Lincoln’s words in an 1862 open letter in the NY Tribune: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it”.

I was an animation background artist for 15 years, and have been a full time painter for more than 20. The key to any painting is to not even consider foreground/background, and to just use as few value shifts as possible, and lose edges wherever you can. Check out how I handled the old guy’s pants.

So why did Garland not recommend charges? I’m sure he knew all of it from the start.