What were lincolns changing goals during the civil war?

Answer 1

Whose goals are you asking about? Very briefly, Lincoln's goal was to keep the tax base of the Federal government at a certain level, as well as continue income from tariffs paid for exporting cotton to Europe. He used the issue of slavery to rally popular support for the war, but that wasn't the main objective. Look closely at Lincoln's sentiments during the war and history books are generally in concurrence that his main goal was to save the union, that is to preserve Federal control over all US territories. On the flip side of the coin, the South's goal was to escape the Federal economic domination that plantation owners felt had robbed them of much of their profit. Just like any good entrepreneur, the Southern states wanted to go into business for themselves and not for the Union Federal government. In the end it was all about money. The issue of slavery wasn't the focus of the war until Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, which still stands as one of the greatest political speeches in history, in that it swayed so many to its cause. The way the Civil War is taught however reflects popular sentiment in the Union during its time with slavery as its main focus and reason. But the question I put forward is does anyone really believe that the US government would start a full fledged war over slavery? Did the government do the same to pass the Civil Rights legislation in the 60's? The South seceeded long before slavery was made the focus, and the reason was economic, not social. The plantation owners weren't sending their sons to die to make sure blacks remained slaves, there were other, more pressing reasons like the economic hegemony most Southerners felt they had to endure. A proper answer to this questions could probably fill a book, though.

Answer 2

At the beginning, he was merely wanting to restore the United States, and reclaim the cotton revenues. He had been elected on a ticket of no more slave-states, but not Abolitionism.

When the big campaigns started in 1862, his chief worry was the threat of Britain and France to grant recognition to the Confederacy and send military aid. To head them off, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, turning it into an Abolitionist war. After this, free nations abroad could not aid the South without looking pro-slavery themselves.

As Grant's campaigns of 1864 seemed to be moving too slowly, Lincoln authorised 'Total War', as in Sherman's March to the Sea, destroying farms and railroads, to starve the Confederate troops in the field.