Lincoln, the unknown

Lincoln's answer to Greeley isLINCOLN THE UNKNOWN•159one of the classics of the war—clear, terse, and vigorous. He closed his reply with thesememorable words:My paramount object in this struggle is to save theUnion, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If Icould save the Union without freeing any slave, I woulddo it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I woulddo it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leavingothers alone, I would also do that. What I do about slaveryand the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to savethe Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do notbelieve it would help to save the Union. I shall do lesswhenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause,and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing morewill help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shownto be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as theyshall appear to be true views.I have here stated my purpose according to my view ofofficial duty; and I intend no modification of my oftexpressedpersonal wish that all men everywhere could befree.Lincoln believed that if he saved the Union and kept slaveryfrom spreading, slavery would, in due time, die a natural death.But if the Union were destroyed, it might persist for centuries.Four slave States had remained with the North, and Lincolnrealized that if he issued his Emancipation Proclamation tooearly in the conflict he would drive them into the Confederacy,strengthen the South, and perhaps destroy the Union forever.There was a saying at the time that "Lincoln would like to haveGod Almighty on his side; but he must have Kentucky."So he bided his time, and moved cautiously.He himself had married into a slave-owning, border-Statefamily. Part of the money that his wife received upon the settlementof her father's estate had come from the sale of slaves.And the only really intimate friend that he ever had—JoshuaSpeed—was a member of a slave-owning family. Lincoln sympathizedwith the Southern point of view. Besides, he had theattorney's traditional respect for the Constitution and for lawand property. He wanted to work no hardships on any one.He believed that the North was as much to blame for theexistence of slavery in the United States as was the South; and