The Monster Lincoln weaves an intricate tapestry revealing a Lincoln apotheosis and descendant lies constituting a deliberate distortion of American history. That history presents a sainted savior. The tapestry displays a monster. Lincoln was a mercantilist beholden to Northern bankers and industrialists who demanded that he keep the Union together to facilitate several goals: saving the Northern economy, building a transcontinental railroad, nationalizing the banks, and creating a world power allied with Russia to counter the French/English block. Only war could ensure those goals while war was not needed to abolish slavery. Thoreau said slavery could be eliminated if the North simply boycotted slave-made products. The abolitionist Spooner said the North could have a slave-free country by enforcing existing laws and seceding from the South. But empire building was a non-negotiable issue for Lincoln while abolition was a political tool to be utilized only if expedient.