If you had lived in the 1850s, would you have supported the Republican

If you had lived in the 1850s, would you have supported the Republicans who opposed the expansion of slavery, the Southern Democrats who wanted their slave property protected in the territories, or the Know Nothings who tried to ignore the slavery

issue? Why?

ANSWER
The Republican Party contained abolitionists, white supremacists, and those who believed in the principle of federal authority in the territories. Southern Democrats hoped to give slavery continued life through expansion, defend the principle of states’ rights (or local control), and establish the property-protection rights of the Fifth Amendment. Know Nothings hoped to hold the Union together by addressing issues associated with foreign immigration.