Essay, Research Paper: Lincoln And The Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln said in 1858, “I am not, nor ever
have been, in favor of bringing about in anyway the social
and political equality of the white and black races.”
President Lincoln is widely believed to be the fabled
liberator of the slaves. However, Lincoln showed time and
time again that he only cared about the fate of blacks as it
served him and the interests of his administration.
The major objective of President Lincoln’s
administration was to preserve and sustain the Union. The
southern states’ insurgence started as a result of disputes
over states rights and representation in Congress; it was
coincidence that most of the disputes in congress revolved
around slavery. The Civil War actually had little to do
with slavery.
During the Civil War President Lincoln wrote and
delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. It is true that
this document freed slaves, however, it did not free all of
the slaves. It left the slaves of the boarder states in
bondage. The Emancipation Proclamation order only the
slaves released that were in areas still in rebellion.
These two instances show that while Lincoln had no
intention of changing relations between the races,
circumstances dictated that he needed to change them to a
certain extent. This supports the original statement made
by President Lincoln in 1858.