Was it liberals or conservatives that moved to end slavery?

Question

was it liberals or conservatives that helped women gain suffrage?

Was it liberals or conservatives that helped advanced civil rights?

Are members of the Ku Klux Klan liberal or conservative?

Notice I said nothing about Republicans or Democrats. Today liberals tend to be democrats and conservatives republican, however if you say that Lincoln was Republican and therefore conservative you'd be wrong. I'm only speaking of conservatives and liberals, not parties. I did find it funny when I saw a political poster by the Republicans highlighting there historical representatives and including Lincoln. Lincoln compares in no way to modern Republicans.

Answer 1

Liberals. Hands down. The Ku-Klux-Klan I WOULD compare to the Dixiecrats (or Conservatives). Liberals are usually for progress, (which is why some prefer to be called "progressives") while Conservatives are for "traditions" and less willing to face changes.

On edit: How do people get so confused between IDEOLOGIES vs. PARTIES?! Liberalism and Conservatism are a held set of values, or certain ideologies; they do NOT pertain solely to the political parties of Democrats and Republicans! There are a mix of "liberals", "conservatives" and "moderates" within every political party.

Answer 2

Well, Lincoln was a Republican.

Slavery was not a left/right issue...it was a north south issue.
The southern conservatives and the southern liberals both wanted to keep slavery.

It was an economics issue, a states rights issue..it was not a left/right issue.

The majority of the south in the 60's were democrats...In fact the term 'southern democrats' is still in use today..

Nearly all people of power and influence in the south at the time were democrats...the more liberal party..however at the time the democrats then were nowhere near as liberal as they are now...Reagan was a democrat then...they moved left...he didn't.

It was mostly again the effect of the northern/western republicans and the more liberal wing of the democrats that started the civil rights movement.

Again, this was not a left/right battle at the time..it was far more of an 80% of the country against the the last 20% of the country that still had their asses in 1790.

Don't know a thing about women's suffrage sorry.

The Ku Klux Klan? Are they even still around? This answer I'm typing has more influence than they do....

Answer 3

Anyone who knows anything about History can tell you it was a Republican President that ended slavery. This doesn't really mean much considering the fact he did it for politicial responsibility not moral.
He did it because many northen states, which tend to be more liberal as compared to the southern states, disagreed with slavery. And we couldn't have a Union of states where some of the states had human beings as slaves while others were discusted by the idea.
So he did it to preserve the Union.

As far as civil rights are concerned, it was primarily the democrat party that pushed for civil rights. this is actually what splintered the party into the more liberal democrats, and the ultra-conservative "southern democrats" or "dixiecrats".
The Southern democrats disagreed with their more liberal counterparts, so much that they ran their own candidates in election in opposition to democrat candidates. As the democrat party took an even more liberal path of pushing for more and more civil rights, the southern democrats eventually became Republicans causing the Republican party to become far more conservative than it was.

Members of the KKK tend to vote in a manner that restricts immigration from south of the border as much as possible. They see immigration of people who aren't Euopean whites, as a threat to the the White race in America.
They also tend to be more religious and ultra- right-wing.
I guess I don't have to tell you were that puts a majority of them.

Answer 4

Don't get me wrong, young man. There was a time when Liberal was far from the dirty word it is today. The first one was beyond liberal and into the radical for its time. Back when Civil Rights was an issue there were people actively promoting them and actively opposing them on both sides. For those of us up North it seemed a no brainer. But for people in the South it was much harder to accept.

Back then, Liberalism meant far different than it does now. Liberals back then supported most of the things that would be seen as Conservative now. School Prayer, anti-abortion, strong family values etc.

Todays Socialist inspired, anti-God, anti-marriage, anti-family values, pro-abortion Liberals cannot carry the Old School Liberals strap. Those Old School Liberals would be considered Moderate today. Today's Conservatives would have been considered Moderate back then. Everything has shifted way to the left. The old school Conservatives are your Pat Buchannan and Ron Paul isolationist types.

