Emancipation Proclamation Document Analysis Essay
Assignment Learning Objectives:
Students will
Describe their own position in history in written form.
Contextualize a primary source: demonstrate in written presentation
Present and analyze different prospective on an event from the past.
Use primary and secondary sources as supporting evidence in written form.
ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS:
Did Abraham Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation as a war necessity or as a means to end slavery?
President Abraham Lincoln is often remembered as an abolitionist who ended slavery when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. However, his public speeches and writings over his career provide a more complicated view regarding his views on race and abolition. Some of his advisors were reluctant to support emancipation. They came to support his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation by their desire to weaken and defeat the Southern rebellion. Others, like Frederick Douglass, argued that Emancipation Proclamation was part of a systematic attempt to abolish slavery in the United States.
Please read the documents Ive provided ( in attachment) and address the following as you answer the main question:
Why do you think the Emancipation Proclamation only freed enslaved people in areas in rebellion against the Union?
What reasons did Lincoln give for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation?
What was the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation according to Frederick Douglass?
Your essay MUST be an analysis of the primary source documents Ive provided – IN ATTACHMENT .
Please support your interpretation with evidence from the primary sources. Please do not pad the essay with long quotations. Instead, use short quotations (preferably no more than 4-5 words) when using direct textual evidence. You should use at least two primary sources as supporting evidence. However, do not feel compelled to use all the provided sources. I will be your assessing the quality of your analysis, not the quantity of sources.
You do not need any additional research. If you do use other sources, please provide proper citation. There is more than a sufficient amount of secondary and primary material for you to write an effective analytical essay. You must include all sources you use on the Work Cited page.
Your use of secondary sources is best limited to the textbook, The American Yawp, Ch. 14 The Civil War, Section IV. War for Emancipation
LINK – http://www.americanyawp.com/text/14-the-civil-war/#IVWar_for_Emancipation_1863-1865
and the short online article, 10 Facts: The Emancipation Proclamation.
LINK – https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-emancipation-proclamation
Please do not provide long quotations or summaries from secondary sources. Keep in mind this assignment will be evaluated based on your interpretation of the primary sources. Use primary sources as you supporting evidence.
