“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.”
— Abraham Lincoln

Annotation

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, Letter to Horace Greeley (August 22, 1862), p. 388. This passage is notable because it was written in the middle of the Civil War, and Lincoln emphatically states the war's primary cause was not to end slavery.

Tagged: Slavery, Union, slaves, Horace Greeley
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