What sort of idiot thinks that they're not a yankee when they're from Fresno? That said, the justification above is a stretch but there are two very important aspects to the quote: First, it was said during the 1856 Presidential debates, while Lincoln was back on his heels. He was being accused of wanting black men to be allowed to sleep with the daughters of everyone in the audience, and had to backpeddle himself fairly quickly. Second, and more importantly; Lincoln had plenty of time to change his mind and his ways. There were a lot of changes which occured within Lincoln's mind regarding the Union and slavery even after he was elected, let alone form 1856 when he was a young upstart in the midst of losing an election. That said - if you really believe that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, read the succession articles! That's what truly started all of this, and if you read South Carolina's, for instance, you can clearly see that they were declaring their independence over slavery. Saying it had nothing to do with slavery also ignores Kansas and the Lacompton Constitution, the Dred Scott decision, the beating of Charles Sumner, the actions of John Brown, and generally at least a few dozen other brutally obvious points that fed into the start of the war. Believing that slavery had nothing to do with this is just Southern revisionism.