First and foremost, Abraham Lincoln was a politician. To most Americans, Lincoln was also a great leader and humanitarian—the president who saved the Union and who ended slavery. There is no denying that Lincoln both saved the Union and ended slavery, but to understand how and why he did those two things, it is crucially important to understand Lincoln and his actions in the context of American politics. Ultimately, Lincoln believed that slavery was a great evil in American life, but he put his personal feelings about slavery aside. He focused less on what he personally thought about slavery and more on what he thought should be done about slavery in order to preserve the Union.
Throughout his political career, Lincoln maintained that he believed that slavery was morally wrong. In 1858, he said that although he did not believe blacks and whites were equal, he did believe that slavery was wrong and “In the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he [an African-American] is my equal,” (1). He additionally argued against the expansion of slavery, and in 1860 wrote to Alexander Stephens that Lincoln and his political allies “think it [slavery] is wrong, and ought to be restricted,” (6). As late as 1864, Lincoln’s personal beliefs remained steady, and he wrote: “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel,” (10)
In spite of all of Lincoln’s personal beliefs about the evils of slavery, as a politician and president, he made it clear that what he thought about slavery did not necessarily affect what he thought the president could or should do about slavery in the US. Particularly, although he argued against the expansion of slavery, he felt firmly that slavery did not need to be abolished in the South. Furthermore, he felt that his job as president was to preserve the Union. In his 1860 letter to Southern Congressman Alexander Stephens, he asked: “Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would…interfere with their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears,” (6). As a politician and in his attempts to keep the South in the Union, Lincoln made it clear to Stephens that he had no intentions of interfering with slavery—he hoped that in doing so, he would be able to prevent secession.
Even as the South seceded, Lincoln had his eye on the prize, that is, on bringing the South back to the Union. In 1862 he wrote that his “paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery,” (8). By making such claims, Lincoln kept a moderate position that left open the possibility that if the South came back to the Union, Lincoln would not end slavery in the former Confederacy. Even as Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he maintained that it was not because he wanted to end slavery, but rather that out of military necessity and his ultimate goal of preserving the Union, it was necessary to end slavery. Indeed, he argued that he had “the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution,” or of emancipating the slaves. He emancipated the slaves not as a humanitarian, but as the president who was desperate to keep his country together.
Abraham Lincoln was a gifted politician, and he walked a fine line during his presidency as he attempted to keep the divisive issue of slavery from permanently destroying the Union. Personally, he found slavery to be morally wrong, and he sought to keep it from expanding into the territories. However, he did not allow his personal beliefs to allow him to miss the bigger picture: His ultimate goal was preservation of the Union, and he used whatever means necessary to achieve that goal.