Final answer:
Abraham Lincoln personally believed in gradually abolishing slavery through compensated emancipation and initially supported this policy to avoid driving Border States toward secession. His stance evolved during the Civil War, culminating in his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct statement that reflects is B: Slavery should be gradually abolished through compensated emancipation. Lincoln, as indicated in his political maneuvers and public speeches, neither saw slavery as a necessary economic evil nor a constitutional right to be protected, and definitely did not view it as a positive good. Instead, Lincoln believed in preventing the expansion of slavery and advocated for a policy of gradual emancipation coupled with compensation, a stance that would later evolve during the Civil War, leading him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln initially believed that immediate abolition was too radical and unconstitutional, and during the onset of the Civil War, his primary goal was the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. However, to weaken the Confederacy's war efforts and due to political and moral considerations, Lincoln eventually came to see the strategic value in emancipation. His emancipation policy shifted with the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which declared the freedom of slaves in the rebelling states.