Yes, ignorance of the facts is the issue.  The sentence was hardly incomplete, here is the entire quote, which clearly shows he thought Jackson was a contemporary. 

'I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little later, you wouldn't have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart, and he was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, "There's no reason for this."'

And you are incorrect about Lincoln.  He said he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation if the Southern States did not return,  but that does not mean he would have accepted slavery either partially or wholly.  Lincoln did not think of himself as an abolitionist and would have preferred a gradual end to slavery with compensation paid to slave owners, thus avoiding both war and societal upheaval, but the South forced  his hand.