Is the Union voluntary or an agreement with no escape route? Setting the tone, John M. Taylor leads off by noting the travails of a respected ancestor. Major questions in America are explored, including differing views of the meaning of union. Though numerous issues led to war, most modern establishment historians generalize everything down to one. Pre-war and post-war years are largely ignored, trivialized, or sanitized. Protectionist Whigs and other big government advocates created the centralizing vehicle-the Republican Party-to accomplish their goals. In 1860, they selected Abraham Lincoln to implement the agenda. Taylor shows how Lincoln and the Radical Republicans planted the seeds of leviathan we witness today. Available in paperback.