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Answer 5

your are pinning a political party to very important times and issues in our young country.
That is not very popular with my role as a veteran in this country. I lost quite a bit of use of my dominant arm defending my freedom to be a voice.
I am a Democratic Liberal Republican, what I mean is, I dont think that any particular party expresses what I want because I am not of the Elite status.
These changes that you mentioned were not made unless there was money to be made for our politicians. Either way you look at it, real Americans with ideas for a better cause is what put these liberties into action. doesnt matter which party they came from.
if you ask a southern Klansmen what his politcal view is he would probably tell you conservative. If you ask an equal race hater from the north he would probably tell you he was a liberal.
Take your country back and turn it into whatever you want to concerned american.

Answer 6

Conservatives are by definition people who are working to conserve the political status quo, which at one time was a slave-based economy. Conservatives also fought bitterly against the civil rights movement of the 1960`s, although they will now tell you they were on the other side. They are now fighting another civil rights battle against people they call "illegal aliens." Same civil rights issue, same political lineup for and against, different time, different race. Another important civil rights issue is the right to a safe abortion for women, which was the premier issue of the recent conservative religious revival. The anti-abortion movement and the religious revival that spawned it are now being quietly forgotten as the embarrassments they are. The KKK was and is conservative because it supports the caucasian dominated status quo. Do you see now why conservatives are so vague and confusing when somebody asks what they are fighting for? The conservative base is made up of often religious political reactionaries who by definition believe they are fighting for moral principles that never change but these always are, another reason to conserve the confusion to preserve deniability. The only reason conservatives get away with it is because we allow them so much vagueness when they state their basic ideological principles, which are basically to conserve a morally indefensible political status quo in a world where two per cent own most global wealth as mass starvation and polluted water continue to be major unnecessary causes of death.http://un.org/News/briefings/docs/2006/061205_Household_Wealth.doc.htm

Answer 7

It was people who did not have slaves that moved to end slavery. Northerners are known to be conservative but they rejected slavery, so I don't think it is either liberal or conservative.

Conservatives want things to stay the same, liberals opt for change, so giving women the vote was liberal, civil rights was liberal and the Klu Klux Klan was conservative.

Answer 8

Actually, it was mostly a trade that England conducted, and America took advantage of. So for those that don't know history, you can gracefully bow out now.
But it was a conservative in America that questioned the constitution..as drafted...WE the People.... and the implication of the morale standing that slavery shouldn't exist if we were a civilized nation that believes in its own drafted government documents.
I'm not going to go into the historical fight regarding why the civil war happened, the actual intents of the north or the south. There will always be the Rosa Parks of the world that stand up for something worth while that most people would say is a no-brainer but for some reason came into existance.
But, for those thinking liberals or progressives did much good for this country. Lets look at what they've accomplished.
A few examples...The supposed peace marches to end the Vietnam war. What was the result of this ? They screwed our allies over by leaving them, over 1 million put into concentration camps, they obviously helped out North Vietnam...whether intentional or not....They claimed they did it to save American lives....yet called those same trooped baby killers and spit on them....so who did they really serve ?..I say they served themselves.
What about the War on Poverty and Hunger ? we have spent 6.5 Trillion dollars on that "war" and we are still no better off.
What about how 90% of the black vote leans towards democrats and progressive candidates.....The politicians have been promising a new tomorrow and better future for 30 years to colored people......and it has yet to change anything for them after voting for democrats for 30 years.
When are people going to wake up. I can't say the Republicans are pristine or do no wrong, but of the two, I'll usually vote conservative because they are the lesser of two evils.

Answer 9

1. Conservatives.
2. Liberals
3. Both
4. Both.

Answer 10

What a silly set of questions. I was not there but would like to think that these people started with the proposition that all men are created equal and saw that the concept should apply to all humans. If they were on the left side of the bank or the right is irrelevant. Just thank God they were there to right injustices and move our society forward.
That does not include your fourth question. That group is a special case and really doesn't belong with the rest of the questions.