In Lincoln's view, the experiment could only succeed through the preservation of the Union without secession; he resolved to restore the rebellious states to the Union and all else would fall to this goal. But the war was very hard and very long, and war by its nature lowers the status of peripheral principles and elevates the central principles in dispute." (Kleinfeld, 1997)

Lincoln provided the means for emancipation from slavery and it cost him his life. Few individuals know however that the Emancipation Proclamation actually did not free the slaves immediately. This is because the president did not have the constitutional authority to free the slaves other than those slaves in states where it was deemed a military necessity to suppress rebellion. Lincoln also was a shrewd politicain who fully understood that freeing the slaves was risky politically because there were still slave states that were loyal to the...
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