So it sounds like the Republicans go from being a kind of sectional or regional party to, by the end of the war, at least trying to really be a national entity in terms of their support and their interests.
Absolutely one of the reasons that Lincoln is so moderate (compared to many [Republican] congressmen) is because he knows he must establish a national party. Remember, he won with a plurality of the vote in 1860 — only about 40 percent of the popular vote. He did not win a majority. And if the Republicans are going to continue to win as a majority, they’ve got to pick up Southern voters.
So what is it that happens during Reconstruction that eventually turns Southern whites so strongly against Republicans?
[Democratic President Andrew] Johnson looks at [Republican reforms] and he recognizes that the Republicans are popular enough that if he doesn’t do something to rein them in, a Democrat will never be elected [president] again. He’s got a personal stake in that, but he’s also concerned about the growth of federal government; he thinks it’s way too big already, because [due to] patronage, [the government] is only hiring Republicans and they will always vote Republican and then pretty soon there won’t be any Democrats.
So he vetoes [two ambitious and popular Republican bills] … and in his explanation for his two vetoes … he pulls together a number of things: The idea that if you let everybody have a say in American society, [voters] will redistribute wealth; he pulls together racism; and he pulls together hatred of Republicans on the part of Democrats. So he says that these bills — which are designed to help white people as well as black people — are a deliberate attempt by Republicans to redistribute tax dollars … to black people … and bleed “hardworking white men” dry for the sake of African-Americans.
That link, right there, [between] taxes and helping black people — regardless of what it does for society or regardless of how good it is for everyone — is still the language we use; we’re taking from “makers” and giving to “takers.”
All right, so what explains why the South, after being so solidly Democratic for so long, begins moving in the 20th century toward the GOP? The usual answer is that it’s due to to the civil rights movement — but I’ve also seen some argue (mostly from the right, but sometimes from the far left) that the South was already moving toward the Republicans in the ’40s and ’50s, so race politics just put fuel on a fire that was already burning.
Well, yes, the South and West were moving toward the Republicans in the ’40s, but it was not clear which direction the Republican Party was going to [on race issues]. It’s really worth remembering that Brown v. Board of education is [decided] by Earl Warren, who is a Republican politician; it’s a Republican [Supreme] Court; and Warren is appointed by Eisenhower, a Republican president …
Right. So once the civil rights movement gets into full swing, and a Democratic president passes the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, is it pretty much a straight line from then to now in terms of the South going Republican and, in a way, the Republican Party going Southern?
So it sounds like the Republicans go from being a kind of sectional or regional party to, by the end of the war, at least trying to really be a national entity in terms of their support and their interests.
Absolutely one of the reasons that Lincoln is so moderate (compared to many [Republican] congressmen) is because he knows he must establish a national party. Remember, he won with a plurality of the vote in 1860 — only about 40 percent of the popular vote. He did not win a majority. And if the Republicans are going to continue to win as a majority, they’ve got to pick up Southern voters.
So what is it that happens during Reconstruction that eventually turns Southern whites so strongly against Republicans?
[Democratic President Andrew] Johnson looks at [Republican reforms] and he recognizes that the Republicans are popular enough that if he doesn’t do something to rein them in, a Democrat will never be elected [president] again. He’s got a personal stake in that, but he’s also concerned about the growth of federal government; he thinks it’s way too big already, because [due to] patronage, [the government] is only hiring Republicans and they will always vote Republican and then pretty soon there won’t be any Democrats.
So he vetoes [two ambitious and popular Republican bills] … and in his explanation for his two vetoes … he pulls together a number of things: The idea that if you let everybody have a say in American society, [voters] will redistribute wealth; he pulls together racism; and he pulls together hatred of Republicans on the part of Democrats. So he says that these bills — which are designed to help white people as well as black people — are a deliberate attempt by Republicans to redistribute tax dollars … to black people … and bleed “hardworking white men” dry for the sake of African-Americans.
That link, right there, [between] taxes and helping black people — regardless of what it does for society or regardless of how good it is for everyone — is still the language we use; we’re taking from “makers” and giving to “takers.”
All right, so what explains why the South, after being so solidly Democratic for so long, begins moving in the 20th century toward the GOP? The usual answer is that it’s due to to the civil rights movement — but I’ve also seen some argue (mostly from the right, but sometimes from the far left) that the South was already moving toward the Republicans in the ’40s and ’50s, so race politics just put fuel on a fire that was already burning.
Well, yes, the South and West were moving toward the Republicans in the ’40s, but it was not clear which direction the Republican Party was going to [on race issues]. It’s really worth remembering that Brown v. Board of education is [decided] by Earl Warren, who is a Republican politician; it’s a Republican [Supreme] Court; and Warren is appointed by Eisenhower, a Republican president …
Right. So once the civil rights movement gets into full swing, and a Democratic president passes the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, is it pretty much a straight line from then to now in terms of the South going Republican and, in a way, the Republican Party going Southern?
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