During the Civil War, black people in the south were slaves. It was a law in the North that black people should be free. Were they really free to live their lives however they wanted? Did they have every single freedom that white people had? I don’t think that Black people were free in the north during the civil war, because they still couldn’t go to the same school as white people, or drink at the same fountains, or go to the same bathroom. They weren’t allowed to do the same things that white people could do, even though black people were supposed to be free.
Even though black people were supposed to be free, they still had many restrictions against them. For example, black people were not allowed to vote. Every white man of legal age was allowed to vote, but for some reason, white people wouldn’t allow black people to vote. They were also restricted from being in court, or part of the jury. Black people couldn’t go to the same churches, or live in the same areas as white people. White people would live in very ritzy areas of cities, while black people would live in rundown homes, and other bad spots to live. White people also had better jobs than black people most of the time, and got better pay. While it seemed like black people were free, they really weren’t for most of the part.
Although black people had many restrictions against them, they had many freedoms compared to blacks in the south. In the south, almost all black people were slaves. In the north however, black people were allowed to work to support their family. They were also allowed to do whatever they wanted with the money they made. Even though many of the black people had so many restrictions, just being able to work for a living and have a job was considered being free. It seems that anything but slavery was considered freedom.
Even though black people weren’t slaves in the north, they still were not liked by every white person. There were many white people in the north that wanted slaves to do the work for them. There were also many white people who were fine with the idea of black people being free. Many white people came to the realization that every man is equal, while many of them were the exact opposite. The whites in the south were obviously not happy with this, so unhappy that they started a war over it. So there were many different beliefs about black people being free in the north.
So, were black people in the north really free? Or were they just not slaves. There is a huge difference. Being a slave means that you have no freedoms what so ever. Blacks in the north were allowed to have a job, and were allowed to make money for their families. They had freedom of religion. I don’t think that black people in the north were completely free, because of all the restrictions against them.
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