Tension over slavery kept raising, until a breaking point, slave owning democrats were clearly scared that Lincoln would free the slaves due to his personal hatred towards the evil institution of slavery but he stated time and time again that the preservation of the union was more important to him, and seemed to be agnostic on whether or not blacks became citizens. Then South Carolina tried succeeding, sparking several other states to follow, Lincoln had no choice but to go to war to preserve the union.