[Qwinn]

"To credit the Republicans is an equal distortion."

Please. For fifty years the media drumbeat has been "Conservatives are racist, Democrats are the only hope for civil rights, if you elect a Conservative pretty soon they'll be burning down the churches again.". What I have posted completely debunks this.

At the very least, the following can be said (and was):

"I knew that however bad the Republican party was, the Democratic party was much worse. The elements of which the Republican party was composed gave better ground for the ultimate hope of the success of the colored man's cause than those of the Democratic party."

- FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, chapter 47, p 579 (1941). [Quotation 1600, p 300]

So, no, it's not an "equal" distortion. However you slice it, the Republican Party deserves far more credit for civil rights than the Democrat Party does. It -definetly- deserves less blame for civil rights abuses and segregationist policies.

"The movement toward civil rights began long before the Republican Party was created. It began with the extension of voting rights to citizens that were not property owners."

No one said the Republican Party gave birth to civil rights. What was said was that civil rights gave birth to the Republican Party.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

Self-correction:

"No one said the Republican Party gave birth to civil rights. What was said was that civil rights gave birth to the Republican Party."

In many ways, the Republican Party -advanced- and -enacted- civil rights. That's not the same as giving birth to the 19th century civil rights movement. Just wanted to clarify that because I can see how the first sentence might seem false.

But the main driving force for the formation of the Republican Party was to oppose the extension of slavery into the Territories.

Qwinn