You and I disagree and that's fine. You feel Lincoln's War, which killed about 600,000 Americans, was a necessary first step to passing the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments in late 1865.
My belief is that the U.S. should have passed the three amendments in 1861 and that the war and all the killings should have been skipped.
To the larger point of the story - many conservatives today want to play the slavery/race cards in political debates because they resent the success that the Democrat party has had playing the slavery/race cards. That strategy is doomed to fail if wrapped in the mantle of Lincoln - because he was a very vocal white supremacist, a fact that is generally known.
Of course, that's not what I said.
I did say that, 1) without constitutional amendment, Lincoln had no authority to abolish slavery in loyal Union states, and that 2) legislation for the 13th amendment began around the time of Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation, so Republican motives & actions were consistent.
Jeffersondem: "My belief is that the U.S. should have passed the three amendments in 1861 and that the war and all the killings should have been skipped. "
Of course, that's ridiculous, since in 1861 the Confederacy first provoked war, then started and formally declared war, while waging war against the United States in Union states.
So war was not optional for the Union, but rather a matter of existential necessity.
As for those 13th, 14th & 15th amendments, I don't see how they could have passed even months, much less years, before they did.
Do you?