I remember Lincoln saying just the opposite.
Politicians, they throw out words but mean them to obfuscate, not illuminate. They went something like this, If I could save the Union by keeping slavery I would, If I could save the Union by banning slavery I would....forked tongue thingy. If he wanted to save the Union, why push for changes that drove the Confederacy out of the Union and their cotton pickin’ minds? Nobody wants to fight and die, nobody wants to be run over either. Lincoln was on a power trip, he was forcing an issue that would resolve itself peacefully as it did in other Western countries.