Quote:
Originally Posted by donquixote99
True. He was always against slavery, but he saw complications to the idea of just abolishing it.
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Generally the people of the northern states.had little concern for the slaves in the south. Certainly not enough to fight and possibly die for any slaves. Lincoln could have easily lost whatever popular support he had for maintaining the Union had he made the primary goal abolition and not Union. I believe at a particularly difficult time, he commented to the effect that should he make the issue freeing the slaves, half the Union army would desert, and a half dozen more states would secede. For most of the war he walked this tightrope.