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It obvious you idiot. The Republican party was trying to destroy the south, it's economy and it's people. That was even before the war started. For possible cranial penetration here is the definition of the word "conservative"

[kuh n-sur-vuh-tiv]

See more synonyms for conservative on Thesaurus.com adjective

disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

How does this in anyway define what the Republican Party of the mid 19th century? It does however describe the Democrats of the mid 19th century perfectly.

You're even dumber than you look general. If (as idiot lost cause losers such as yourself) "the north" were trying to exploit the wealth of the south, how could it do any good to "destroy" it? The only point at which it could be arguable that the union was trying to destroy the rebels was when they were in pitched battle.

disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

You mean like turning your backs on your foundational documents and your country's law so that you can initiate and wage war against your countrymen? That kind of preservation?

central_va defining "conservative":

"1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change."

Sorry I missed all the fun, was tied up elsewhere... ;-)

The definition of "conservative" is key to this discussion and "conservative" can mean many different things to different people, times & places.
For examples, in Europe "conservative" often meant monarchist or supporter of official government churches, like the Church of England.
Even fascists claimed to be "conservative" in protecting some traditional values, and of course Communists were only too, too happy to call their fascist fellow socialists "conservative", so the public in general has a distorted view of just what exactly "conservative" means -- -- is it racists, sexists, homophobes, islamophobes, you know, that whole "basket of deplorables"?

No, of course not, not in this country.
For Americans "conservative" boils down to just two words: Constitution and Bible, not necessarily in that order.
If you believe in both as originally intended, then you are an American Conservative, regardless of whatever else ideas you may hold.

So here's the problem for central_va and Democrats in general: from Day One in 1787, the Democrat party began as anti-Federalists, opposed to ratifying the Constitution.
Those anti-Federalists included Thomas Jefferson who went on to lead the anti-Administration faction, in time renaming it the "Democratic Republicans" today's Democrats.

Jefferson's Democrats showed their disregard for the Constitution by proposing Nullification and Interposition to block Federalist laws they didn't like.
But once in the majority, like any typical Democrat, Jefferson expanded Federal powers by, for examples, approving the Louisiana Purchase and authorizing the National Road, today's US-40 from Baltimore to Ohio.

And Democrats after Jefferson expanded Federal powers along with fighting wars & adding territories.
Among the new Democrat powers was the 1850 Compromise which made Fugitive Slave Laws a Federal, not state, responsibility -- how is that even nominally "conservative"?
And speaking of radical, what could be more radical than the SCOTUS Dred Scott decision effectively making all African-Americans (not just the slaves) non-people!
And Democrats with straight faces claimed to be "conservative"?
Of course the first rule of being a Democrat is: you must lie about everything, no truth-telling allowed.

The old Federalists were the party of the Constitution, destroyed by secession talk, succeeded by Whigs who were destroyed by slavery and succeeded by Lincoln's pro-Constitution, anti-secession, anti-slavery Republicans.
Those were the true Conservatives in 1860.

In 1860 Democrats were ruled over by wild eyed Fire Eaters hell-bent on destroying the Union by whatever pretext necessary, the most obvious being slavery.
And while slavery was their biggest complaint it was not the only one -- Robert Rhett said it clearly: having spent the better part of 60 years expanding Federal powers beyond what the Constitution intended, Democrats were now horrified, horrified!! to see all that political power fall into the hands of "Ape" Lincoln and his Black Republicans.

Nothing could be worse, so Democrats did in 1860 what Democrats often do when kicked out of power: they went berserk, and in 1860 that meant secession & war against Black Republicans.

In summary, there was never anything "conservative" about Democrats.
From Day One they were the party of anti-Constitution radicals and have only ever been happy when they themselves rule the roost in Washington, DC.
Power is their drug of choice and without it they go through severe withdrawal agonies, becoming politically insane.

In 1860 just as today.