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I think what many people are forgetting is that Lincoln was not the only person running the country. People are forgetting about Congress, and its powers. Lincoln needed to hold the country together, and he was never elected by wide margins, even when the South seceded. Congress was busy creating laws like balancing the amount on slave states vs nonslave states entering the Union. (wasn't there a problem with Missouri trying to enter and the people did not want slavery?) So all this talk about what Lincoln or Grant wanted is not the entire country. Lincoln was trying to hold the country together. Grant was a general who later became a fairly lousy politician. Congress was fighting like crazy about slavery. The North was trying to punish the south with tariffs over their views of slavery. Southerners screamed about states rights (to own slaves, or whatever else they wanted). Lincoln was first and foremost a politician and understood the value of compromise. He did not feel like he had a "mandate from the people".
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