Abolishing slavery is off the table.
Abraham Lincoln said so himself, in his inaugural address:
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that -
(Also available at My Left Wing)
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them
I mean, it’s not like anyone voted for Lincoln hoping he would do something about slavery, anyway. If anything, his repeated denials during the campaign simply prove that people voted for him precisely because he voted not to end slavery.
It’s probably a good idea, actually – if we can let go of this wild-eyed talk of "abolition," then we’ll be in a much stronger position for the 1862 midterms; we’ll probably lose a ton of seats if we come out of the gate hell-bent on abolishing slavery, and then we won’t be able to get anything important done.
As it is, we certainly don’t have the votes right now to abolish. We shouldn’t pursue the "a"-word unless success is 100% guaranteed. Besides, it’s not even prohibited by the Constitution - how do you expect to prove that someone has violated a law that doesn’t exist?
I think Mr. Lincoln is being very politically prudent by not allowing anyone to pursue the "a"-word without overwhelming popular support behind them. It’s hard to fault his pragmatism.
Let’s move forward on our ambitious agenda, with the support of our colleagues in Congress, including all of our southern brethren. If we simply keep a lid on slavery for a couple more years, keep it contained, it’ll lose its effectiveness, and we can forget about it soon enough. Let the judgment of slavery be made by history, not by Congress.
(Diarist’s note: The above is snark. Lincoln certainly knew what he was doing when he said what he said. He shares that savvy with Nancy Pelosi.)