When the Civil War began in 1861, there were over 4 million African Americans held in slavery. President Abraham Lincoln, sworn to uphold the Constitution which guaranteed slavery, carried out the war for the expressed purpose of saving the Union and preventing the fracturing of the nation. The issue of abolishing slavery was not something he readily embraced.
"If I could save the Union with the freeing of any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it. " Horace Greeley to President Lincoln
Last updated: February 3, 2015