Lincoln had been elected on a platform opposing the further territorial expansion of slavery.

On that point the North was fairly well united.

But the great majority of those who voted for Lincoln would have indignantly repudiated any purpose to take active steps toward the extinction of slavery where it already existed.

Lincoln understood this perfectly, and whatever his opinion about the ultimate fate of slavery if prohibited expansion, he from the first took the ground that the terms of his election constituted a mandate limiting his action.

As secession developed he rightly centred his thought and effort on the preservation of the Union, a duty imposed by his election to the Presidency.
Naturally, as the crisis developed, there were many efforts at still another great compromise.