Why didn't Kentucky secede from Union?

Answer 1

The Border States all shared a border with a free state, and stayed within the Union. Delaware, had a very small number of slaves, with most slave-holding confined to one small portion of the state. Maryland was against secession, and several avid secessionists were arrested. The state contributed soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Kentucky, perhaps the most important of the Border States, believed in adhering to the Constitution and staying within the Union. Contention between opposing sides in the Border State of Missouri, let to a standoff that ended with secessionists fleeing the state.

Answer 2

They were initially considering doing so when the Civil War started, despite mostly leaning towards the Union (with the notable exception of their pro-Confederate governor). Regardless, Kentucky declared itself neutral and wanted to act as a mediator to end the war.

Not long after the war started, a CSA army invaded the state, and then the Union invaded as well. But since the CSA invaded first, they were seen as the aggressor by the already Union-leaning state assembly, and the state government fully joined the Union side. A CSA state government was set up anyway, but was never in control or amounted to much.

Answer 3

Because Lincoln had won the election on a ticket of no new slave-states. So the South was doomed to be outvoted in Congress, which would pass laws that favoured the North at the expense of the South.