It’s funny Conservatives today think back to slavery as if they would have been on the abolitionist side. The abolitionist movement was mostly among liberals, academics, Northerners, urbanites, and racial minorities. The pro-slavery movement was strongest among conservatives, states-rightsers, advocates of small government, the ownership class of the south, rural people, and whites. The parties swapped positions over time such that Republicans came to represent those latter factions. But it’s clear who the true ideological heirs of people like Lincoln are.

