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I enjoy learning new things from all kinds of people, especially people who are way smarter than me. There are a lot of people like that here.

When you respond to a question asking for the reasoning behind your own assertion by insultingly implying only the historically ignorant, or people "projecting the current cultural milieu and political positions of the 21st century onto the 19th century" would not already know your reasoning without asking, makes you look, the opposite of a fount a knowledge from which others can drink.

I originally responded to your post, "The Democrats of the 19th century WERE the ConstitutionalConservatives of the day" because it seemed patently absurd to me based on my, admittedly, limited knowledge of 19th century politics. I genuinely want to know how you come to that conclusion, so I will try again:

How do you come to that conclusion?

I originally responded to your post, "The Democrats of the 19th century WERE the ConstitutionalConservatives of the day" because it seemed patently absurd to me based on my, admittedly, limited knowledge of 19th century politics. I genuinely want to know how you come to that conclusion, so I will try again:

I do not know if you are familiar with the difference between Alexander Hamilton's philosophy of governance versus Thomas Jefferson's philosophy of governance, but this is the real distinction between the two sides of what became modern Democrats and Republicans.

Alexander Hamilton believed the government should use it's power to promote business and also to use the power of money to control things. He was all about banking and finance and government power.

Jefferson believed in peaceful agrarianism. He felt the government should mostly leave people alone, and only do those things which were essential to maintaining itself and protecting the people.

Hamilton was big city. Jefferson was rural country.

You should look them up to better understand their differences in philosophy. The South was mostly Jeffersonian in outlook, and the North was mostly Hamiltonian in outlook.

This is the true dividing line between the two sides, not the labels they were called.

The Jeffersonian philosophy aligns with Modern conservative Republicans, and the Hamiltonian philosophy aligns with Modern Liberal Democrats.

Only the names have changed, the philosophies are basically the same as they have always been.