Try reading about the Lincoln Douglas Debates, held even before Lincoln became president. Lincoln was an abolitionist far earlier and was an early member of the Republican Party which was founded on the premise of ending slavery and preventing its expansion into the territories.
The claim that he was not opposed to slavery comes from his statement that “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it” is taken out of context. Lincoln preferred that Congress would pass a Constitutional Amendment toward that end and all the states would ratify it. The Emancipation Proclamation did, in fact, free no slaves, because it freed only those slaves over which Lincoln no longer had jurisdiction, those now in the states in open rebellion against the United States which had declared themselves to be a new Nation: The Confederate States of America. It was THAT which he was talking about.
What Lincoln preferred did later come about.
As I said, read the texts of the Lincoln Douglas Debates.
“Try reading about the Lincoln Douglas Debates, held even before Lincoln became president. Lincoln was an abolitionist far earlier and was an early member of the Republican Party which was founded on the premise of ending slavery and preventing its expansion into the territories.”
If I read the Lincoln-Douglas debate in context of the House Divided speech, will it support the notion that “Lincoln fought to free the slaves?”
Although an incomplete example of his true sentiment Lincoln’s statement “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, ...” cannot be taken out of context.