His traits
tolerant, flexible, intelligent, could handle criticism, respectable, picks good men to be in his cabinet
summary of his views
against expansion of slavery, will do anything to win the war
What was happening before lincoln became president
north and south had divided views on slavery
summary thesis
Throughout the course of the Civil War, Lincoln's views of the reason for war changed from saving the Union to completely terminating slavery, and he did this by evolving from limited to total warfare.
political
-free solider-wasn't;t an abolitionist but didn't want slavery to expand
-Lincoln knew the north wouldn't want to participate in the war with the union if they were fighting to end slavery because they were racist
-In the first inaugural address Lincoln realizes he doesn't want to interfere with slavery and that the only thing on his mind is to protect and keep the union united
-In this document Lincoln states that he isn't going to interfere with slavery between states; only goal was to keep the union intact and winning as a union not ending slavery
-in another one of his documents the emancipation proclamation states to keep the border states neutral of slavery
-he keeps them neutral because they are all supplying resources and money which is going to the confederacy; helps win the war
-some cons of the ep is that it disrupts the home front and the confederacy loses soldiers
-Gettysburg address- changes the meaning of war realizing the only goal is to win the war and abolish slavery and bring southern states back into the union
second inaugural address- war advances farther than he expected and believes its gods will to finally end slavery
Military
-his views on the type of war depended on who the general was at the time
-he didn't like McLellan because he wasn't aggressive enough and didn't take orders from lincoln and he didn't have confidence in himself
-as for grant and Sherman they were total warfare like lincoln they were motivated to fight--- more casualties, war on the homefront, innocent civilians killed, killing farms and buildings people lose money and can't pay for the war lowers states in the confederacy and this all destroys morale
-once he decides to drop the protection of the unions this allows for the union to expand with more soldiers
Slavery
-Ending the war meant ending slavery
-when he included the african americans for the right to fight they run away from owners and fight in the war more people in union means less in confederacy
-- Lincoln changed his views about the war because slavery was doing more harm than good for the country
-During his first innaugural- he made the war more about the union so he has more political support and making the war about slavery
confiscation act- declared that any property used by the confederate military including the slaves could be confiscated by union forces
-militarily; smart because the slaves are going to run away from the south and disrupt the homefront, and the more difficult it is for the confederacy to fight
by encouraging the end of slavery many slaves escaped and and so did african americans
more soldiers makdes confederacy less powerful
conclusion;
The main reason why lincoln helped the union win the war was because he went from limited to total warfare. Meaning he did everything in his power to help win while being practical at the same time. Thinking about what peopel cared about opposed to what was best. Also he valued each state and doesn't want them losing their support towards the union and by thinking politically and militarily he was able to do so in a smart way,
