I am not unpersuadable on the subject of Lincoln, I’ve just yet to see persuadable evidence. If I’m reading you correctly. You say I should think I should accept Lincoln’s intent to free the enslaved despite everything he said to the contrary. He was a politician and they indeed lie to achieve what they believe to be greater purposes. You point to his relationship with Frederick Douglass who said at his eulogy that Lincoln was the white man’s President.

Lincoln believed that freed slaves represented a danger to the nation and that their resentment over being enslaved and his goal was to convince Black leaders to agree to his plan to deport them to Liberia of Central America.

The Emancipation Proclamation in my opinion wasn’t primarily about freeing slaves. He never thought to do it until Southern states started seceding and it only applied in those states that had already left. In the states that didn’t quit the Union, slavery was completely permissible and no Union soldiers were attempting to free them. My opinion is that his goal was to disrupt the economy of the South and keep Britain and France from siding with their trading partner, the Confederacy.

In the North, I’m sure there were a variety of feelings about enslavement and what was to be done. None of them ended up being the official policy of the government and the same people looked away as the South for all practical purposes reinstated enslavement with the Black codes. After Reconstruction (which ended when Republicans traded for the Presidency after agreeing to remove federal troops somewhat protecting the freedmen. They stood by again as Jim Crow swept not only the South but the country.

I am wary of Lincoln’s intentions but his actions seem to speak for themselves. I will agree to disagree with your interpretation.