This is indeed a very interesting read. I found myself switching out issues from today for those in the article and it's not difficult to see just how fast and how far things escalated. Maybe it is because of the multitude of arguable issues today that are tearing the old traditional party lines to shreds, but the entire lead up to Sumter is just plain as day, to me at least. If one took slavery out of the equation and substituted another from our time, say maybe health care, it falls into the same catagory. What did the "Founders" intend? States decision on the issue or the Federal decision? It's so less about slavery to me now and much more on the right of a state to not accept domination from the Federal level on an issue the people of the state wanted no part of.

Pam