The Civil War; Freedom from Above or Below

Slaves throughout history have always fought through whatever means they could to attain the one thing they were always prohibited from, becoming free men and women. Nearing the end of the American Civil war, slaves in the south had one of the greatest opportunity's to become free and it came from many different directions at the same time. Many argue whether these chances at freedom came from "above", being freed by the rich land owners, or "below" being freed due to rebellion. The actions of the enslaved also greatly influenced the actions of the current union president, one Abraham Lincoln. However true this may be, Lincoln could not formally state that his goal was to free the slaves early in the war lest he risk losing huge amounts of support and as many as three states to the confederate cause. Regardless, The first example of these slaves gaining access to their freedom was when the union army began to march into confederate territory. When they arrived, they were greeted by many fugitive slaves who desired to be free and many of whom decided to join the union in arms against the southerners. The soldiers were baffled at first, many refusing to work with blacks even in arms, but many were also accepting of any and all help they could get and were able to look past and this was seen as a gain of freedom from below as the slaves were rebelling against their southern masters to attain freedom. The second and overall more important mean by which southern slaves gained there freedom was through the emancipation proclamation. This proclamation was issued by president Lincoln and was one of the first times he made it entirely clear he wanted to end slavery in the south. The proclamation helped to strengthen the northern war effort and allowed southern slaves to join forces w
ith the union army, which was stated previously. This particular example, however, was that of gaining freedom from above as the slaves were officially freed by the most powerful land owner in the free world. The proclamation had resounding effects on not only the south, who's occupants were furious that Lincoln would try to underhand them and free the slaves that they owned, but also worldwide as nations like England and France could not risk opposing the union and losing valuable trade resources, allowing the decline of slavery to begin in those nations as well. In short, enslaved Americans had an enormous impact on how Lincoln fought the Civil war, and many could argue that he would not have won the war if not for the help  they gave the north near the end of the war.