The correct answer is A. President Lincoln's overall goal at the beginning of the Civil War was to preserve the Union.
Explanation:
The main commitment of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, in response to the obligations he had contracted when swearing the Constitution of the United States, was to maintain the unity of the country against the southern secessionist states and that is where he invested his effort, all his political capital and, at the end of the story, his own life.
In his first inaugural address, in 1861, when South Carolina had already announced its separatist will, he clearly defined the priorities of his task. On the one hand, he addressed the slavers in a reassuring manner by stating that he did not have the "intention to interfere directly or indirectly with the institution of slavery wherever it exists. I think I have no legal right to do so and I do not feel inclined towards it". But on the other hand he affirmed the "perpetual" character of the Union, "older than the Constitution", whose purpose was precisely to achieve "a more perfect Union". He ended his speech, longer and more passionate than others of his, extending his hand to the seccesionists but also warning them of the consequences of their actions if they did not renounce their proposals: "In your hands, and not in mine, dissatisfied compatriots, is the serious issue of civil war. The Government will not go against you. You will not have conflict if you are not the aggressors yourself. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I have the solemn right to preserve, protect and defend it". On April 12, 1861 the Confederates attacked the garrison of the Union entrenched in Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Civil War had begun.
