Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate because of his resistance to the expansion of slavery. Abraham Lincoln had a hard time finding generals for his army. He wanted generals who shared the same belief he did. He didn’t exactly want to end slavery, he wanted to stop the spread of slavery toward the north. Lincoln didn’t want to be the leader who started wars, he wanted to act on wars as they came. For most of his career, Lincoln thought slavery should be abolished gradually and voluntary by the southern states. During the war, his views changed. He wanted to free slaves to where they could fight in the wars and gain freedom. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln ordered The Emancipation Proclamation to free all slaves that were in