On the Simpson threads I post things from period newspapers back then that I agree with and things I don't (without indicating which I agree with and which I don't), to show both sides of the issues and opinions back then. You quoted one of the newspaper articles I quoted that featured the opinion of one guy of that time about the Democrat Party. History is history, and I think for the best understanding of the issues of that time you should look at both sides. Both sides have their good arguments and their bad arguments.
On the Civil War threads that show up pretty often on FreeRepublic, I take the side of the South. I strongly believe the South had the correct interpretation of the Constitution, and that Lincoln did a lot of unconstitutional things. IMO, Lincoln provoked the war to prevent the ruination of the Northern economy that would be caused in part by the Morrill Tariff which increased northern tariff substantially after the Confederacy had already proposed its own tariff be essentially the same as the 1857 US tariff, the same that the US was using before the Morrill Tariff.
With respect to the Democrat Party back then, I have in the Civil War threads posted this old quote of the time about the Democrat Party:
"The great boast of the Democratic party, has been, that it has met and beaten back the party of centralization, since the formation of the Union"
To some extent that is what the Republican Party in my lifetime has tried to do, though often unsuccessfully.
Right, that's what they claimed.
In reality, Democrats then as now never had a problem with "centralization", so long as they ruled it!
"Centralization" just like "strict construction" was a weapon they wielded against political opponents -- Federalists, Whigs or Republicans, then ignored entirely once they'd won political power.
By the way, I'm sure you know, I always enjoy your posts, even when I disagree.
Thanks for doing it.