According to President Lincoln, what would be the purpose of fighting a civil war?
"... In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-
countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous
issue of civil war. The Government will not assail
you. You can have no conflict without being
yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath
registered in heaven to destroy the Government,
while I shall have the most
solemn one to preserve,
protect, and defend it."
-Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 1861

A. to prevent the spread of slavery
B. to punish the Southern aggressors
C. to preserve the United States as one nation
D. to make slavery illegal in the United States