African Americans Role in Civil War Outcome

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Final Exam African Americans played a huge role in affecting the road to and outcome of the Civil War. Because the south had slaves and the north did not, there was huge controversy over the issue. One of the main reasons for the Civil War was because the north wanted to abolish slavery but the south did not. African Americans were easily targets for slavery because they did not know how to read or right and they had no power over the more dominant white men. Once slaves were in America, they started to realize the magnitude of their problem. There were many slave uprisings and run-a-ways that fueled the fire between the north and south. African Americans also played a huge role in the outcome of the Civil War because of the part they took during it. The simple fact that the south owned slaves and the north did not was enough to make the two “sides” disagree with one another. The north believed that it was wrong to own another person like they were property. This belief was not the same in the south because they did not view slaves as people. In the time up to the Civil War, slaves worked on plantations. They were not paid but they got to live on the property, often in very overcrowded shacks. The slaves were often beaten and they were forced to work long, hard hours. They never questioned anything they were told and they would rarely try to escape because of the harsh punishment they would face if they were to get caught. The north had no way of helping the African American slaves because slaves were considered property and it was illegal to steal someone else’s property. As time went on, African Americans got very tired with the way they were being treated but did not know what they could do. They started out with little things that would hurt their bosses indirectly. Despite the harsh consequences, some slaves would stage uprisings on their
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