387. DSC 251- From the Arrival of the Puritans till The Framing of the Constitution, Lincoln and the Civil War (5)
1. Chronology of American History: Puritans to Harlem Renaissance
Colonial Period (1620-1763)
The Puritan migration began in 1620 when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, carrying religious separatists seeking freedom from Anglican persecution. These settlers established a covenant-based community governed by the Mayflower Compact, America's first written framework for self-government. The Massachusetts Bay Colony followed in 1630 under John Winthrop, who envisioned a "city upon a hill" as a moral example to the world.
Throughout the 17th century, English colonies expanded along the Atlantic coast. Virginia developed as a tobacco-based economy reliant on indentured servants and increasingly on enslaved Africans after 1619. New England focused on small farming, fishing, and trade, while the Middle Colonies became centers of commerce and religious diversity. By the 1700s, colonial society had developed distinct regional identities while remaining under British authority.
Revolutionary Era (1763-1789)
Following the French and Indian War, Britain imposed new taxes on the colonies to recover war debts. The Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), and Tea Act (1773) sparked colonial resistance based on the principle of "no taxation without representation." The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 provoked Britain to pass the Coercive Acts, which colonists called the Intolerable Acts.
The First Continental Congress convened in 1774 to coordinate colonial opposition. Armed conflict erupted at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, authored primarily by Thomas Jefferson, which proclaimed natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and listed grievances against King George III.
The Revolutionary War lasted until 1783, with crucial American victories at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). French military and financial support proved decisive. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and established borders extending to the Mississippi River.
Framing of the Constitution (1787-1789)
The Articles of Confederation, America's first governing document ratified in 1781, created a weak central government that lacked power to tax, regulate commerce, or enforce laws. Economic chaos, interstate disputes, and Shays' Rebellion (1786-87)—an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers—revealed the Articles' inadequacy.
In May 1787, delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island abstained) convened in Philadelphia for what became the Constitutional Convention. James Madison arrived with the Virginia Plan proposing a strong national government with three branches and representation based on population. Smaller states countered with the New Jersey Plan favoring equal state representation.
The Great Compromise, proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, resolved this dispute by creating a bicameral legislature: the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate with equal representation (two senators per state). The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes, a morally troubling concession to Southern states that strengthened slaveholder power.
The Constitution established separation of powers among three branches: the legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (Supreme Court). A system of checks and balances prevented any branch from becoming too powerful. The Electoral College system was devised to select presidents, balancing popular sovereignty with states' interests.
Federalists like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay defended the Constitution in The Federalist Papers, arguing for energetic central government. Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry and George Mason opposed ratification, fearing tyranny and the absence of individual rights protections. To secure ratification, Federalists promised to add a Bill of Rights.
The Constitution was ratified in June 1788 when New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it. George Washington was unanimously elected the first president in 1789. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments guaranteeing individual liberties, was ratified in 1791.
Early Republic (1789-1848)
Washington's presidency established crucial precedents for executive authority and cabinet governance. Hamilton's financial program created national credit and a national bank. Political parties emerged despite the Founders' warnings: Federalists favored strong central government and commercial interests, while Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson and Madison championed agrarian interests and states' rights.
Territorial expansion defined the era. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812 against Britain ended in stalemate but fostered national identity. Westward migration accelerated, displacing Native American nations through treaties, forced removals like the Trail of Tears (1838), and warfare.
The Market Revolution transformed the economy through canals, railroads, and industrial manufacturing in the North. Cotton agriculture expanded dramatically in the South, intensifying dependence on enslaved labor. By 1860, four million people lived in bondage. The institution became increasingly sectional, dividing North and South politically and culturally.
Antebellum Period and Rising Sectional Crisis (1848-1860)
The Mexican-American War (1846-48) added vast western territories, immediately sparking debate over slavery's expansion. The Compromise of 1850 temporarily eased tensions by admitting California as a free state while strengthening fugitive slave laws. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) allowed territories to decide slavery through popular sovereignty, resulting in violent conflict known as "Bleeding Kansas."
The Republican Party formed in 1854 specifically to oppose slavery's expansion. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision (1857) declared that African Americans could not be citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in territories, enraging antislavery Northerners. John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (1859) terrified the South with the specter of armed slave rebellion.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (1860-1865)
Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in Kentucky to frontier farming parents. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois and served one term in Congress. Lincoln opposed slavery's expansion but initially did not advocate abolishing it where it existed. His debates with Stephen Douglas in the 1858 Senate race articulated the moral dimensions of the slavery question, declaring "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Lincoln won the presidential election of November 1860 with only 40% of the popular vote, carrying the North but not appearing on ballots in most Southern states. His victory on a platform opposing slavery's expansion triggered secession. South Carolina left the Union in December 1860, followed by six more Deep South states by February 1861. They formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president.
