Look at it this way, children are not equal to adults in social standings and rights. Yet can we enslave children? No. Lincoln's view, if this is indeed his view, is that while the races were not equal, it would be wrong for the better races to enslave the lesser races due to the fact that slavery is wrong regardless of this scale. This system would be more similar to the "Separate But Equal" system or the Apartheid system of South Africa.
