Lincoln never opposed slavery. He also didn't free slaves. He 'freed' the ones in the confederacy, which was its own country, therefore his words didn't matter over there. He said that black people are the inferior ones in society and its white people's job to keep them in check.
Not persay, Abe Lincoln thought that slavery was a morally reprehensible, while most other northerner workers saw it as free labor that was cutting into their profits. Northern farmers and factory owners saw it as unfair that southerners could continue to compete with them without having to pay their workers
