Lincoln's priority was the preservation of the Union. Not ending slavery. He's on record as saying that if he could save the union without freeing any slaves, he would. He just didn't think the nation could stand as half slave, half free.
As always the far left drones don't know what they are talking about!
He used it as a rally cry to get troops fired up!
The North burned cities to the ground. I am sure that was productive..
You far left drones need to learn the real history not the one your are programmed with..
Issues including states’ rights versus federal authority and westward expansion .
Lincoln had used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the rebellious states after January 1, 1863. He justified his decision as a wartime measure, and did not go so far as to free the slaves in the border states loyal to the Union. Still, the Emancipation Proclamation deprived the Confederacy of the bulk of its labor forces and put international public opinion strongly on the Union side.