The American Civil War began in April 1861 between the Northern States and the Confederate States and the Confederate States of America, which was the South. The war was fought over the issue of issue of slavery. President Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery but he believed that the central government had no right to interfere with slavery where it already existed in the Constitution. However, by the end of the war, slavery became just as important as the Union. At the beginning of the war in 1861, the Union was President Abraham Lincoln’s first goal. For instance, Lincoln writes to Horace Greeley, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it” (Document 1). Abraham Lincoln would not care if the slaves were not free as long
