If I had to guess why the Like button alone reigned supreme for so long, it would be that Facebook didn't want to encourage hate or a culture of negativity. It's strange that they held so long to this belief when so many Facebook employees are also Facebook users, as it was immediately obvious that you didn't need a button to express disapproval or a negative message.
The Dislike button is not a grand technological achievement, nor is it non-obvious. The first thing most people want when they see a Like button is a Dislike button. Reddit and the Big List of Problems are built on both up- and down-votes. Facebook was making a conscious decision to keep it off the page.
The altruistic guess at motives is that they want to foster an atmosphere of positivity (ha!).
The cynical guess is that if one movement gets really popular, the only way you can fight back is to write comments (hoping they're read, which still add attention) or spend even more time to come up with a counter-campaign. Given that Facebook is built around a machine designed to keep you scrolling and clicking as long as possible, the cynical explanation is that the Dislike button is far too great a time-refund to its billion-plus user base.
My serious guess is that Facebook introduced the Dislike button to allow people to register their opposition to Donald Trump. It took a force that was so galvanizing but so distasteful, so molded to fit the cracks of what a Like-only world leaves behind, to get Facebook leadership to realize that the disenfranchisement of upvote-only was getting them a world they deserved. The hopeless feeling you have seeing nonsense with likes. The inability to quickly set the record straight. So for once, we have an improvement to Facebook as a whole. Let's hope it sticks.
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