Emancipation Proclimation
When the Civil War began, Lincoln's main purpose was to "perserve the Union," or keep the States all in one country. Lincoln actually stated that if he could choose between salvery and a war, he would keep slavery in the South, without even thining about it. When Lincoln saw that this was not an option, he decided to secretly start drafting a proclimation to free the slaves. He thought about this for a long time, because the Union soldiers would not fight for slavery, so he only freed the slaves in the Confederacy. Lincoln waited for a large victory, the Battle of Antietam, and in January of 1863, Lincoln freed 3.1 million of the Nation's 4 million slaves, to help the North to win the war.