Freedom: Above? Or Below?

The fourth lesson in our Civil war Unit was ‘Freedom from Above or Below.’ The essential question was: “Who 'gave' freedom to enslaved Americans? Did freedom come from above or below? To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans?”

‘Freedom from above’ is when those with political power, like politicians, or just rich people changed their ways to give freedom to those below them. ‘Freedom from below’ is when the people in a lower social class, using their sheer volume, overthrows the fewer people in higher social classes to gain equality. In class, we analyzed two documents, each displaying freedom from either above or below. Using these documents, we then tried to figure out who "gave" freedom to enslaved Americans, whether this freedom came from above or below, and how much Abraham Lincoln's actions were influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans.

“Freedom to the Slaves” by Currier and Ives

One of the documents (seen above) that we analyzed was a painting depicting Abraham Lincoln apparently granting freedom to a slave who is kissing his hand and kneeling on the ground. This image depicts freedom from above, as Lincoln was of a higher social class and was seemingly freeing the slave. Freedom primarily came from above in the Civil War for the slaves because they were quite really the lowest class in society. Those powerful nobles in the upper class were really the ones who turned America into the free place it is today.