[Non-Sequitur]

The need for a powerful Federal government to implement a national rail system -- and the need for a powerful Federal government to maintain the commercial viability of the Ohio River Valley and the Midwestern states by ensuring free maritime access along the Mississippi River system -- were far bigger issues at the time than slavery was.

Can I ask what you base this on?

[Alberta's Child]

A thorough review of Lincoln's background offers some pretty fascinating insight into the man. He was a political nobody through most of his career leading up to 1860 -- having served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1840s (where he made a name for himself as a vocal opponent of the Mexican-American War).

Lincoln was supported in politics by very powerful business interests in this country -- mainly because he had an extensive background in railroad and maritime cases in his career as a lawyer.

A great book on this subject -- from both a historical and an engineering standpoint -- is Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869