[Ditto]

Yes he did, in the late 40s when he was a one-term Congresscritter. It was, of course, never brought to a vote thanks to the fact that the Slave Power gag order was still in force. Being that Washington DC was an entirely Federal entity until recent times, a simple resolution of congress, signed by the president, could have ended slavery within the District at any moment.

On becoming President, Lincoln did propose and sign legislation that did immediately end slavery in the Federal District.

He also used all of his powers (which weren't much beyond persuasion) to end it in the loyal "Border States"

Here's a link if you are really interested in understanding that the man really did want to end slavery, as opposed to the neo-confederate myths of the "Tyrant and Dictator" who only wanted to punish the poor South and didn't care about slavery in the "North." He quite literally begged for their help in ending it in their states.

Appeal to the Border States

[rustbucket]

I think Lincoln truly did want to end slavery. That is in his favor. However, he was first and always a politician. "Saving" the Union or the revenue of the government was higher priority with him than ending slavery.

It is easy to see why some say Lincoln did nothing to end slavery when he advocated white-only territories (appealing to the northern white voters, the free-soilers), favored a constitutional amendment to protect slavery (trying to get the South back in the Union and prevent the Border States from leaving), and emancipated of slaves in areas he didn't control (basically freeing no one). He had no power to end slavery in the states he controlled except by constitutional amendment and he was for that some years after he was for an amendment that would protect slavery.

For many years I considered Lincoln one of our greatest presidents. That is the way I was raised to think by my parents in the Deep South. Then I got interested in the history of the period and was appalled at what Lincoln did to instigate the war, to twist the Constitution and the law like a pretzel, to aid and abet the destruction of Southern civilians and POWs during the war. I now consider him to have been a tyrant who instigated great suffering on the country. A well meaning one perhaps given his desire to end slavery and proposed lenient treatment of the South after the war, but a tyrant nonetheless.

They is a Lincoln cult that sees no wrong in what he did. They are an end-justifies-the-means group. That is a slippery road I'm not willing to go down.