Slavery was one of the biggest issues during the civil war, and while it appeared as though people of the upper class were granting slaves their freedom, however the slaves may have fought themselves for their own freedom. to learn more about freedom being granted from either above or below, meaning that either people of upper rank freed those below them or those below on the social pyramid helped to free themselves.First, we defined freedom from above and freedom from below by looking at a social pyramid, then we analyzed several documents that including evidence about the goal of the war, Abraham Lincoln’s position on freeing slaves, as well as his personal opinions on war. These documents included, An Open Letter to Horace Greeley, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address, and The Second Inaugural Address. We also watched videos to help expand our knowledge on these documents and the subjects in which they covered. Lastly, using the notes we took on each of the documents, and our knowledge from our class discussion on them we compiled a list of which documents proved freedom from above and which proved freedom from below. All of these activities helped us to answer our essential questions for this unit which were, Who ‘gave’ freedom to enslaved Americans? Did freedom come from above or below? and, to what extent were Lincoln’s actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans?
Abraham Lincoln had great influence on slavery, and if it weren't for him and the actions, slavery wouldn't have been able to be abolished. Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation as well as the 13th amendment to help put an end to slavery. Lincoln fought to free the slaves, and in the Open Letter to Horace Greeley he stated that slavery had become the main cause of the war. Abraham Lincoln Fighting to free the slaves can be seen as freedom from above, for he was highest on the social pyramid, and therefore the freedom was coming from above the slaves. However, Lincoln wouldn't have done this if it weren't for the slaves standing up for themselves and making it know that they wanted freedom because they deserved it just as much as anyone else. In one of the documents we examined, document x, slaves had left their plantation and gone to Chickasaw Bayou. this shows that the slaves themselves were taking action, and therefore that the freedom was coming from below because the slaves, who were at the bottom of the social pyramid, where fighting for their own freedom. I think that freedom came equally from above as it did from below because the enslaved people initiated the action by standing up and showing what they believed in by fighting for themselves, but these thoughts and feeling couldn't ever had been reinforced if it weren't for Lincoln's power, and the actions that he took to abolish slavery.
Today, there are also many issues throughout society that are fought by people below and made more well-known by people above. One recent example of this would be Bruce Jenner who recently came out as being a transgender. While transgenders have been fighting to become recognized as equals,someone like Bruce Jenner who is well known has made it more possible for this to become a reality, and he has become a voice and an icon for transgenders everywhere, just like how Abraham Lincoln used his superiority,and popularity to make it known what the slaves were fighting for and ultimately becoming a voice for the slaves and their equality.
