace the idea of destroying slavery as a necessity in the war for Union?

Your essay should be divided into three parts:

• First, it needs to first outline the opposition to full-on emancipation in the North – among the people, among the politicians, and in the mind of Lincoln and the people around him.
• Secondly, it needs to show how battlefield outcomes affected the willingness of Union people to support the idea of emancipation.
• Thirdly, it should explore the ways in which the Northern people came around to the idea of slavery being destroyed – and the many different shapes that this support took, from begrudging acceptance to wholehearted embrace.
• Be no shorter than 1000 words and no longer than 1400 words. (In order to get this all in, you will need to be concise.)
• Employ effective writing, spelling, and punctuation.

Your essay should reference the materialsused only in this course. You can probably find essays on this topic online – however deviating from my prompt. I caution against using them. I expect this essay to be supported by Escott, McPherson, the filmGlory, and the lecture material (as well as reading material linked from the lecture notes.)

Balance: Content (the argument itself) is 70% of your grade. Writing, following the directions in terms of length is 30% of the grade.

Your essay MUST be written in Google Docs and be submitted using a shared Google Docs set to allow me to edit, shared to my email [email protected], but also (especially) with the link to the shared document posted in your assignment submission in Canvas. I will not accept or grade any assignments shared as attachments in PDF, docx, pages, etc. Google Docs simply gives me a superior and more seamless way to offer you feedback on your work.

Citations:

You do not need to use footnotes or supply a works cited page. I know the materials being used. Again, do not use outside materials to answer this essay. If you pull a direct quote from any of the books include a parenthetical citation with the author and page number. For instance “Lincoln was cool.” (Escott, 29) If you cite directly the lecture do so this way: “Smart quote” (lecture 1). If you cite a line from the film, do so in context. “In the Red Badge of Courage, the boy…” If you cite a classmate’s discussion post, note it thus: (Susie Classmate, Week 1).

Attempt 1Comments