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This essay investigates the literature on the role of Afro-Americans during the Civil War. It expounds on the views of Frederick Douglas' concerning the Civil War and the Afro-American soldiers. It focuses on the primary argument in the article and provides the necessary evidence to that effect. In addition, it presents my views on the possible strengths and weaknesses of the article.

The primary argument of Fredrick Douglas was that the Civil War was quite inevitable considering the level of inhumanity and the chains of bondage that marked the face of America. In his opinion, it had reached a point where denying former slaves the chance to full citizenship was no longer possible. That’s probably was he was turned to so that he could help recruit blacks into the army. This he managed and earned the attraction of President Abraham Lincoln who called him to give advice on a more perfect social unity. Indeed, he later became the sole link President Abraham Lincoln and African American soldiers. The strongest evidence to his idea of inevitable cooperation comes when President Abraham Lincoln agrees to his demands for an equal pay for blacks in the army. It was certainly a gesture of mutual respect (Blight 1995).

The strength of the article is the depiction of Douglas’s persistence as some of the values that led to the adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although it took a long time to be declared by President Lincoln, it finally heralded an era of cooperation between former slaves and the slave owners. However, the greatest weakness comes in when the cooperation fails later as racial segregation takes toll of the American society. The respect that African Americans had expected to receive from the whites diminishes soon after the Civil War. Essentially, it shows Douglas as a man so quick to celebrate (Blight 1995).

In conclusion, the book shows the inevitable cooperation between the whites and African Americans as the main argument of the book. Nonetheless, the story has weaknesses and strengths that include the overall success with regards to the Emancipation Proclamation.