lincoln was publicly opposed to canoes because they took logs away from house construction. you can't live on a damned canoe. but the real reason is that he once tried to stretch out on a canoe and due to his 7 ft girth crushed it, embarrassing himself. he had a secret vendetta against the canoe after that and tried to destroy the canoe industry by banning it from using slave labour, which made it unable to compete against steamships from the north.
canoists remember and have sought to tarnish lincoln's legacy through acts of vandalism.