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The war was fought to preserve the Union.

So was the American War of Independence. We were fighting on the side that said people had a right to be independent. Not the side that said they must remain in the existing Union against their will.

Once we Won the war of Independence, the paradigm shifted to the position that people everywhere had a right to be independent of a government that no longer served their interests.

If he could have preserved the Union without freeing the slaves, he would taken that deal as long as he could preserve the Union.

That was propaganda for the naive. Lincoln was willing to let the other states go if Virginia would give him assurances that they would remain in the Union. If he was willing to let the other states go, then "preserving the union" was not so much of a principle as people later thought it to be.

If "Preserving the Union" was his unwavering principle, he wouldn't have offered to let the other states leave.

Sans culotte: "The war was fought to preserve the Union."

DiogenesLamp: "So was the American War of Independence.
We were fighting on the side that said people had a right to be independent.
Not the side that said they must remain in the existing Union against their will."

The first point to remember is: in July 1777 the Brits had already declared & waged war against Americans for over a year.
So when the Declaration of Independence says:

"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."

That was fact, not just hyperbole and nothing remotely resembling such conditions existed in November 1860.
So our Founders had no choice in Independence because, with or without a Declaration, if they failed they would hang.
In late 1860 Deep South Fire Eaters were in a very different situation.

DiogenesLamp: "Once we Won the war of Independence, the paradigm shifted to the position that people everywhere had a right to be independent of a government that no longer served their interests. "

Only in DiogenesLamp's weird fantasies.
The fact is that no Founder ever proposed or supported unilateral unapproved declaration secession at pleasure.
But that's just what Deep South Fire Eaters did, beginning in December 1860.

DiogenesLamp: "Lincoln was willing to let the other states go if Virginia would give him assurances that they would remain in the Union.
If he was willing to let the other states go, then "preserving the union" was not so much of a principle as people later thought it to be. "

Yet more patented snake-oil fantasy from DiogenesLamp.
The offer Lincoln is said to have made was, "a fort for a state" -- meaning Lincoln withdraws from Fort Sumter in exchange for Virginia's promise not to secede.
He certainly was not willing to "let the other states go", and recognize the Confederacy as legitimate.
But Lincoln is said to have been willing to give up Fort Sumter without a fight in exchange for Virginia remaining Union.
Virginians turned Lincoln down.

DiogenesLamp: "If "Preserving the Union" was his unwavering principle, he wouldn't have offered to let the other states leave."

Pure fantasy, Lincoln did no such thing.