Historical continuity of Democrats and Republicans

[Lechasseur]

Was the South always religious or did they become more religious at some point?

I think it started with the First Great Awakening in the 1790s and really went up with subsequent Great Awakenings.

I think the reason the South is so religious is because it was "christianized" relatively late.

[Lechasseur]

The way I view it, America had little in the way of a political left before the 1890s (obviously it existed before then, but it wasn't very powerful).  Before that, America had two parties that were mostly conservative.  As much as the American Civil War was a defining moment in US history, the divisions of that war seem to have very little bearing on modern politics.  It was right-wing infighting.

This sounds right