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Serious defenders of the legacy of the south argue persuasively in my opinion that the Confederates were the true defenders of the original vision the founders had for the nation. The northern mercantilists were more than willing to toss aside the strictures of limited government in general and the Constitution in particular in order to better service their own interests. And given the Leviathan state we face today it is hard to argue that the Confederates were not correct to oppose this.

The Founders were convinced that slavery was on its way out. They were also committed to the union.

Secession and the expansion of slavery were radical ideas which would have changed our continent as much as anything Lincoln did.

It's because they lost that the leaders of the rebellion can be painted as conservatives.

Had they won, we'd be discussing how they killed off the "old republic."

[lentulusgracchus]

The Founders were .....also committed to the union.

As long as it didn't grind the People down. Liberty was their first concern, and the happiness of the People. How many Jefferson quotes will it take, to remind you?

Secession and the expansion of slavery were radical ideas .....

They were not. Secession was revolution, and the Founders were expert at it. Slavery was ancient, even Biblical.

......which would have changed our continent as much as anything Lincoln did.

Simply not true. Lincoln extended slavery to cover all the States -- slavery to the owners of the Union. To-wit, Lincoln's political machine, and his political heirs.