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Blake Russell
Mrs. Bricker
English 9
October 3, 2012
Slaves during the Civil War // Scholarship Revision
On April 12, 1861 the event known as the Civil War began. This brutal war was fought
between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. The Civil War was
actually fought partly over the issue of slavery. It is one of the most researched conflicts in
modern history however, people still desire to know more about it. One of the many terrible
things that was present during the Civil War was slavery. Slaves could be bought, sold, and given
to others as gifts. In addition to that, there were approximately four million slaves in the United
States during the American Civil war. Have you ever wondered what life was like for slaves?
Well, you are about to find out.
Slaves started off there day by being forced to wake up and get out from there makeshift
beds. Some of the ways included being awoken by an alarm of some sort or whipped and beaten.
Next, they would eat breakfast. Food was not made for slaves but, they would be given eight
pounds of meat or fish and a small bundle of wheat in the beginning of each month. This small
portion of food had to last them for the rest of the month because there slave owners would not
supply them with anymore. Typically, a slave only ate twice a day. This consisted of breakfast
and dinner. Slaves skipped lunch because it could possibly interfere with their chore schedule
and their owners did not tolerate that. Slaves generally did their assignments given to them by
their owners from sunrise to sundown.

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Slaves had to get permission from their owners to do just about anything. For example slaves
had to ask to eat, to marry, to have a child, to go to the bathroom, and to speak. However, most of
the time slaves were never allowed to choose who they got to marry. That would be chosen for
them. Also, slaves were not allowed to have kids with whoever they married either without
permission from their owners. If a slave was to have a kid, their kid could be bought, sold, or
given as a gift just like they once were. As you can tell, slaves had very limited or unfair lives
with cruel people in them that caused many slaves to commit suicide.

During the Civil War, people were finally coming together and trying to put an end to slavery.
For example, people were holding up signs that read End slavery! or Free the slaves! They
would also do public speeches, protests, and would write newspaper articles about slavery also.
These types of people are called abolitionists. You may know some of these people such as,
Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Thomas Paine. As time went on, slavery
was becoming more and more recognized. Eventually the Thirteenth Amendment was passed,
slavery was officially illegal in the Unites States of America.

To conclude, you now know what life for a slave was like during the time of the American
Civil War. The slaves were far ready for this cruel unhuman treatment called slavery to end but
when the Thirteenth Amendment came however, there owners were not. I would infer that you
are feeling so thankful that slavery no longer exists in the United States now that you know what
being a slave is like.

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Bibliography

1. "Civil War Biography Page." Civil War Biography Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2012. 2. "The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of
American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2012.
3. "Census.gov." Census.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2012.

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Blake Russell
Mrs. Scharf
ERWC
April 28, 2015
Scholarship // Reflection
I never quite realized how much I have improved as a writer until I took on the challenge
to revise one of my old writing pieces. I have really matured as a writer and have become very
passionate about every writing opportunity I am given. Many of the revisions I had done to my
old paper had to do with the way I worded the point I was trying to get across to my reader.
While I was revising it came to my attention that I practiced poor grammar and was also a very
carless writer. I had to fix multiple major grammar errors that seemed to me as just careless
mistakes. I believe what Im trying to say is I have leaned with experience to be very patient with
my writing works. I am extremely pleased in my transformation from freshman to senior year as
writer.