Where did I claim what Lincoln's motivations were? I merely pointed out what he was legally entitled to do as CIC did not pertain to the Northern states that had slavery, such as Missouri and Maryland.
Why did he issue the EP? To help win the war, of course. So what? It did help, and was a great moral thing to do in its own right. I'm sure that Lincoln's motives were not unalloyed altruism, but to insist that they must be is to make the best the enemy of the good.
The EP was a good thing. It was a righteous thing. That Lincoln did it is the important thing.
I know I have posted this to -you personally- before.
Lincoln's war power only extended to areas in rebellion. Being military CIC per se didn't give him the power. Slavery was clearly protected in the Constitution. The rebels cluelessly liabled themselves to the president's war power when their iunsurection took the nature of armed revolt that could not be handled by the usual courts and marshalls.
Lincoln vetoed in 1864 the Wade Davis bill --because-- he thought its provision of making slave ownership a federal crime was unconstitutional.
Had you read the Conkling letter I posted earlier today, you'd have seen Lincoln's rationale for issuing the EP. But I suppose you just skipped over it.
Walt