Why was preserving the union important?

Answer 1

Maryland was important because it allowed the Union to have access to D.C. The state of Kentucky was also important because of its rivers which Lincoln believed would be essential for an invasion.

Answer 2

President Lincoln believed that the union as created by the Constitution was a permanent, important institution. He also knew that the South was essential to the nation because the South produced 80% of the nation's export income.

Answer 3

The union wanted control of the border states because they were close to the Union capitol of Washington D.C. and because if the Confederacy had gotten their loyalty form these states they would have had more of an advantage especially from the states of Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri.

Answer 4

During the American Civil War, the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were tremendously important to the North because of a "hinge" factor. Success for the North largely "hinged" on whether the border states remained neutral: should they go over to the South, the North would face additional territory to conquer, additional soldiers to face, additional resources to try to match. It was quite likely that such additions to Southern strength would prove decisive in the war.

Answer 5

It was vital to US President Lincoln's plans to end the Southern rebellion, that the border States, which were slave States, not secede from the Union. These States were Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. Here are some important reasons why that joining the Confederacy would have changed the outcome of the US Civil War:

1. These States would have added 45% of the white population and military manpower to the Confederacy;

2. The industrial production of these States would have increased the the South's industrial base by 80%;

3. If Missouri had joined the Confederacy, the city of St. Louis. Not only was St. Louis a prime city on the strategically important Mississippi River, its location could have spread Southern sympathy to Southern Illinois, in particular the city of Corinth;

4. Having Kentucky in the camp of the Confederacy would have established another State in the way of any Union advance southward into important cities in Tennessee. It also, by having Kentucky a Confederate State, give the South a good position on the Ohio River. This alone would have hampered the Union from using it to advance southward on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers;

5. In Lincoln's own words, he would have had to abandon the Union's capital, Washington DC, a slave city, to another location. If not then Washington DC would have been surrounded by Confederate States.

6. This abandonment, might have swayed either France or England to recognize the Confederacy; and

7. The valuable port city of Baltimore would be Confederate and place a well established port far too close to Philadelphia.

Answer 6

In order to reunite the United States, US President Lincoln realized that if the border states joined the Confederacy, it lessened the chances for the Union to defeat the Southern rebellion. With that said, Lincoln did everything he could to persuade or use his presidential powers to keep the border states in the Union.