Background:
To understand Lincoln and his choices about Emancipation and women, it is helpful to first review commonly held beliefs about citizenship and women which may have influenced his actions. Many of these beliefs began as the nation was born, this is evident in a series of letters between Abigail Adams, John Adams and their friends. Read or review the letters below for a better understanding of how citizenship was linked to military service, and how women were viewed as dependents to men.
A Brief Overview of the American Civil War
A DEFINING TIME IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY
By Dr. James McPherson
"The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world."
-http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/overview.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
"The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world."
-http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/overview.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
The Civil War: A New Question of Freedom, Military Service and Gender Division
During the Civil War, Lincoln made the choice to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation stated "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
The freed male slaves were often enlisted in the Union army, but what about the women? Female contraband were not seen as particularly "useful" to the Union cause, and therefore were seen as a burden on the Union. Their freedom was often linked to that of male slaves, marriage was encouraged among the slaves to transfer the "burden" onto the men who would then have to care for these 'dependents'. There is a divide among historians as to whether or not, freedom was truly given to slave women. Some argue they were included whereas others believe that female slaves were simply transferred from their masters to their husbands as property to be dealt with. This site asks you to consider what Lincoln believed to be true about women and citizenship, and to answer were female slaves truly freed?
Women: A Burden on Lincoln’s Union
Close Reading- Draft of a Communication to Stephen A. Hurlbut (August 15th, 1863) by Megan Smeeding
The following is a close reading on Lincoln's "Draft of a Communication to Stephen A. Hurlbut" which argues that Lincoln was uncomfortable and challenged by what to do with freed slave women and encouraged his generals to withhold rations from them in the Union camps.