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UNIT 5 TOPIC 9
Government Policies during the Civil War H E I M L E R S H I S T O R Y. C O M
THEME : American and National Identity
LEARNING OBJECTIVE : Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over the course of
the war.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
By way of review, in the last video we considered Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
which in its
text freed all enslaved people in the Confederacy. This was more of a military
tactic than a moral proclamation because while it’s true that the Emancipation Proclamation
did free some enslaved people, it didn’t free all of them. The Proclamation
patently did not end slavery in the border states, which were slave states that remained in the
Union .
As a military strategy, the Proclamation worked for two reasons.
First, it effectively cut off all hope of European diplomatic support for the South, which was a
significant part of their plan to win. When Lincoln recast the purpose of the war in these terms,
it made Britain uncertain about lending a hand to their cause on account of their abolition of slavery
in 1833. Second, the Emancipation Proclamation created the occasion for many enslaved people in the South to
escape their bondage into the safety of Union camps. Some of them even took up
arms for the Union against their former enslavers.
SUMMARIZE the notes above in your own words. (2-4 sentences)
The Emancipation Proclamation was particularly effective in the war. This was because it freed
enslaved people which helped the Union's military, and it also messed up the South's main strategy
of getting European support.
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UNIT 5 TOPIC 9
Government Policies during the Civil War H E I M L E R S H I S T O R Y. C O M
THEME : American and National Identity
LEARNING OBJECTIVE : Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over the course of
the war.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
There was another speech Lincoln gave that even further recast the purpose of the
Civil War into a fight to end slavery, and that was the Gettysburg Address
delivered on November 19th, 1863. In
this address, Lincoln sought to unify the nation and to portray the struggle against
slavery as the fufullment of America’s founding democratic ideals.
The speech was delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery . The main orator was Edward
Everett whose remarks lasted something like two hours.
It was Abraham Lincoln who stood up after him to dedicate the cemetery that reframed the entire
course of the war in ten sentences that took him four minutes to deliver:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
liberty , and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal .
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure . We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come
to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
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UNIT 5 TOPIC 9
Government Policies during the Civil War H E I M L E R S H I S T O R Y. C O M
THEME : American and National Identity
LEARNING OBJECTIVE : Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over the course of
the war.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS cont’d.
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall
not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom —and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
SUMMARIZE the notes above in your own words. (2-4 sentences)
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was short but impactful. He motivated the Union by saying how it
accomplished a lot already, and that it was for the greater cause.
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UNIT 5 TOPIC 9
Government Policies during the Civil War H E I M L E R S H I S T O R Y. C O M
THEME : American and National Identity
LEARNING OBJECTIVE : Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over the course of
the war.
RESPOND to the learning objective with an evidence-based, argumentative thesis.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE : Explain how Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War impacted American ideals over
the course of the war.
Lincoln was not only encouraging, but strategic in his approach to the Civil War. He was able to
use moral causes as military strategies, and navigated the war by appointing good leaders and
instilling hope in the people.
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