Yes, LFS2 as a politician he knew he could accomplish nothing unless he was elected and  had broad support from   large segments of the white public.   While his heart was that of a visionary, his mind was that of a practical politician who had the goal of ending slavery and would do what he had to do to achieve it.
Read this article by Franklin on his relationship with Frederick Douglass; even better, read the collected works of all Lincoln's writing.  None of the cynicism  expressed here.
Motley also took that Lincoln quote badly out of context;  as in those same 1858 debates he shouted out to thousands of white voters "BUT IN THE RIGHT TO EAT HIS BREAD WITHOUT LEAVE OF ANY OTHER MAN, WHICH HE HAS EARNED WITH HIS OWN HANDS, HE IS MY EQUAL, AND THE EQUAL OF JUDGE DOUGLAS, AND THE EQUAL OF EVERY LIVING MAN!  "
And let us not forget that thanks to Lincoln's careful moderate approach he was able to keep the slave states Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware from secession.