Thanks Kim.
Obviously I can look this up on the interweb or even better at the library but I wanted a real person's opinion.
What I learned over the years about your civil war always brought me back to "No taxation without representation".
I believe that started with the British migrants in Amrerica and from then on it gets overly political as you have explained.
No disrespect but perhaps Lincoln was just an opportunist?
I think he genuinely believed in those things he campaigned for but I now have doubts.
He was one of for Presidents that were members of the Whig Party and to quote wikipedia
"the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency
and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism".