Re "An echo of Civil War divide" (Letters, Nov. 9): The electoral map would have been the same during the Civil War, only reversed.
In 1862, the North or blue region on the map had elected the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln. For this reason, the South or red region remained a Democratic stronghold until just recently. Many historians have speculated that some Southern heroes of the Civil War fell from grace after the war because they had become Republicans. Today's GOP, shown proudly in red, remained much despised in the South for more than 100 years because it was the party of Lincoln.
So here we are 150 years later looking at a very different map that seems familiar. What's the old saying: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
-- Al Bates, Roseville
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