Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

I completely agree, 100%.

As for the pre-civil war map, it fails to keep in mind that the majority of the reasons for the civil war had nothing to do with slavery. Neither side was particularly vehemently against it.

Furthermore, if you're going to make a geographical comparison like that, it's more appropriate to look at the counties map. The majority of geographic Illinois voted Republican, Idaho, which was in an anti-slavery territory, voted Republican, Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana voted Republican, North and South Dakota - both of which had half of their geographical area in an anti-slavery region - voted Republican, Maryland voted Democrat but was a slave state, as did Deleware. I think you get the point.