Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, was elected to office while America was approaching one of the most momentous periods in its history. Lincoln was the first ever Republican president and with the different views that come along with this newly found party, he brought his opposing opinions to the table with high hopes for a better, stronger, and united country. Although it was not easy, Lincoln led the Union to victory in the Civil War while ending slavery. In fact, President Lincoln knew that his rise to presidency would cause even more tension in the south and this, in turn, caused Civil War to break out. It was because of Lincoln's views against slavery that caused "seven states to secede from the Union" in February 1861 (Roark 383). Though despite being known as "The Great Emancipator," Lincoln maintained a somewhat lenient stance on the emancipation of slaves. He never promised that he was going to end slavery altogether because he respected the fact that the "Constitution permitted slavery where it existed", simply because he knew it was a big part of the southern economy (Roark 383). He believed, and hoped, that eventually "plantation slavery would wither and Southerners would end slavery themselves" (Roark 383). .
Lincoln let it live on where is already existed, but he was extremely against the expansion of slavery into the new western territories. He simply wanted these territories to be "places for poor people to go to, and better their conditions" but he knew that if slavery kept expanding, it only lowered the free man's right (Roark 383). Lincoln was considered a huge threat to the South and he was beyond aware of that fact. Because of events such as the Dred Scott decision and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, there was "irrefutable evidence of the South's aggressiveness" (Roark 385). Due to the Northerners refusing to accept the Dred Scott case decision, it was revealed that they intended to "stop at nothing to achieve their aims" (Roark 385).
