Abolition refers to the movement to end slavery. Emphasized in Lincoln’s leadership and his Emancipation Proclamation, the push for abolition became a defining element of the Union’s war aims. Lincoln’s address further acknowledges the moral imperative of ending slavery, positioning abolition not just as a war goal but as a foundational principle for the nation’s reconstruction and future unity and divine necessity. For example, he states, “[W]e shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove” (Paragraph 3). The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States.

The Confederacy, consisting of Southern states that seceded after Lincoln’s election, primarily argued for the continuation of slavery and states’ rights. This action sparked the Civil War, opposing the Union’s efforts to preserve national unity and ultimately end slavery. Lincoln addresses this division in his speech, calling for the nation to come together and “bind up the nation’s wounds” (Paragraph 4), but recognizing the deep moral conflict at the center of the war.