President-elect Abraham Lincoln told Senator Lyman Trumbull that as President he would not interfere with enslavement in the South. This response indicates Lincoln's stance on the issue of slavery during that time. Lincoln was committed to preserving the Union, but he was not in favor of abolishing slavery where it already existed. Instead, his primary focus was on preventing the spread of slavery into new territories. Lincoln's position evolved over time, eventually leading to the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.
