Unveiling the Struggles behind the 13th Amendment

The passage of the 13th amendment seems simple. Lincoln declared the emancipation proclamation and set the majority of the slaves free. General opinion was already shifting toward abolition and a bill like the 13th amendment seemed inevitable. This is the well-known but extremely overgeneralized view of national abolition. Leonard L. Richards attempts to correct this general perspective in Who freed the slaves?. He argues that abolitionists were actually fighting an uphill battle throughout the civil war. Not only was there opposition from Democrats, the majority of Republicans was also against abolition. This only changed near the end of the civil war with countless endeavors to change public opinion and heavy secret bargaining.
Before the

Jayne argues in this book that the values contained within the declaration of independence heavily influenced Lincoln and that Lincoln attempted to make these values available to African Americans. This type of thinking directly coincides with the modern pro-Lincoln school’s assertion that Lincoln was a good influence on racial thinking. Foner’s Give Me Liberty takes a nearly opposite stance on the issue. The description of emancipation in this textbook reflected Lincoln’s hesitance and actual necessity of emancipation rather than its applications to racial equality. All of the major details were included such as the Corwin amendment and issue of black military service but the book stated pressure from military losses as the cause of emancipation rather than political exchanges. Either way, Give Me Liberty fits into the anti-great emancipator school although it does recognize the positive significance of Lincoln’s actions. Richard’s Who Freed the Slaves? takes an almost identical approach to Lincoln and slavery. Although Richards argues that Lincoln did not play the biggest role in the goals of antislavery and definitely did not support racial equality, he does admit that Lincoln did play an important role in America’s development during the civil war. As a result, this book falls into the anti-great emancipator school but withholds the harsher judgements about

was lacking in some aspects but excelled in most. For example, a good aspect was that Richards questioned the actual people and factors that freed the slaves rather than adopting the overgeneralized view. This is a good question to ask considering the widespread ignorance surrounding the actual process of the 13th amendment. To answer this question, Richards meticulously analyzed evidence from several historical periods to support his argument. In addition, the bulk of his sources were primary sources. In this regard, he successfully supported his argument through his use of credible evidence. Richards does not present any alternative hypotheses because he focuses on strengthening his main argument throughout the book. Richards’s explanations utilized a variety of sources and used logical deduction. As a result, these tended to be believable and reasonable. Richards does not make many moral judgements but is slightly biased against Northern Democrats. He tends to portray them as devious and excessively aggressive against opinions that conflict their own