Chilling Graphic: 1860 = 2004 (Free States/Slave States)

[K8-EEE]

Check it out...not much has changed has it? Free states & territories v. slave states & territories.

http://sensoryoverload.typepad.com/sensory_overload/2004/11/free_states_vs_.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Recolored for clarity

and ohio was close

[Goldmund]

2. and so was Iowa...

[JHB]

4. Maryland ain't their Maryland...

...anymore.

[moondust]

5. True. Heroic Maryland!

And Annapolis was a busy port for the slave traders!

[ogsball]

3. The anti slavery movement

just another example of the government imposing their will on the people.

<This is sarcasm.>

[idiosyncratic]

6. After the FRAUD is exposed, Ohio and Iowa will be blue again.

I hope . . .

[FullCountNotRecount]

7. Before Mex-Am war NM was part of Mexico which outlawed Slavery

so it never was going to be a slave state.

[rockydem]

8. it says sit all - here's more from Digby's blog

"Why do I bring this up? Because it's important to remember that one of the main reasons for the civil war was that the southerners believed that the north was trying to impose their "values" upon them and they deeply resented it.
From the earliest days of the republic this was a problem. A different culture grew up around slavery in the south as did the tension surrounding the issue. The mere act of rejecting it was cause for insult and the south withdrew into a cultural identity based largely upon its difference from the north. Indeed, this was one of the defining rationales for slavery --- the exceptionalism of the southern culture.
The north did condescend. Many believed that slavery was a barbaric and primitive institution and that those who condoned it were, therefore, primitive and barbaric. They did not keep their opinions to themselves. From the very beginning this tension created a huge amount of resentment among southerners."

snip

"Bear in mind that middle and upper class Southerners were politicians by birthright. Active participation in politics was, in the South, a way of life. One would expect, therefore, to find a much greater degree of political skill and acumen there than in the North. What one finds there instead is demagogy, bombast, irresponsibility, incompetence, a childish refusal to come to grips with realities, and a habitual substitution of slogans, symbols and bogeymen for facts. These are strong statements, but hardly strong enough to fit the situation."

snip

"I'm not going to take a stand against 'heartland values' or 'southern culture' whatever it's defined as this week. It seems to me that it would be worthless, because this battle is obviously tribal, not specific to any particular issue. Slavery and Jim Crow are long gone. Now it's religion and gays. The lines are drawn as they've always been and there will be no reconciliation through politics. Even a bloody civil war couldn't do that."

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/ (scroll down a bit)

[JHB]

9. Fugitive Slave Laws

As long as it's being brought up, we should also bring up that while "the southerners believed that the north was trying to impose their "values" upon them and they deeply resented it", they had no such reservations against using Federal power to impose THEIR laws in Northern states via Federal fugitive slave laws.

And, that they secceeded not based on anything ACTUALLY DONE TO THEM, since the seccession was before Lincln took office. The whole thing was based on what they IMAGINED would happen after their politicians demagogued for hours on end, week after week.

The more things change...