As the Civil War was beginning Lincoln and many other people in power specifically wanted to preserve the Union. At least when asked it was said the war was to preserve the Union. Lincoln made this view very clear when he said if I could save the union with ought freeing any slaves I would ,and if I could save the union by freeing all the slaves I would. This original statement was due to …showed first 75 words of 509 total…

…showed last 75 words of 509 total…agreed it was an important step in the fight against slavery. In fact many felt the Proclamation was not hard enough on slavery. The outlawing of slavery gave the North a very strong moral position against slavery while diminishing the ethical standpoint of the south to many peoples of the world. These are the reasons the war went from one meant to preserve the Union to one for the ending of the institution of slavery.