USA HISTORY

As the Civil War began, President Lincoln accepted the belief that

(A) individual states should settle the question of slavery.

(B) ** it was time to end slavery throughout the United States.

(C) the Union could be preserved as a mix of free and slave states.

(D) preserving the Union was not worth the loss of life it would cause.

Concept note-1: -But Lincoln’s primary goal in going to war was to save the Union, slavery or not. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the equation. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861. Though Lincoln morally opposed slavery, he avoided any public comments connecting the war and the rights of slaves.

Concept note-2: -Following the Confederate defeat at Antietam, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, to go into effect on January 1, 1863.