[jeffersondem]

“This shows that, unlike DiogenesLamp, Lincoln considered the root cause all about slavery.”

If true, then maybe Lincoln did plan to “fight a war to free the slaves.”

But first Lincoln would need a pretext for war which he found in the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

I mean, the Ft. Sumter incident.

[DoodleDawg]

But first Lincoln would need a pretext for war which he found in the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

I mean, the Ft. Sumter incident

No, I'm sure you meant the first one, since there is no resemblance between the two.

[DiogenesLamp]

To quote the immortal Abraham Lincoln:

"A State for a fort is no bad business."

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "If true, then maybe Lincoln did plan to 'fight a war to free the slaves.'
But first Lincoln would need a pretext for war which he found in the Gulf of Tonkin incident."

There's no evidence I know of that Lincoln, in your words, did "plan to 'fight a war to free the slaves,' the key word being "plan".
There are suggestions that former President John Quincy Adams mentored young Congressman Lincoln in 1847 on the subject of abolition.
But the reality is that Lincoln opposed emancipation for the war's first year hoping for an early peace.
When that didn't happen, Lincoln took note of the tactical & strategic military advantages to doing the moral right thing: emancipation, abolition & suffrage for slaves.