who really freed the slaves ?

Question

everyone says abe lincoln freed the slaves , but are there people who are more responsible?

Answer 1

This is a good question.

Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which legally freed all slaves within those parts of the Confederacy that were then under Union Army Occupation.

Slavery itself was not outlawed until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on December 6th, 1865.
(Wikipedia has a good entry on this subject.)
Interestingly enough, on Dec. 5, 1865 slavery was still legal in Delaware and Kentucky, because their state governements had not outlawed slavery, and since they did not join the Confederacy they were not subject to the Emancipation Proclimation.

Now the Republican Party was the anti-slavery party at the time. (Much the same way it is the pro-life party today.) As such it was Lincoln (the 1st Republican President) and the Republicans in Congress (along with the occasional anti-slavery Democrat) that took the political and legal steps necessary to free the slaves. They drafted the 13th Amendment, pushed it through Congress and got it ratified in the State Legislatures. They are the ones that actually changed the law to outlaw slavery.

But the Republican's efforts wouldn't have worked without the undying efforts of the anti-slavery (Abolitionist) movement in America. Much like the Pro-Life movement today the Abolitionist movement was a small but very dedicated group of activists who preached, pushed, pettitioned, demonstrated, etc. for their cause. (And incidentally were considered "radical" and "dangerious" and "wierd" in their time). The Whig Party colapsed when it divided into pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, and out of its' ruins the Abolitionists built the Republican Party... so even though it was the Republican Party that was associated with Abolition, it was generations of Abolitionists, people like Harret Beecher Stowe (who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin) and the Abolitionist "movement" that created the political support and political pressure that was required before the Republican politicians could take the actions they did.

But all the political talk and writing in the world is just a bunch ot talk and writing, and talk never does anything on its own. What actually freed the slaves was military action.

The Constiution of the Confederacy contains several passages protecting the rights of slaveowners, such as "Article IV Sec. 2. (I) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired. " and Article IV Section (3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Confederate States, lying without the limits of the several Sates; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into the Confederacy. In all such territory the institution of ***** slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected be Congress and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States. "

The Confederacy was ALL about Slavery, and continuning the institution of slavery, if the Union Army had not won the Civil War, the slaves would NOT have been freed. The Confederates were willing to go to war to keep their slaves, and nothing less than military force was going to make them free their slaves.

So it was a group effort. There were the Abolitionist Acvtivists who preached and wrote and protested against slavery, and who helped escaped slaves when they made their way North.
There were the Republican Politicians who responded to the political pressure the Abolitionist Activists created, and who passed the laws that actually freed the slaves.
And lastly it was the Union Army that defeated the Confederacy and provided the military force required to enforce the laws and make the Emancipation laws stick.

Answer 2

Who Freed The Slaves

Answer 3

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which on paper freed slaves.. that had seceded from the United States. but it took a fighting force of 2 million soldiers in the Union Army to bring the Confederacy to its knees and make the defeat of the slave system a fact.

Answer 4

Most likely the slaves were freed by a set of fortuitous circumstances and not one individual as you have stated-- in fact, it is said that Lincoln was at best "on the fence" on emancipation and may never have acted if the South had not threatened with secession. Political pressure from Lincoln's Northern Anti-Slavery constituency as well as the perceived need to reduce the Souths ability to create its own viable self contained economy came to bear on this question. In addition many not so well intentioned Northerners were looking to freed slaves as a cheap labor pool to fuel the industrial North's economy. And let us not forget that the slaves themselves were responsible for creating their own freedom through true acts of bravery and insurrections that caused the US Government to rethink this deplorable human condition.

Answer 5

Some of you people are really behind in History. Abe Lincoln was president so technically he is the big man behind the Civil War and the end to Slavery. John Wilkes Booth??? Whoever said that..please be kidding. JFK?? Please STAY IN SCHOOL!!!

Wilbur Force is a name to look up. He had a lot to do with Freedom in Europe.

Answer 6

I don't know, but i bet he now lives in England on the dole
spouting off for all he's worth, and claiming extra benefit
from the "I freed the slaves lottery fund ".

Answer 7

definite they have been. many surely ended up engaged on the supply area interior the slave commerce previous to the the early 1800's. In Santa Domingo mullatos owned 10% of the land and slaves.

Answer 8

In a Serfdom system, landlords can promote a slave to Villein if the serf contract is beneficial, but they Villeins were tied to the Lord's land and could not move away without their lord's consent, so the Landlord would the the one who is responsible for giving a slave, a cottager, or a villien his freedom.

Answer 9

The answer is,YES the whole cilval war was because That,Ulyess S. Grant was the Unions General,But mostly Abe had the decision to free them,and he did.

Answer 10

The Union Army!