I didn't have the time or space to address Lincoln's so-called "freeing" of the slaves. Perhaps I'll get to it before this month is over.

But, for now, may I refer you to the celebrated late historian Lerone Bennett's seminal 600-plus page tome entitled "Abraham Lincoln's White Dream"? There you will learn that Lincoln did not "free" a single slave, no not one. His Executive Order No. 95 (the "Emancipation Proclamation") only applied to slaves being held in those states in rebellion, those states at war against the US. None of those states paid even the slightest attention to Lincoln or his "Proclamation." In fact, they all tried to double-down on keeping black people in bondage, including drafting (forcing) black slaves to fight against the Union Army and their own self-interest.

Also, there were four "border" or "neutral" slave states which Lincoln's Proclamation specifically excluded, allowing them to keep their slaves.

Bottom line: Lincoln only "freed" slaves where he had no power to do so. And where he could have actually freed them, he did nothing.

Finally, as to the "good" heart of Lincoln, I take my cues from old Fred Douglass, who knew him personally. In one of his lesser known speeches, Douglass called Lincoln "the white man's president" because, as Lincoln himself said during the war, if he could "save the Union" by freeing all the slaves, he would do it. If he could "save the Union" by freeing some and leaving others alone, he'd do that, too. If he could "save the Union" by freeing no slaves at all, he would have done that, too.

Lincoln's Proclamation was strictly a military strategy meant to further destabilize the rebellious South.

It was not Lincoln's Executive Order that freed the slaves. It was 1) the Union Army's defeat of the Confederates, and 2) the 13th Amendment passed by the "Radical Republicans" in Congress over the veto of Lincoln's successor, that dyed-in-the-wool white racist and white supremacist, Andrew Johnson.

Again, check out Lerone Bennett's work (and some others since) to get a more nuanced, deeper, and clear-eyed view as to exactly who Abraham Lincoln was.

Thanks.