Nothing at all like the situation today.
This is a point I have constantly tried to make. Wealthy Elite Liberals living in Urban centers of power are constantly trying to force a new morality on the rest of us, whether we like it or not. They have taken defacto control of the system of governance and they use that control to advance their wealth and liberal agenda.
They set government policy that is calculated to continue enriching themselves and their allies, and the conditions necessary to the development of this extra-legal control occurred in the lead up to the Civil War. In fact, the Civil War appears to be the consequence of them flexing their new found power.
Then as now. The threat we face comes from the wealthy urban elite in the Washington / Boston power corridor. Their hands need to be pried off the various levers of power and that power needs to be restored back to the people of the States.
Total rubbish & nonsense.
In 1860 Washington D.C. had been under firm control of the Southern Slave Power since Day One.
So there was no "abuse" or "usurpation" except as demanded or approved by Southerners.
In 1860 there had never been an anti-South administration, Congress or Supreme Court.
And yet the 1860 election of abolitionist "Ape" Lincoln's Black Republicans was enough to drive Deep South Fire Eaters to declare their secessions at pleasure before Lincoln even took office!