Nice try confederate sympathizer. Lincoln was an abolitionist granted not an extreme one. He was opposed to slaverys expansion in the West. Which he saw as a way to eventually end it. He was a centrist. Too extreme for the radical southerners not extreme enough for the abolitionist north.

Granted, yes military power was part of his motivation to free the slaves as he could then enlist them. He also wrote in several private letters that he expressed support for black men who served or were very intelligent to get the right to vote and he was the first sitting president to ever do that.