USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free."

Detailed explanation-2: -Abraham Lincoln, when inaugurated, fully intended to make it his only goal to preserve the Union, and to stay out of most affairs regarding slavery. While avoiding all affairs regarding slavery proved more difficult than anticipated, in the end, Lincoln stood by his main goal of preserving the Union.

Detailed explanation-3: -Lincoln wasn’t an abolitionist. Abraham Lincoln did believe that slavery was morally wrong, but there was one big problem: It was sanctioned by the highest law in the land, the Constitution.

Detailed explanation-4: -Abraham Lincoln’s chief goal in the American Civil War was to preserve the Union. At the outset of the war, he would have done so at any cost, including by allowing slavery to continue.