Your argument is weak for this simple reason. By reverting to the states, the right to own slaves is, by default, support for slavery.

Let’s say you are right and all the democrats wanted was to adhere to federalism. And let’s assume that was granted. Would they have freed the slaves? They had every opportunity to do so prior to the elections of 1856. When the new Republican party ran on a platform that said in part,

As our Republican fathers, when they had abolished Slavery in all our National Territory, ordained that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing Slavery in the Territories of the United States by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislation, of any individual, or association of individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained.

The Democrat party on the other hand ran on a platform in 1856 that read in part,

>blockquote>The Democratic Party will resist all attempts at renewing, in congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.

So here’s a simple question. If democrats didn’t want the federal government making decisions they believed the states should have made. Why didn’t they abolish slavery? Why did it take a new political party to emerge to advocate abolition? Besides, who controlled the state governments? It wasn’t the WIG’s or the Republicans. It was the Democrats.

Here’s some more facts you might find inconvenient. The democrats opposed the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th amendments. The Democrats passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil right laws enacted by Republicans. The Democrats passed those discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. They opposed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, the Civil Rights of 1866, and the Enforcement Act of 1870. They fought against The Forced Act of 1871, The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, The Civil Rights Act of 1875, The Freeman Bureau, The Civil Rights Act of 1957, The Civil Rights Act of 1960, and The United State Civil Rights Commission.

So I ask you, in all that time, during all the oppression and discrimination that took place. When were the democrats going to concede that their “States Rights” arguments weren’t working for blacks?

The difference between the democrats states rights arguments back then and the republicans states rights arguments now are very different. Back then the democrats used the states rights argument to perpetuate slavery. They used it as an excuse to continue slavery. The republicans party was formed specifically to abolish slavery.

They merely believed, as do many of today’s conservatives, that it was not in the jurisdiction of the federal government to abolish slavery

Please excuse my error here. The correct sentiment should be along the lines of: the Democrats believed that it was not in the jurisdiction of the federal government to abolish slavery, a position many conservatives take today with regard to many other very serious issues.

I had already submitted the comment before I recognized the error.

Now let me proofread the rest!

RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com

The Donks didn’t support slavery any more than the Republicans did. They merely believed, as do many of today’s conservatives, that it was not in the jurisdiction of the federal government to abolish slavery, and that the Tenth Amendment placed that power in the hands of the States.

Any originalist would say they have a point, regardless of their state of agreement.

While it is true enough that most of those fighting against Emancipation were likely Democrats, it is unfair to say that the party’s position was pro-slavery.

Evidence – the relevant portion of the Democratic Party’s 1840 Platform:

7. Resolved, That congress has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the constitution; that all efforts by abolitionists or others, made to induce congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions.

It could further be argued that Lincoln, in his very correct zeal to end slavery, set the stage for the very intrusions of the federal government that we see today (ironically by the Democrats). Lincoln’s actions may very well have amounted to a repeal of the Tenth Amendment.

Seriously, substitute any of the following in place of the word “slavery” in the above quote:

healthcare
education
election policy
eminient domain

See what I mean? The Democrats were not taking a stand in favor of slavery; they were taking a stand in favor of STATES’ RIGHTS. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of slavery itself (I’m against it, as are all freedom-loving Americans), you cannot deny that the Democrats had a point.

Let’s hit the libs hard, but we can beat them without playing these kinds of games.

RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com

Have a look at this article by Rev. Wayne
Perryman, called “Democrats
Owe Blacks an Apology.” It starts off

Dear Chairman McAuliffe:

My name is Rev. Wayne Perryman. I am an African American inner-city minister in the Seattle area and the author of the enclosed book, Unfounded Loyalty. All of my life I have voted Democrat. In the past, I worked with several Democratic candidates and served on the committee of the Washington State Black Clergy to Re-elect President Clinton in 1996. As you know, during the past 70 years African Americans have consistently supported the Democratic Party and put five Democratic presidents in the White House.

The purpose of this letter is to humbly and respectfully request that the DNC offer a formal apology to African Americans for the party’s past racist policies and practices toward African Americans, and further request that this apology be issued during the upcoming 2004 convention…