Jessie, you beat me to the punch. Lincoln wasn't concerned with freeing the slaves until over three years into the Civil War. Why? Because they had nowhere to effectively house the slaves after the North had occupied Southern territory. It was never a war over "civil rights." It was a war over state's rights.
No flames, please. I'm just stating fact. I'm no proponent of slavery (which is still rife within Africa, by the by), no more than I am of political correctness. It is what it is.