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from Dwyer's article: "Whether or not Congress would have declared war on the South as had Lincoln, it now saw no choice but to fight."

Complete propaganda.

First of all, nobody -- not Lincoln, not Congress, no northern state government -- ever "declared war" on secessionists.

The reason is simple: a formal declaration of war is normally restricted to actions between independent nations, not rebellions, insurrections, uprisings (think Indian wars), or "domestic violence" within a nation.
Northerners did not consider the self-declared Confederacy an independent nation, thus no formal declaration of war.

And for those same reasons, the Confederacy was eager to formally declare war against the United States (May 6, 1861) -- because that helped establish the fact of their independence.

Of course one problem is: once you've started and formally declared war on the United States, how can you then claim the status of "innocent victim"?

Second, all of Lincoln's actions were fully supported, indeed demanded by, Congress and the Northern public.
Yes, everybody wanted some peaceful resolution of the crisis, but they also wanted the laws enforced and the Union preserved.
And that's what Lincoln set about to do.

I think the North wanted a show of force against the sessessionists and thought that would end the ‘rebellion’ within a week or so. What Lincoln set out to do was a whole hog approach, applauded by the Union generals. Sherman vicariously enjoyed his march to the sea and his attempt to burn the heart out of the South.

This became a war of vengeance to show those who indeed hated what the union and the presidency had become exactly what would happen to them the next time. And believe me, because of the evil that emanates from Washington today and the odor of totalitarianism that emanates from Bama’s White Hut, there could indeed be a next time.

This slavery issue is a non-starter, for starts. The slaves would have been given their freedom and passage back to the dark continent if the Yankees had their way intially. Even Secretary Seward AND Lincoln thought the idea had merit.

After the surrender, some Northern carpetbagging bureaucrats wanted to grant each slave 40 acres and a mule which was tantamount to communism.

Now they live huddled in a decrepit Detroit tenenment in a muslim neighborhood waiting for the mailman. This current status can be credited to Lyndon Bird Johnson and his ‘Great Society’ the forerunner to today’s miserable federal charity host of programs.