I think the word you meant was preserving, and that was the singular goal of Lincoln and the banking/shipping/manufacturing/insurance and trading organizations. “Preserving” meant continuing the control of the flow of cotton which produced 95% of the revenue of the US Treasury.
As I said, might did not make right. There was nothing noble about the actions of the Union army and its president.
As I said:
‘I suspect we will have to disagree on this.’
I was right.