This is true. Because being openly abolitionist would make him unelectable.
But he was always open that he wanted slaves everywhere to be free and begged states to set them free. He was just aware of the political reality that his allies like Thaddeus Stevens were not.
The thing is "No new slaves and no expanding slavery" meant slavery had a shelf life and the confederates knew that. They wanted to keep slavery around.
The idea that Lincoln was not anti-slavery is a lost cause myth and just demonstrates being too lazy to look at history. It was Lincoln's open oppoisition to slavery that caused the succession crisis after decades of kicking the can down the road in the first place.
A fine post.
Yes yes CE, I'm as surprised as the rest of you, but credit where it's due.
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Pawn Inzoliah, level 100s Thief and Straightforward Logistician PSN Mussurana, Pawn ID 5FLZUEJSOD0C