Both wanted power over a unified national body. Moral concerns about humans did not register as deep concerns.
re: “”My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to 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; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” — Lincoln”
This quote is so often used to bash Lincoln, yet so many people do not get it. In Lincoln’s mind the national sovereignty and continued existence of the nation was more important at that particular moment than ending slavery.
The South seceeded when the election did not go their way even though Lincoln had time and time again said that though be believed slavery to be a moral wrong and sinful, yet he, as president, did not have the right to interfere with it where it already existed.
Then why did the South secede? Because Lincoln was against slavery’s expansion into the new territories that would become future states. It was the South that had the moral problem, not Lincoln. It was the South that tried to hide their support of slavery behind the guise of “protecting their rights”. Lincoln did not threaten their rights - only slavery’s expansion into the growing nation of the future.
Several states had seceeded even before he was inaugurated. He believed that secession was a direct threat to the United States just as much as any foreign invasion - both could destroy the country. He believed part of his role as President was to preserve the United States.
It was the South that instigated the war - they didn’t have to secede, but they left when they didn’t like the election results - just like the Wisconscin Democrats fled their state to avoid facing a debate they didn’t think they could win.
It is true that Lincoln did not fight the war over slavery, but the South sure did - they fought it to preserve and expand it.
But nice attempt to drop the historical context.