Union at All Costs: From Confederation to Consolidation

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. The four-year travesty of 1861-65 represents the most destructive period in American history and a change in the republic itself. The conflict-the agricultural South versus the North, where agriculture was important, but corporate, banking, and industrial interests swung the most weight. Jeffersonian States' Rights meets Hamiltonian Nationalism. Modern portrayals of Lincoln perpetuate the winner's narrative; facts that fall outside the politically correct script are cast asunder. A power-seeking individual such as Lincoln was required to transform a voluntary confederation into a top-heavy centralized government. 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.

Review :
"It has taken the place of FAVORITE among my many other books on the War Between the States. A must read for students of the late unpleasantness." G. Creech "It brings into question many things about Abraham Lincoln and the causes/reasons for the war." Phillip R. Ross "If you want to understand what's wrong with our country today, and how it got this way, you need to read this book. This book should be required reading in every high school and college in America, ...If you read one book in your entire life, please read this book." Jim "Kudos to the author for remaining loyal to the facts of the matter! A more factual account has yet to be written." Amazon Customer "He presents facts and not opinions. For an informative book, this rates very high with me." Ben Willingham "Find out from original sources (meticulously referenced) what the war was really about...learn something other than the cartoon version of Abraham Lincoln!" Reverend Rock "One of if not the best recent book on real reasons for the War for Southern Independence." Amazon Customer "the War of Northern Aggression was about power and taxes, not slavery." Leadman "Great book." Don E "Highly detailed and plenty of references to external sources." Amazon Customer "...Taylor has so eloquently researched, written about, and fully documented in this long needed refutation of the 150+ year old historical propaganda that has passed for the reasons that over 600,000 American lives were unnecessarily lost in a war that should never have happened. Lincoln is here exposed as the supreme crooked politician that he was...This book should be required reading for every American history class in the country at both the high school and college level!" William G. Anthony "Of the hundred plus books I own and/or have read on The War Between the States, this is in the top three...information presented is given in fairly short segments...There is no pulpit-pounding here, just facts clearly presented and documented...overlooked or suppressed by the histories written...by the victors. But this is no "Lost Cause" apologetic. A reader can readily understand why The War Between the State has also been dubbed "The Second American Revolution" FredMM, MD "This book reveals ignored and often denied hard facts concerning the reasons for the Civil War, the conduct of the war and the aftermath of the war which the Lincoln Cult camouflaged for decades. Mr. Taylor's contribution to understanding this important era in American history is a significant contribution to understanding how and why America has evolved into its present governing and economic dilemmas..." Professor, PhD "John M. Taylor wrote a brilliant book--a tome, in fact--about the real causes for Mr. Lincoln's War...this is not the standard establishment propaganda. Taylor treats Lincoln as if he were a man and a flawed one at that--not as a demi-God, as so many "historians" today do. This author does not worship at the altar of Lincoln. He is more interested in telling the truth. This book should be required reading in every high school in America." Dr. Mitcham "A concise account of events and issues that led to the south forming a new nation." Zach Regan