Abraham Lincoln
"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it
by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that... I have here stated my
purpose according to my view of of official duty; and I intended no modification of my
oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."
– Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Horace Greeley, New York Tribune
August 22, 1862