Modern Liberalism and Conservatism labels cant be given until the 1896 election where it's clear William McKinley was the conservative candidate and William Jennings Bryan is the liberal candidate
I would put him closer to Hamilton and the Federalists and of course the Whigs which he was before joining the Republican party. They were a party for modernization but also favored public education and an expanded role of the federal government.
Probably wasting my breath talking to a libertarian with this argument (
), but I don't think supporting tactics often used by modern liberals ("favoring" public education and an expanded role of the federal government) for CONSERVATIVE reasons (outlined above, but the main ones were we did not have the infrastructure in place for individual talent and private business to thrive like we did today) makes it a "liberal" thing to support. Conservatives and liberals can both utilize small and big government when it suits their interests. Democrats of the time often accused the Whigs' plans of only benefiting the wealthy and those who could afford to take part in that infrastructure; it's a FAR cry from supporting higher taxes so that sidewalks can be repaired to support a continental railroad that's going to have tickets that poor people will never be able to afford, for example. The chief concerns of the Federalists, Whigs and Republicans, regardless of how they thought they could best achieve their goals, remain clearly conservative in my view.
I am still reading more into the 19th century. I am a little more read up on the later part of the century particularly economic history. However I am also touching on the general direction the country took from the time of the founding fathers and the Civil War and Lincoln are a big part of that even though I would not consider myself a big fan of studying battles and military history.
I appreciate your post.
My reading of the Civil War was a considerable defeat for states' rights (especially since it was lumped in with the pro-slavery side) and the preservation of the Union being more critical in Lincoln's view than ending slavery. Is this wrong to say?
Note I do not agree at all with Tom DiLorenzo's hit piece against Lincoln.
He's not my favorite president by any stretch nor the worst but he's better than Davis (of course), Andrew Johnson, Fillmore, Grant, and a lot of others in that general time period.
