States rights conservatives dominated the Democrat Party. The GOP after the war was the party of big government liberals.Lincoln was a big government liberal and if in politics today would be in a democrat. There’s a reason he’s the great hero of today’s democrats. The South “went to war” because Lincoln sent his murdering hordes into the Southern States to attempt to drive them back into the Federal Union. He had to have someone to pay the bills. King Cotton and Big Tobacco fit the bill nicely.
The south went to war because Lincoln was elected and they feared that this spelled the end of slavery. Period.
Big government liberal? Lincoln? Show me the mans version of The New Deal and the welfare state.