History of the United States I / Unit 15 USH1 2144 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Contrabands
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The idea
The enslaved forced the question first, and from the war's start thousands fled to Union lines rather than waiting for a policy about them.
In practice
General Benjamin Butler labelling them contrabands of war in May eighteen sixty-one.
Where people slip
His reasoning was that since the southern states had left, federal fugitive slave law no longer bound him. They were protected, not returned.
Your place on the trail
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