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How you interpret the following proposal from Mr. Lincoln's annual address to Congress, is obviously entirely up to you. It is worth noting, however, that it dates from December 1862 (almost two years into the conflict):

I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States:

``Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both houses concurring,) That the following articles be proposed to the legislatures (or conventions) of the several States as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures (or conventions) to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz:

``Article ---.

``Every State, wherein slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to wit:

``The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of --- per cent, per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each slave shown to have been therein, by the eig[h]th census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to such State by instalments, or in one parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond, only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon.

``Article ---.

``All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the war, at any time before the end of the rebellion, shall be forever free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way, that no slave shall be twice accounted for.

``Article ---.

``Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide, for colonizing free colored persons, with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States.''

It's a lengthy address (happy to email a link to anyone who can't find a copy ), and contains more than just the proposed constitutional amendment. But Mr. Lincoln seems to have emphasized the benefits or necessity of union, notably in the portion of the address just prior to his proposal (which might have delayed complete emancipation until the year 1900). In the section following that proposal, he observed:

And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the benefits of the Union by this means [i.e., amending the constution as proposed], than we can by the war alone, is it not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then.

He apparently considered slavery to be an obstacle to his primary objective, which at the end of 1862 appeared to be restoring & preserving the union...