Don't blame Lincoln for the terrible situation the previous presidents put on him, I'm assuming you voted for Polk, why didn't he ban slavery? Why didn't any of the previous presidents ban slavery? And in Lincoln's eyes the war was just as much about unity as it was Slavery, LINCOLN WOULD NEVER JUST LET THE SOUTH SECEDE. And it was a good decision on his part. It's because of people like Polk that Lincoln had only bad decisions to make