The Origins of Public Policy During the Civil War: Freedom and Reform for African Americans

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2021

Authors

Bass, Sarah

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Abstract

This thesis sought to determine the origins of public policy during the American Civil War and how this policy developed to address the question of the African American experience in the Union. The scope of this study relates to developmental policy between 1861 and 1865 in the Union. My research for this study comes almost entirely from first hands accounts in the form diaries, letters, documents, and official reports. The three chapters of this thesis allow me to take a close look at three policy areas as well as their origins and affects. The three aspects I studied were policy relating to the status of former or current slaves, the Union policy for African American enlistment in the army and finally, the policy addressing the Southern Antebellum way of life as it relates to the institution of slavery itself. I chose people who initiated decisions and generated ideas outside of traditional avenues of legislative power that left their mark on official United States policy.

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