Mineral rights owners usually exercise their rights to extract oil and natural gas. If you own real estate, you need to understand the concept of mineral rights and how their ownership can impact your property. The website Geology notes that the United States is one of few countries that allow private individuals to own minerals rights.
Lincoln was morally opposed to slavery and politically opposed to any expansion of it. On October 16, 1854, in his  Peoria Speech , Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery, which he repeated in his route to presidency.
But Lincoln had sound reasons for doing it the way he did. Slavery existed because of state laws, and the president had no power to declare state laws invalid. The Supreme Court could declare a state law unconstitutional, but nothing in the Constitution as it existed in 1863 made slavery unconstitutional.