Abraham Lincoln and His Position on Slavery

So, what changed Abraham Lincoln from an antislavery moderate to the Great Emancipator?

Lincoln was a complicated figure whose views on slavery, race equality, and African American colonization are often intermixed. There is no doubt that he hated the institution of slavery. However, he was no abolitionist. Lincoln initially recognized that slavery was a bad institution but one that was accepted and necessary for the South's economy. Lincoln had campaigned against the expansion of slavery into new states and territories, but he believed that he had no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it existed. http://bit.ly/1LLiWKt