Did Lincoln say that preserving the Union was more important than ending slavery?

Answer 1

Yes. Lincoln was personally opposed to slavery and thought it morally evil. He also supported the federal government's forbidding the SPREAD of slavery into new territories, expecting that this would cause slavery to wither and die (as he argued, in his famous 1860 Cooper Union Address, the founders had intended). And in his commitment to the Constitution, he understood that the federal government had no authority to end or restrict slavery in the states where it already existed.

Lincoln's sworn duty as President was to protect and defend the Constitution, and so to preserve the Union. In fact, if the Union came apart there was nothing opponents of slavery could do to end slavery. Further, had he attempted to simply free slaves at the start he would have faced strong opposition in the North.

The key to this question is in an oft quoted letter Lincoln wrote to New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to 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; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."

What is often overlooked by those who cite this letter is that it was issued on August 22, 1861, one month after he had shown his Cabinet the Emancipation Proclamation he planned to issue after the next Union victory. Thus, his letter to Greeley was in part to help 'soften' those in the North to accept the Proclamation.

Lincoln actually took a variety of steps toward the ending of slavery, pushing for & signing legislation in April of 1862 that ended it in Washington D.C. (where the federal government DID have direct jurisdiction). And beginning late in 1861 he tried to convince border states in the Union (beginning with Delaware) to end slavery on their own, offering federal compensation to ease the process. But they all rebuffed his offers.

When these efforts failed, and after over a year of war, Lincoln became convinced that his "war powers" as Commander-in-Chief, included the power to free the slaves in those areas in rebellion (an idea originally suggested by John Quincy Adams). He also believed the Union was finally at the point where this move, though it would have some political costs (as it did at that fall's ballot box), could sustain this step.

This was the justification for the Emancipation Proclamation. It aimed to deprive the Rebels of their labor force at home, to drain strength from the Rebel armies to feed the population, as well as to strengthen the Union army. Lincoln apparently also hoped that the Proclamation would prevent Britain and France -- whose people were strongly opposed to slavery -- from recognizing the Confederacy and offering it open military support, as they often seemed prepared to do. This consideration, however, was secondary.

It has also been noted that when Lincoln announced the Proclamation in late September, 1862, it did not take effect until January 1, 1863, and if the southern states had stopped fighting by that time and returned to the Union, it would not take effect. But it seems very unlikely Lincoln expected them to 'take him up on the offer'. The delay was at least in part to gain more political support for the move in the North.

Further, as soon as the Proclamation went into effect, Lincoln began to search for Constitutional ways to secure the freedmen's liberty. He came to support a Constitutional amendment (the 13th), and lobbied heavily for its passage.