time before the American revolution, albeit for different reasons. Each colony took on characteristics of governance that eventually moved them from colonies with royal governors to more or less self-governing entities to protect their mutual interests. Whether JM wants to admit it or not (hence is snotty reference to 1619), slavery and the maintenance of that institution played an enormous role in the Revolution and in the establishment of the Constitution.

There's a reason that enslaved people of that time were more likely to join the British army. There's a reason that after the war many of those same black former slaves left the new US (Nova Scotia was a revelation for me). Oh sure, the Brits were racist, too. But they encouraged enslaved people to join up as a tactical advantage over the colonies, including encouraging insurrection (which Jefferson mentions in the Declaration!) and the granting of freedom from chattel slavery. There's a reason that those victorious colonies, now states, adopted oppressive slavery statutes including making slavery permanent on the basis of color.

This goes back to state power. The power of the states to make their laws and control their people. This is what states' rights is all about. The current autocratic moves by some states is merely the latest iteration of how the colonies were formed to begin with. I think it is an unbroken line.