1874: Bourbon Redeemers elected in Alabama and Arkansas
From Bensonwiki
The Election of 1874 represented a second chance for the Democratic leaders of Alabama. After having failed to present enough of a unified front to oust the Radical Republicans in 1870, the election of 1874 presented Democrats with a chance to retake their state and effectively put an end locally to Reconstruction.[1] Obstacles in the path of a Democratic resurgence included a large number of disenfranchised ex-Confederate soldiers, black voting power, and poor white wartime unionists voting Republican.[2] These “scalawags” were mostly poor white Conservative Southerners that despised both the former slaveholding elite and the former slaves as economic competition.[3] While many had no overt hatred for blacks, they still insisted on maintaining social superiority over them. Others felt that educating them was extremely positive, but felt their ignorance and inferiority precluded them from the immediate ability to hold political offices.[4]
Not surprisingly, it was the former planters that led the way for democratic unification, rallying behind a “white man’s banner” of soon-to-be governor George Houston, focusing both on the necessity of white solidarity against black political domination as well as against the corruption rampant in the Radical Republican Reconstruction.[5] Additionally, many blamed Republican policies for the Panic of 1873, which had essentially bankrupted the state government. One of the Democrats first priorities once elected was the repayment of the state debt.[6] Many of the poor conservative Republican small farmers also returned to the Democratic party, having lost faith in the corrupt Radical leadership.[7] In previous years, the Democrats had laid low, preferring to avoid raising the ire of Republicans in power.[8] But in the election of 1874, the Republican party brought forth a weak, disorganized showing, and the Democrats took full advantage of this through strong campaigning and voter intimidation against blacks.[9] When the dust had settled, the Democrats had swept the state elections, effectively ending Radical Reconstruction.
Related Events:
Panic of 1873 1874: Democrats regain control of U.S. House of Representatives
Sources:
[1]Going, Allen Johnston. Bourbon Democracy in Alabama 1874-1890. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1951. p. 8 [2]Ibid., 2 [3]"Arkansas: From Camden to Pine Bluff on Horseback.", New York Times. Dec. 13 1874, p. 1 (Proquest->New York Times) [4]Going, 15. [5]Ibid., 10. [6]Bond, Horace Mann. "Social and Economic Forces in Alabama Reconstruction." The Journal of Negro History. Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul 1938) (JSTOR)p. 333. [7]Going 9. [8]Ibid., 4. [9]Ibid., 17.
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