Question

Select the correct text in the passage.

Which sentence best explains Lincoln's motivation while making wartime decisions?
adapted from Lincoln the Great
by Wilfred W. McClay
We should remember too that, with events controlling him, Lincoln had to do things as president that he was not equipped to do, either by
experience or temperament. He had not only opposed the aggression of the Mexican War but was something of an antimilitarist who abhorred¹
violence. How then to account for the fact that he became such a remarkably effective war leader, indeed the quintessential2 war president-the
only president in our history whose entire term of office was defined by the conditions of war, and the employer and enabler of such legendarily
destructive warriors as Grant and Sherman? It is surely one of the many mysteries about this man.
He also excelled in understanding the larger political dimensions of the war, in riding the flow of events and changing Northern public opinion with
a consummate³ sense of timing. He understood the importance of isolating and containing the South, keeping the border states out of the
Confederacy and European mischief-makers out of the struggle. He gradually and deftly redefined the war as an unlimited, total struggle to
overthrow the South's political system, and pushed his military leaders toward a strategy of unconditional surrender that was appropriate to the
war's changing objectives. Such maneuvering helps us appreciate why Lincoln at first so actively suppressed the idea that the war was to be a
war for emancipation, to the extent of countermanding5 John C. Frémont's Missouri Emancipation Proclamation in 1861. It helps us appreciate the
mixture of genuine moral idealism and shrewd military calculation that lay behind Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, a
document that is often unfairly disparaged on the grounds that it refrained from abolishing slavery and technically freed almost no one.
Which brings us to the question of Lincoln's halfway measures, whose fuller context we need to remember. He rose to prominence as a politician

Answer 1

Abraham Lincoln's wartime decisions, particularly regarding emancipation, were driven by a combination of military strategy and political maneuvering aimed at preserving the Union and undermining the Confederacy's resources.

The passage that best explains Lincoln's motivation while making wartime decisions can be encapsulated by his notion of military necessity and the delicate balance he had to maintain politically. Abraham Lincoln believed that clinging to the goal of preserving the Union was of paramount importance.

At first, he was cautious about embracing emancipation as a policy because of political risks, including the potential secession of the Border States as well as Democratic opposition. Nonetheless, by mid-1862, as military setbacks mounted, Lincoln started shifting towards emancipation not only as a moral imperative but as a vital war strategy.

He perceived that the abolition of slavery would weaken the South's capacity to maintain their war effort and boost the North's manpower through the recruitment of African American soldiers. Additionally, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation served as a diplomatic tool to deter British support for the Confederacy.

Ultimately, his approach evolved, realizing that he could neither satisfy all parties nor could he ignore the pressing military and moral demands. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, he not only transformed the nature of the Civil War but also laid the groundwork for the eventual abolition of slavery and the reorganization of Southern states into the Union post-war.