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"Technically its true. Abraham Lincoln and most Northerners didn't fight the Civil War over slavery. They mainly fought the war in order to preserve the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation issued on January 1, 1863 only freed slaves in areas engaged in rebellion. It was a way to bring the South into submission during the war. Slavery was still legal in the states that did not secede. Abraham Lincoln also wanted to send the freed slaves back to Africa which is an interesting slant on the Great Emancipator."

Lincoln was a sincere and devoted abolitionist. There is no doubt that he wanted the slaves to be free. His second Inaugural Address leaves no doubt that in his mind the war was fought to free the slaves. However, you must remember, his first priority in the war was to preserve the Union. Not only because that is what he was sworn to do when he took the oath as President , but also, and most importantly, because if he didn't preserve the Union, he could not have freed any slaves.

Yes. It is true that Lincoln was a proponent of Abolitionism. He wanted the slaves to be free, but that doesn't mean that he approved of integration. For example, in a speech at Springfield, Illinois, on June 26, 1857. Lincoln explained that he opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He said:

There is a natural disgust in the minds of nearly all white people to the idea of indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races ... A separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation, but as an immediate separation is impossible, the next best thing is to keep them apart where they are not already together. If white and black people never get together in Kansas, they will never mix blood in Kansas ...Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and, at the same time, favorable to, or, at least, not against, our interest, to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be.

This quote of course should not be construed to mean that Abraham Lincoln hated blacks because that is not true. He had a lot of sympathy for them. He just doesn't seem to be a supporter of integration. The quotes are also revealing of what the people of the time thought about the issue.