Ehhhhhhh, Lincoln was totally willing to keep slavery to end the civil war. The Confederates fucked up by refusing to negotiate. So he freed the southern slaves and ordered the South burned to the ground instead, ending the war by destroy their economy. He wasn’t the abolitionist hero American history portrays him as.
Don’t mistake me for defending the Confederacy. I can’t disagree that they deserved what they got. War is hell and they started it. My real point is that if they had been more subtle Lincoln would absolutely have let them keep slavery. A lesson the modern South seems to understand well if the last few decades of the Republican party are any example.