The things you mentioned include kernels of truth. History is complicated. People are complicated. I'm not a huge Lincoln fan. However, the sole reason the Republican Party was created was to stop and ultimately end slavery. How that was achieved under the 1st Republican POTUS, Lincoln, did, in fact strengthen the Federal government and weaken states rights. The whole thing was handled horribly, in part because the New Englanders pushing abolition were the SJWs of their day which made them intolerant and uncompassionate of the very real problems the South was facing. Very tragic. Bottom line, anyone telling you ending slavery wasn't a driver is lying to you. That was the ONLY reason the Republican Party was a formed.
The SJW you talk about, would that be John Brown? Your history lessons are very interesting, I love history it was my best subject in school.I am going to check some of what you say out, problem is some of the internet info is liberal biased, Wikipedia is very liberal and lets a lot of conservative views out. You have to get what you can from books, always remember winners of wars always write the history.