Lincoln's first inaugural address in March 1861 rejected secession's legality while pledging not to interfere with slavery where it existed. He promised to "hold, occupy, and possess" federal property in the South. When Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861, the Civil War began. Four Upper South states then seceded, making eleven Confederate states total.
Lincoln faced enormous challenges. The Confederacy had talented military leadership under Robert E. Lee and controlled interior lines of communication. The Union needed to conquer and occupy Southern territory while the Confederacy merely had to survive. Lincoln struggled initially to find competent military commanders, suffering defeats at Bull Run (1861) and Fredericksburg (1862).
The war's purpose evolved from preserving the Union to ending slavery. Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 following the Battle of Antietam, declaring that enslaved people in rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863. This transformed the conflict into a war for freedom, preventing European recognition of the Confederacy and allowing Black men to enlist in Union forces. Nearly 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors served, proving crucial to Union victory.
Lincoln demonstrated masterful political skill in managing his cabinet, which included rivals and critics. He suspended habeas corpus in areas of rebellion, expanded executive war powers, and navigated complex relationships with Radical Republicans who pushed for immediate abolition and moderate Democrats who prioritized Union restoration. His Gettysburg Address in November 1863 redefined the war as ensuring that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Ulysses S. Grant's promotion to general-in-chief in 1864 finally gave Lincoln the aggressive commander needed. Grant's strategy of coordinated pressure across multiple theaters, combined with William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating March to the Sea through Georgia, broke Confederate capacity to resist. Lincoln won reelection in November 1864 against George McClellan, interpreting victory as endorsement of his policies.
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Five days later, on April 14, Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next morning. His leadership had preserved the Union and ended slavery, reshaping America's constitutional order.
Reconstruction and Gilded Age (1865-1890)
Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson proved lenient toward former Confederates and hostile to Black rights. Congress took control with Radical Reconstruction in 1867, dividing the South into military districts and requiring states to ratify the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizenship and equal protection.
The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery, the 14th (1868) established citizenship and due process, and the 15th (1870) prohibited racial discrimination in voting. During Reconstruction, Black men voted, held office, and established schools and churches. However, white Southern resistance through the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist organizations, combined with Northern fatigue, ended Reconstruction by 1877.
The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed presidential election by awarding victory to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South. Southern states then enacted Jim Crow laws mandating racial segregation and disenfranchising Black voters through poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence. The Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision (1896) upheld "separate but equal" segregation.
The Gilded Age saw explosive industrial growth, massive immigration, urbanization, and the closing of the frontier. Railroads spanned the continent. Industrialists like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan accumulated unprecedented wealth while workers faced dangerous conditions and low wages. Labor unions organized strikes, often met with violent suppression.
Progressive Era to World War I (1890-1920)
Progressives sought to address industrial capitalism's excesses through regulation, social welfare programs, and political reforms. Theodore Roosevelt's presidency (1901-09) broke up monopolies and conserved natural resources. Women's suffrage movements culminated in the 19th Amendment (1920) granting women the vote.
The Great Migration began around 1910 as African Americans fled Southern oppression for industrial jobs in Northern and Midwestern cities. This demographic transformation reshaped urban America and set the stage for the Harlem Renaissance.
World War I (1914-18) initially saw American neutrality until German submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram prompted U.S. entry in 1917. American forces proved decisive in Allied victory. However, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations membership, retreating toward isolationism.
The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937)
The Harlem Renaissance emerged from the Great Migration's concentration of Black talent, ambition, and culture in Northern cities, particularly New York's Harlem neighborhood. This artistic and intellectual explosion celebrated African American culture, challenged racist stereotypes, and asserted racial pride during an era of intense segregation and violence.
Writers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen produced poetry and prose exploring Black identity and experience. Hughes's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921) connected African American heritage to ancient civilizations. Hurston's anthropological work documented Southern Black folklore.
The movement extended beyond literature to music, particularly jazz and blues. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Bessie Smith revolutionized American music while performing in Harlem's Cotton Club and Apollo Theater. Jazz embodied Black innovation and became America's distinctive cultural contribution to the world.
Visual artists like Aaron Douglas created works blending African motifs with modernist techniques. Intellectuals like W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis magazine, and Alain Locke, who published "The New Negro" anthology (1925), provided philosophical frameworks for Black cultural assertion and political demands for equality.
