The focus of this lesson was freedom. We were determining whether or not freedom to the slaves came from above or below. Above meaning from people that had more power and influence than the slaves; below meaning from the lower classes or the slaves themselves. Also we were aiming to answer the question of, To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced but the actions of enslaved Americans? To answer these questions we took a look at a pyramid as a class. We discussed the ways of the social pyramid to understand the phrases "freedom from below" and "freedom from above". We also looked at a picture called Freedom to the Slaves, we then inserted speech bubbles that portrayed what the characters may say. Next we analyzed 4 Lincoln documents, and in each we were to find a quote that best showed the goal of the war, the position on freeing slaves, and evidence of Lincoln's personal feelings on slavery. As an example of this analyzation I will use Lincoln’s open letter to Horace Greeley in 1862, the goal of the war was to save the union. A quote that proves this is “"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery." Lincoln’s position on freeing slaves was; he will make whatever decision regarding slavery that saves the Union, and a quote that shows this is "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it;". And finally his personal feelings on slavery was that he wanted it done, but that could not be his first priority as president, as shown in this quote; "I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free." After this activity we analyzed two other documents, Document X and Y, and determined what was going on in them; whether or not they fell under freedom from above or from below, and who was taking action. Lastly we looked at the 13th Amendment, this event was the one which formally abolished slavery in the U. S. The 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
| This is an organizer that we made in groups that categorizes the different documents we analyzed into sections of freedom from above, freedom from below, and neither. |
As president, slavery obviously could not have been abolished without Lincoln. By declaring the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment he clearly freed many slaves. This could be seen as freedom from above, he had more power than anyone else and he used it to put an end to the unjust thing that is slavery. But without the slaves themselves rising up and voicing their opinions, Lincoln would have most likely done nothing, to avoid mixing his personal beliefs and political ones. In document X the slaves have left the plantation of the Confederate president and have arrived at the Chickasaw Bayou to speak with Union soldiers. This is a great example of freedom from below, they are taking charge and rising from the bottom and going to the top.
I believe that the freedom came just as much from above as it did below, when the rising up of the enslaved people was incredibly important, being that this action drove Lincoln to make his decisions, not much could have really been reinforced without the power from above, such as Lincoln himself.
Nowadays there are many other issues that are brought about by those of “below” and reinforced or definitely helped by those of “above”. One example of this is Bruce Jenner and his recent coming out as transgender; he is an Olympic athlete, and a star on various Kardashian reality tv shows. Other transgender people have been fighting and protesting for equality, but now that a more popular and powerful voice has stepped out and represented the community equality is more possible. The story has had incredible coverage all over the place, and Bruce Jenner has become a voice for all transgender people, just like Lincoln became a voice for the enslaved people.
