In the opinion of some people, including me, the Civil War was sybolically a war between the federal government, represented by the Northern States and state sovereignty, represented by the Southern States. In other words, the federal government fought against its constitutonally limited powers and won.
So in that context, Lincoln was a pro-unconstitutionally big federal government Democrat.
I prefer to call it “The War of Secession”. And yes, Lincoln did represent a huge expansion of government. But for the issue at hand - freedom, equality, etc. - Lincoln, Fremont, et al were the ones championing it while Democrats opposed it. And to this very day, Democrats continue to oppose freedom and equality.
nonsense. Lincoln sought to defend the constitution against insurrectionists attempting to tear our nation apart... as any good president would do.
Your interpretation of history is based in profound misunderstandings of what actually happened in 1860 and early 1861.
In fact, neither outgoing Democrat President Buchanan nor incoming Republucan President Lincoln did anything to suppress secessionists’ rebellion until after the Confederacy had first provoked, then started (at Fort Sumter), and then formally declared war (May 6, 1861) on the United States.
After declaring war, the Confederacy sent military supplies to support rebellion in Union states.
And all this happened before a single Confederate soldier had been killid in battle with any Union force, or any Union force invaded a single Confederate state.
Point is: if you misunderstand history, you will be forever confused about the profound difference between real republicans and Amrrica’s long dominant Democrat party.