The Harlem Renaissance occurred alongside continuing racial oppression, including lynchings, race riots, and legal segregation. Nevertheless, it established African American cultural authority, influenced the later Civil Rights Movement, and permanently altered American arts and letters. The Great Depression's economic devastation gradually ended the movement by the late 1930s, but its legacy endured as a defining moment when Black Americans declared their full humanity and creative genius to the world.
2. American History: Puritans to Harlem Renaissance (Brief Chronology)
Colonial Period (1620-1763): Puritans arrived at Plymouth in 1620 seeking religious freedom, followed by Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. English colonies expanded along the Atlantic coast with regional economies developing: tobacco plantations in the South, small farms and trade in New England, and commerce in the Middle Colonies.
Revolutionary Era (1763-1789): British taxation after the French and Indian War sparked colonial resistance leading to the Declaration of Independence (1776) and Revolutionary War (1775-1783). American victory with French assistance established independence, recognized by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
Framing of the Constitution (1787-1789): The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia replaced the weak Articles of Confederation with a new framework featuring separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. The Great Compromise created a bicameral Congress while the Three-Fifths Compromise appeased Southern slaveholding states. Ratification was secured in 1788 with the promise of adding the Bill of Rights (1791).
Early Republic (1789-1848): Washington's presidency established executive precedents while political parties emerged despite founders' warnings. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled national territory, and westward expansion displaced Native Americans while the cotton economy expanded slavery in the South.
Antebellum Period (1848-1860): The Mexican-American War added western territories, igniting fierce debates over slavery's expansion through the Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). The Republican Party formed to oppose slavery's spread while the Dred Scott decision (1857) declared African Americans couldn't be citizens.
Abraham Lincoln and Civil War (1860-1865): Lincoln's 1860 election on an anti-slavery expansion platform triggered Southern secession and the formation of the Confederacy. The Civil War began at Fort Sumter (April 1861), evolved into a war to end slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), and concluded with Confederate surrender at Appomattox (April 1865). Lincoln was assassinated five days later, having preserved the Union and abolished slavery.
Reconstruction (1865-1877): The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship and equal protection, and prohibited racial voting discrimination. Radical Reconstruction saw Black political participation, but white Southern resistance through violence and the Compromise of 1877 ended federal protection, leading to Jim Crow segregation.
Gilded Age (1877-1900): Explosive industrial growth, railroad expansion, and massive immigration transformed America into an economic powerhouse. Extreme wealth inequality, labor conflicts, and the closure of the frontier marked the era while the Supreme Court upheld racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Progressive Era to WWI (1890-1920): Reformers addressed industrial capitalism's excesses through regulation and political reforms including women's suffrage (19th Amendment, 1920). The Great Migration began as African Americans fled Southern oppression for Northern cities, and America entered World War I in 1917, proving decisive in Allied victory.
Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937): This flowering of African American arts and culture in Harlem and other Northern cities produced groundbreaking literature by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, revolutionary jazz by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, and new visual art. The movement asserted Black cultural authority and racial pride despite ongoing segregation and violence, ending as the Great Depression took hold.
3. Chronology of American History: Puritans to Harlem Renaissance
Colonial Period (1620-1763)
The Puritan migration began in 1620 when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, carrying religious separatists seeking freedom from Anglican persecution. These settlers established a covenant-based community governed by the Mayflower Compact, America's first written framework for self-government. The Massachusetts Bay Colony followed in 1630 under John Winthrop, who envisioned a "city upon a hill" as a moral example to the world.
Throughout the 17th century, English colonies expanded along the Atlantic coast. Virginia developed as a tobacco-based economy reliant on indentured servants and increasingly on enslaved Africans after 1619. New England focused on small farming, fishing, and trade, while the Middle Colonies became centers of commerce and religious diversity. By the 1700s, colonial society had developed distinct regional identities while remaining under British authority.
Revolutionary Era (1763-1789)
Following the French and Indian War, Britain imposed new taxes on the colonies to recover war debts. The Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), and Tea Act (1773) sparked colonial resistance based on the principle of "no taxation without representation." The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 provoked Britain to pass the Coercive Acts, which colonists called the Intolerable Acts.
The First Continental Congress convened in 1774 to coordinate colonial opposition. Armed conflict erupted at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, authored primarily by Thomas Jefferson, which proclaimed natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and listed grievances against King George III.
The Revolutionary War lasted until 1783, with crucial American victories at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). French military and financial support proved decisive. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and established borders extending to the Mississippi River.
Framing of the Constitution (1787-1789)
The Articles of Confederation, America's first governing document ratified in 1781, created a weak central government that lacked power to tax, regulate commerce, or enforce laws. Economic chaos, interstate disputes, and Shays' Rebellion (1786-87)—an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers—revealed the Articles' inadequacy.
