History Memes

The unfortunate truth is that Lincoln was a pro-establishment moderate who was afraid to rock the boat.

Considering that even Lincoln's incredibly moderate position on slavery in the 1860 election ended up erupting into the bloodiest war of US history, I don't think it's unfair to suggest that the fears moderates had of Southern reaction were very real. They just underestimated just how much more radical the South had become since the 1840s.

He initially fought the confederacy simply to restore the status quo rather than for emancipation. It’s only thanks to the stupidity and hubris of the confederates that his hand was forced.

I would argue that this is partly inaccurate - Lincoln's hand was not forced, the Republican Party was openly anti-slavery. Hell, that was the only real uniting cause of the Republican Party, which included support from both wealthy industrialists and labor radicals. Lincoln striking against slavery was far from universally popular in the North, and any history of the politics of the US Civil War will trace out the planning done by the Lincoln administration, far in advance of the measures taken, repeatedly keeping such things 'in their pocket', so to speak, until military successes allowed them to present them from a position of strength.

The civil war was primarily a conflict between competing factions of the ruling class, and the northern industrial establishment opposing slavery was motivated more by economic factors than any moral principles.

... most conflicts are motivated more by material factors than abstract factors (though certainly not all, and I would also point strongly to the symbiotic relationship between Southern aristocracy and Northern industrialists to oppose a purely material basis for the war). If you're Marxist to any degree, that's even what a socialist revolution is.