>>If the war was over slavery then Lincoln should have freed them at the beginning of the war, he did not.<<
Couple of factoids revisionist historians disregard:
>Lincoln once supported, among others, the recolonization of the negro to the Caribbean and or Africa because they felt they would not be able to assimilate into society.
>Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley in 1862 stating that his primary goal was preservation of the union, not to destroy or preserve slavery.
But the secessionists feared that Lincoln and the Republicans would weaken slavery and that would mean its eventual abolition. Also, notice the word "primary." It means that Lincoln wasn't opposed to doing things that would weaken "the slave power" if those things didn't threaten the union.