In May 1787, delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island abstained) convened in Philadelphia for what became the Constitutional Convention. James Madison arrived with the Virginia Plan proposing a strong national government with three branches and representation based on population. Smaller states countered with the New Jersey Plan favoring equal state representation.
The Great Compromise, proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, resolved this dispute by creating a bicameral legislature: the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate with equal representation (two senators per state). The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes, a morally troubling concession to Southern states that strengthened slaveholder power.
The Constitution established separation of powers among three branches: the legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (Supreme Court). A system of checks and balances prevented any branch from becoming too powerful. The Electoral College system was devised to select presidents, balancing popular sovereignty with states' interests.
Federalists like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay defended the Constitution in The Federalist Papers, arguing for energetic central government. Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry and George Mason opposed ratification, fearing tyranny and the absence of individual rights protections. To secure ratification, Federalists promised to add a Bill of Rights.
The Constitution was ratified in June 1788 when New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it. George Washington was unanimously elected the first president in 1789. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments guaranteeing individual liberties, was ratified in 1791.
Early Republic (1789-1848)
Washington's presidency established crucial precedents for executive authority and cabinet governance. Hamilton's financial program created national credit and a national bank. Political parties emerged despite the Founders' warnings: Federalists favored strong central government and commercial interests, while Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson and Madison championed agrarian interests and states' rights.
Territorial expansion defined the era. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812 against Britain ended in stalemate but fostered national identity. Westward migration accelerated, displacing Native American nations through treaties, forced removals like the Trail of Tears (1838), and warfare.
The Market Revolution transformed the economy through canals, railroads, and industrial manufacturing in the North. Cotton agriculture expanded dramatically in the South, intensifying dependence on enslaved labor. By 1860, four million people lived in bondage. The institution became increasingly sectional, dividing North and South politically and culturally.
Antebellum Period and Rising Sectional Crisis (1848-1860)
The Mexican-American War (1846-48) added vast western territories, immediately sparking debate over slavery's expansion. The Compromise of 1850 temporarily eased tensions by admitting California as a free state while strengthening fugitive slave laws. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) allowed territories to decide slavery through popular sovereignty, resulting in violent conflict known as "Bleeding Kansas."
The Republican Party formed in 1854 specifically to oppose slavery's expansion. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision (1857) declared that African Americans could not be citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in territories, enraging antislavery Northerners. John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (1859) terrified the South with the specter of armed slave rebellion.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (1860-1865)
Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in Kentucky to frontier farming parents. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois and served one term in Congress. Lincoln opposed slavery's expansion but initially did not advocate abolishing it where it existed. His debates with Stephen Douglas in the 1858 Senate race articulated the moral dimensions of the slavery question, declaring "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Lincoln won the presidential election of November 1860 with only 40% of the popular vote, carrying the North but not appearing on ballots in most Southern states. His victory on a platform opposing slavery's expansion triggered secession. South Carolina left the Union in December 1860, followed by six more Deep South states by February 1861. They formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president.
Lincoln's first inaugural address in March 1861 rejected secession's legality while pledging not to interfere with slavery where it existed. He promised to "hold, occupy, and possess" federal property in the South. When Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861, the Civil War began. Four Upper South states then seceded, making eleven Confederate states total.
Lincoln faced enormous challenges. The Confederacy had talented military leadership under Robert E. Lee and controlled interior lines of communication. The Union needed to conquer and occupy Southern territory while the Confederacy merely had to survive. Lincoln struggled initially to find competent military commanders, suffering defeats at Bull Run (1861) and Fredericksburg (1862).
The war's purpose evolved from preserving the Union to ending slavery. Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 following the Battle of Antietam, declaring that enslaved people in rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863. This transformed the conflict into a war for freedom, preventing European recognition of the Confederacy and allowing Black men to enlist in Union forces. Nearly 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors served, proving crucial to Union victory.
Lincoln demonstrated masterful political skill in managing his cabinet, which included rivals and critics. He suspended habeas corpus in areas of rebellion, expanded executive war powers, and navigated complex relationships with Radical Republicans who pushed for immediate abolition and moderate Democrats who prioritized Union restoration. His Gettysburg Address in November 1863 redefined the war as ensuring that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Ulysses S. Grant's promotion to general-in-chief in 1864 finally gave Lincoln the aggressive commander needed. Grant's strategy of coordinated pressure across multiple theaters, combined with William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating March to the Sea through Georgia, broke Confederate capacity to resist. Lincoln won reelection in November 1864 against George McClellan, interpreting victory as endorsement of his policies.
