Lincoln was also happy with the XIII amendment that actually became law and urged it’s adoption
Indeed. He even made sure to sign it (although his signature was not necessary). He was very very happy to sign it. And it passed after his untimely demise.
When you are in a position to pull the puppet strings of Southern states, your chances of passing an amendment that was otherwise impossible, is virtually guaranteed.
But this is not how the amendment process is supposed to work, and this amendment does not represent the actual will of the people of those states. It represents a dictator in Washington creating a Kabuki theater pretense of constitutional legitimacy.
But many people ignore this aspect because this is the result they wanted, and do not actually care how they get their result, so long as they get their result.
He was so happy with it he actually signed it. Which a President is not required to do.
Here’s the bottom line up front, Lincoln hated slavery. He hated it from a young age. This is easily proven by looking at his speeches and writings. However, when he was elected President his first priority was to save the Union. Just like many of our founding fathers when they were creating this country. To try to say Lincoln didn’t want to see slavery abolished flys in the face of a mountain of evidence.