What Was Lincoln's Decision Making

As a new president, Lincoln had a lot of difficult work on his plate. A less obvious priority of Lincoln’s was overcoming the people’s (and his own) doubts of his capabilities. With little experience in government and administration, Lincoln had to quickly adapt to his new environment and teach himself how to make decisions and build a government that would benefit the nation. Once he got his feet on the ground, Lincoln’s first and foremost priority was preserving the Union that was dissolving right before his very eyes. When rumors of the South’s secession began to form, Lincoln and some his close advisors felt the pressure to act in a way that would comfort the South and maintain trust between them and the president-elect who had made some promises to them throughout the election. His first move, before the war even began, was to provide Southerners a spot in his cabinet. Once Lincoln was officially inaugurated and the war began, the issue of slavery was put on the backburner. Lincoln was focused on providing the Union with a strong foundation for winning the war. Lincoln toiled over the nation’s policies and generalship. He was in close contact with generals like McClellan and provided him with letters of support. He worried about whether the Union army had enough supplies or how quickly he could send in
At times, he was stuck between making decisions that would benefit the Union and making decisions that were clearly constitutional. While the topic of slavery and emancipation did come up, the preservation of the Union was the real driving force behind his final decisions. He often had to ask himself what was more important; was it upholding the constitution and the foundation of the Union or abolishing slavery? To Lincoln, abolishing slavery was merely a potential result of the Civil war for Lincoln but it surely was not what the war was truly about at that