He wanted to unify the nation and create lasting peace.
Just cause.
US President Lincoln made it clear in his second inaugural address that he believed both sides of the war shared the blame for tragedy caused by the war. His early ideas concerning reunited the Union when the war was over was to be fair and generous. Unlike the Radical Republicans who sought revenge against the South.
help the south out after an defeat in the civil war
Lincoln's intentions toward the South after the war ended was to start reconstructing the South.
Andrew Johnson departed in part from Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction for the South. The plans were similar but Johnson's was more acrimonious toward the south.
US President Lincoln had planned generous conditions for the Reconstruction Era for the former Confederate states. His assassination in 1865, negated these generous terms and the radical wing of the Republican Party set about to punish the South severely.
Lincoln would use military force only when necessary.
President Abraham Lincoln advocated for a policy of leniency toward the South because he believed it was vital to quickly heal the country's wounds. The war was fought from 1861 to 1865.
Lincoln did refuse to sign the Republicans' plan for reconstruction. Lincoln had developed his own plan which was more lenient toward the south.
"Let 'em up easy"
It suggested that a new approach to the economy was developing in the South.
Abraham Lincoln's main aim was to reunify the country after the Civil War rather than punish the southern states. He believed in a lenient approach towards the South and advocated for a compassionate reconstruction policy called "malice toward none, with charity for all." Lincoln believed that punishing the Southern states would not facilitate healing and would only prolong the divisions in the country. However, it's worth noting that Lincoln's plans for reconstruction were cut short due to his assassination, and a more punitive approach was eventually implemented.