Freedom in the US Before and Immediately After the Civil War

An essay on freedom in the United States before and immediately after the Civil War describing the efforts to expand and to abolish slavery, and the aftermath of the ultimately successful campaign to do so (100 points).
A draft of an original essay on the above topic. The essay must have all of the 6 distinct elements described below. N.B.: THREE ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE REQUIRED LIST. The instructors will review these drafts for the required elements, each of which earns 12.5 points. A completed draft, containing all six elements, earns 75 points. Incomplete drafts earn fewer points.
YOUR GRADE ALSO DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH AND HOW WELL YOU EDIT YOUR FIRST DRAFT. RE-WRITING IT COMPLETELY WITHOUT IMPROVING ITS GRAMMAR, SYNTAX, AND STYLE WILL NOT EARN FULL CREDIT. If the PWA assessment score sof your final draft are substantial improvements over the scores of the first draft the effort is considered sufficient. "Substantial" is here defined as a final draft assessment score that is either within 5 points of the highest possible score (i.e., 95-100) or higher than half the distance between the first assessment score and 100.
In case your Pro Writing Aid scores do not change much between the first and final drafts, we will also use Microsoft Word Compare to count the number of tracked changes in your draft. Trying to make things better counts as much as actually managing to do so.
But please note: to receive credit for this effort, you need to enter your changes directly into the draft text and make at least 150 of them to earn full credit. I deduct 5 points for every multiple of 30 changes less than 150 that are recorded. Thus, if less than 30 changes are recorded and its PWA score has not substantially improved, the completed final draft will only receive 75 points unless you PWA scores show substantial improvement. And so forth for the number of changes you make up to 150. More than 150 substantive revisions will get you full credit no matter what happens to your PWA scores. To ensure that you get credit for all your revisions, edit the additions to your final draft using Microsoft Word's Track Changes function. Each essay should be at least 1,200 words or 4 double-spaced pages in 12 pt font with 1-inch margins on all sides of letter stock (8 ½ x 11), and submitted as a Word (doc or docx):
The first draft of your essay must address the following six elements and each part must refer at least once to the text or to our weekly class discussions and summaries:
A definition of freedom: how do you define it? What are its principal features?
A description of which people (or groups) were free and which were not free in the US before the Civil War, and the criteria you used to say so.
A discussion of why so many white Americans in the southern states were willing to fight a war to protect slavery. What was a stake for them?
A discussion of why so many white Americans in the northern and western states were willing to fight a war to end slavery. What was at stake for them?
A discussion of the most important missed opportunities for securing a peaceful end to enslavement without resorting to war. What events and trends in the antebellum period made going to war more likely? Under what circumstances might the US have abolished slavery without going to war?
A conclusion in which you address whether the Civil War (i) abolished slavery; and (ii) ensured the freedom of those who had been enslaved? Why or why not?