“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.”
–Abraham Lincoln in 1862 on his justification for the Northern War of Aggression against the constitutional secession of the South.
For a different perspective on Abraham Lincoln and the cause of the Civil War, take a minute and read this commentary by economist Walter Williams.