He was far from the
abolitionist which the South believed him to be. At the same
time, abolitionists were as unhappy with his election as were
slaveholders. His election was clearly an attempt to strike a
compromise, but the South was in no mood to negotiate. It was not
willing to permit the restriction of slavery to the states in
which the system already existed, and the Southern states
seceded.
Once the Civil War began, Lincoln's primary goal was to maintain
or reestablish the union of all the states. His strategy was to
negotiate from a platform which provided the largest numbers of
supporters. With these priorities in the foreground, the
government took considerable time to clarify its position on
emancipation as well as its stand regarding the use of freedmen
in the Union forces. Lincoln suspected that he would not get the
kind of solid and enthusiastic support from the Northern states
which he needed if he did not work towards eventual emancipation.
At the same time, if he took too strong a position in favor of
emancipation he feared that the border states would abandon the
Union and side with the South.
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