“Lincoln fought the war to preserve the Union.”
If that is true, then we can dismiss the claims of some that the North fought the war for some high moral purpose like “freeing the slaves.”
Saving the union was a “high moral purpose” for 19th century Americans.
There you go with your logical fallacies...again.
That is exactly right. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in Union states.
While it does reflect Lincoln’s humanity and hatred of slavery it was a military expediency intended to hurt the South’s war-making ability and it did.
History is a story of unintended consequences and plans being changed because of developments.