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Five days later, on April 14, Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next morning. His leadership had preserved the Union and ended slavery, reshaping America's constitutional order.
Reconstruction and Gilded Age (1865-1890)
Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson proved lenient toward former Confederates and hostile to Black rights. Congress took control with Radical Reconstruction in 1867, dividing the South into military districts and requiring states to ratify the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizenship and equal protection.
The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery, the 14th (1868) established citizenship and due process, and the 15th (1870) prohibited racial discrimination in voting. During Reconstruction, Black men voted, held office, and established schools and churches. However, white Southern resistance through the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist organizations, combined with Northern fatigue, ended Reconstruction by 1877.
The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed presidential election by awarding victory to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South. Southern states then enacted Jim Crow laws mandating racial segregation and disenfranchising Black voters through poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence. The Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision (1896) upheld "separate but equal" segregation.
The Gilded Age saw explosive industrial growth, massive immigration, urbanization, and the closing of the frontier. Railroads spanned the continent. Industrialists like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan accumulated unprecedented wealth while workers faced dangerous conditions and low wages. Labor unions organized strikes, often met with violent suppression.
Progressive Era to World War I (1890-1920)
Progressives sought to address industrial capitalism's excesses through regulation, social welfare programs, and political reforms. Theodore Roosevelt's presidency (1901-09) broke up monopolies and conserved natural resources. Women's suffrage movements culminated in the 19th Amendment (1920) granting women the vote.
The Great Migration began around 1910 as African Americans fled Southern oppression for industrial jobs in Northern and Midwestern cities. This demographic transformation reshaped urban America and set the stage for the Harlem Renaissance.
World War I (1914-18) initially saw American neutrality until German submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram prompted U.S. entry in 1917. American forces proved decisive in Allied victory. However, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations membership, retreating toward isolationism.
The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937)
The Harlem Renaissance emerged from the Great Migration's concentration of Black talent, ambition, and culture in Northern cities, particularly New York's Harlem neighborhood. This artistic and intellectual explosion celebrated African American culture, challenged racist stereotypes, and asserted racial pride during an era of intense segregation and violence.
Writers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen produced poetry and prose exploring Black identity and experience. Hughes's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921) connected African American heritage to ancient civilizations. Hurston's anthropological work documented Southern Black folklore.
The movement extended beyond literature to music, particularly jazz and blues. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Bessie Smith revolutionized American music while performing in Harlem's Cotton Club and Apollo Theater. Jazz embodied Black innovation and became America's distinctive cultural contribution to the world.
Visual artists like Aaron Douglas created works blending African motifs with modernist techniques. Intellectuals like W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis magazine, and Alain Locke, who published "The New Negro" anthology (1925), provided philosophical frameworks for Black cultural assertion and political demands for equality.
The Harlem Renaissance occurred alongside continuing racial oppression, including lynchings, race riots, and legal segregation. Nevertheless, it established African American cultural authority, influenced the later Civil Rights Movement, and permanently altered American arts and letters. The Great Depression's economic devastation gradually ended the movement by the late 1930s, but its legacy endured as a defining moment when Black Americans declared their full humanity and creative genius to the world.
5. The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln's position on slavery evolved under war pressures. He personally hated slavery, calling it a "monstrous injustice," but as president faced constitutional and political constraints. The border states would abandon the Union if he moved too quickly on emancipation. Northern Democrats and many Republicans fought to preserve the Union, not to free enslaved people. Yet enslaved people were fleeing to Union lines, and the war was clearly about slavery even if Lincoln initially avoided saying so.
By summer 1862, Lincoln decided emancipation was militarily necessary and morally right. Enslaved people provided labor that supported the Confederate war effort—growing food, building fortifications, working in factories. Freeing them would weaken the Confederacy. Moreover, European powers, particularly Britain, were considering recognizing the Confederacy. Making the war explicitly about slavery would prevent this, as British public opinion strongly opposed slavery.
Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation but waited for a Union victory to issue it, so it wouldn't seem like an act of desperation. Antietam, though tactically inconclusive, was enough of a victory. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Proclamation, declaring that on January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in states still in rebellion would be "then, thenceforward, and forever free."
The final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate-held territory. It did not free enslaved people in border states or areas under Union control, as Lincoln lacked constitutional authority to free them—his authority derived from his war powers as commander-in-chief to seize enemy property. Critics noted the Proclamation freed enslaved people where Lincoln couldn't enforce it while leaving them enslaved where he could. But this missed the point. The Proclamation transformed the war's meaning. It was now a war to end slavery, making European intervention impossible and allowing Black men to enlist in Union forces.