In 1850s, the United States became increasingly polarized over slavery and this cause the North and South to go to war. Initially, the North was hesitant to call the war was fight over slavery, but it was attributed to state rights (Robin, Kelley, & Lewis, 2005, p. 227). Therefore, state …show more content…
Gradually, the war progress and he started getting pressure from the ‘African Americans and the abolitionists to changed his mind make the statement that the elimination of slavery is the reasons the Union was fighting the ‘Civil War (Robin, Kelley, & Lewis, 2005, p. 227). Therefore, the amount of pressure from the abolitionists and the number of African Americans fighting for the Union and turned the tide of the war. In reality, the free African Americans and the remaining slaves believed that the only way to end slavery was for a Northern victory, even though the government tried to stay away from that statement and only say it was to save the union. Therefore, this cause some voice their opinions, as the famous Frederick Douglass stated, “The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end and that the war now being waged in this land is a war against slavery” (Robin, Kelley, & Lewis, 2005, p. 228). In fact, during the Civil War 185,000 African Americans served as soldiers on the Union side with half of them raised in the South and another 200,000 supported the troops as mechanics, cooks, and laborers (Mullane, 2013, p. 236). Furthermore, the status who should be designated as prisoner of war became a when the Union military strategies started utilizing African Americans soldiers as an element of surprise in the opening charge against Confederate soldiers (Mullane, 2013, p. 234). In response, the Confederate government stated they would refuse to grant the black troops the status of prisoner of war and they would be killed to counteract the successful attacks by the African Americans