Question

When northern soldiers proclaimed they were fighting to protect and defend the constitution, in reality, what is it they wanted to maintain?

Answer 1

They wanted to keep the current system, which advocated a strong national government.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

What that meant was that they were looking forward to saving the Union itself more than saving the African-Americans. There were slave states that had not yet seceded and insulting them might cause them to leave. This is why they said that they were protecting the constitution, they wanted to keep territorial integrity and sovereignty, more than they wanted to free the slaves.