What could have occurred if Abraham Lincoln did not become a president?

Answer 1

There is not much that can be said with any confidence about what would have happened if Lincoln had not become President. It seems pretty clear that if Lincoln did not become President then someone else would have been President at that time, in the mid 19th century. Whether that other President would have gone to war to preserve the union, or would instead have wanted to allow the Confederacy to secede, and whether, if he did go to war, he would have been victorious as Lincoln was, or would instead have been defeated, and whether he would have made slavery an issue as Lincoln did, we cannot say. These things are all speculative.