Slavery's Role In The Civil War

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When the Civil War began, President Lincoln “insisted that slavery was irrelevant to the conflict.” (p. 520) “In the early days of the war… the Union had no intention of interfering with slavery.” (p. 520) The first acts during the war, in regards to slavery, were taking in “contrabands”. Thanks to General Benjamin Butler, slaves that had run away from their Southern owners were “confiscated” and taken in by the Northern army. They were housed and educated by the Northern army. Slaves started the emancipation movement before anyone thought of making the Civil War such a thing. They called it the “freedom war” (p.520) Slaves therefore headed toward the Union side and aided in the Union’s effort in the war. They would pass along Southern information

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