I leap to the conclusion Lincoln and his auxiliaries did not have the votes to peacefully pass the amendment it is sometimes claimed he wanted.
What Lincoln needed to “free the slaves” was war.
But first he would need a pretext for war. Which his navy found in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. I meant to say, the Fort Sumter Incident.
True if Lincoln was out to start a war. But Jeff Davis beat him to it.