Freedom from Above or Below

This lesson was about slavery during the Civil War and how the slaves gained their freedom. The essential questions were: "Who 'gave' freedom to fellow Americans? Did freedom come from above or below? To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans?" To answer these questions, we had to learn what "freedom from above" and "freedom from below" meant. "Freedom from above" is when people of a higher social class grant freedom to a lower class. "Freedom from below" is when people of a lower social class help each other
First we looked at the two images below and discussed which one was showing freedom from above and which was showing freedom from below. The statue shows freedom from below because it The picture of Lincoln and the slaves shows freedom from above because it shows Lincoln, president at the time, granting the slaves their freedom.

 

The thing about this, however, is Lincoln did not wish to free the slaves for the sake of the war. While he did not agree with slavery personally, he would not let his personal views obstruct him from doing what was needed to end the war. As he said in a reply to an open letter from Horace Greely, "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it..." Therefore, the slaves were going to have to help each other in order to gain their freedom, if it wasn't President Lincoln's first priority.
In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln says, "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgement of mankind..." We see here that while Lincoln himself believes freeing the slaves and letting them join the army is "an act of justice", he says it is needed by "military necessity". He is doing what he needs to for the country and not what he believes in.
Slaves needed to get the attention of Lincoln by making nuisances of themselves. Their only chance of getting their freedom despite what the war brought was joining as one. As a unified group helping each other, they were able to achieve their goals and free themselves, gaining their freedom "from below".