Today in history: Lincoln reveals the real goal of the Civil War

"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it"

President Lincoln
(Image credit: Brady/Getty Images)
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Aug. 22, 1862: President Lincoln told a New York newspaper that preserving the Union was his main goal of the Civil War — not abolishing slavery.

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