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.