This issue has been a contentious one for decades. People will argue "Yes, the parties switched", or "No, they didn't switch." But what both sides seem to ignore is that the statement "The parties switched", applies to so much more than just racial justice. And when you think about it, OF COURSE, the parties switched. It's so gradual you may not have noticed. Here's the timeline.
This piece will be a long one, but history is fascinating.
1828: The Democratic Party was founded. It's first nominee for President, former U.S Senator from Tennessee (and military general) Andrew Jackson easily defeated incumbent National Republican President John Quincy Adams, and took office on March 4, 1829. The party stood for agrarianism and the Jacksonian democracy movement of President Andrew Jackson, representing farmers and rural interests and traditional Jeffersonian democrats. The Jackson Administration is widely remembered for committing genocide against Indigenous people passing the "Indian Removal Act", which forcibly relocated Native Americans. The Jacksonians (Democrats) voted 98-25-10 (73.8-18.8-7.52%) to pass it (10 of them did not vote). Two independents, and one Whig (the predecessor of the Republican Party) voted in favor.
The final vote was 101-97, (51.01-48.99%) in the House of Representatives. In the United States Senate, the Jacksonians voted 23-1 in favor (95.83-4.17%), with four Adams supporters voting in favor, and one member of the Nullifier Party voting in favor. The final vote was 28-19-1 (58.33-39.58-2.08%), and President Jackson signed it into law on May 28,1830. What is known as "Indian Removal" would begin on September 27, 1830, and would continue into Jackson's successor, Democratic Vice President Martin Van Buren's Presidency. This is one of the many original sins, including slavery, that the Democrats of this era have tied to their legacies (despite the fact they are not the same Democrats from 190 years ago).
1830's-1860's:
Throughout the Presidential Administrations of William Henry Harrison (W-OH), John Tyler (I-VA), James K. Polk (D-TN), Zachary Taylor (W-LA), Millard Fillmore (W-NY), Franklin Pierce (D-N.H), and James Buchanan Jr. (D-PA), the issue of slavery was a can that was kicked down the road. Not only was the issue ignored as much as possible, it was an issue that -when it was addressed- the "solution" only prolonged staved off the inevitable: a Civil War. During these Presidencies, the following happened.
1841: William Henry Harrison, the man literally died one month into his Presidency, so nothing of importance.
1841-45: Vice President John Tyler succeeded President Harrison to become our first unelected President. During his Presidency, John Tyler wanted to add Texas into the United States, and concerns over the balance power amongst free states (states that did not allow slavery) and slave states (states that allowed slavery), as Congress would admit one slave state and one free state to prevent either side from having a majority. John Tyler owned at least forty slaves, but he is (of course) by no means the first slaveholder to ever serve as President of the United States. Tyler made the annexation of the Republic of Texas part of his agenda soon after becoming president. Texas had declared independence from Mexico in the Texas Revolution of 1836, although Mexico still refused to acknowledge its sovereignty.
The people of Texas actively pursued joining the Union, but Jackson and Van Buren had been reluctant to inflame tensions over slavery by annexing another Southern state. Though Tyler intended annexation to be the focal point of his administration, Secretary Webster was opposed, and convinced Tyler to concentrate on Pacific initiatives until later in his term. Tyler's desire for western expansionism is acknowledged by historians and scholars, but views differ regarding the motivations behind it. Biographer Edward C. Crapol notes that during the presidency of James Monroe, Tyler (then in the House of Representatives) had suggested slavery was a "dark cloud" hovering over the Union, and that it would be "well to disperse this cloud" so that with fewer blacks in the older slave states, a process of gradual emancipation would begin in Virginia and other upper Southern states. Historian William W. Freehling, however, wrote that Tyler's official motivation in annexing Texas was to outmaneuver suspected efforts by Great Britain to promote an emancipation of slaves in Texas that would weaken the institution in the United States, and no serious efforts to abolish slavery were successful during Tyler's Presidency.
1845-49: President James K. Polk (D-TN) was a slaveholder for most of his life. Like Presidents Jackson and Polk saw slavery as a side issue compared to other matters such as territorial expansion and economic policy. However, the issue of slavery became increasingly polarizing during the 1840s, and Polk's expansionary policies increased its divisiveness. During his presidency, many abolitionists harshly criticized him as an instrument of the "Slave Power", and claimed that he supported western expansion because he wanted to extend slavery into new territories. For his part, Polk accused both northern and southern leaders of attempting to use the slavery issue for political gain, the divisive debate over slavery in the territories led to the creation of the Free Soil Party, an anti-slavery (though not abolitionist) party that attracted Democrats, Whigs, and members of the Liberty Party.
The Texas Government, under newly instated Governor P. Hansborough Bell, tried to ramp up military action in defense of the territory against the federal government, but was unsuccessful. The Latter Day Saint settlers of modern-day Utah had established a provisional State of Deseret, an enormous swath of territory which had little hope of recognition by Congress. The Taylor administration considered combining the California and Utah territories but instead opted to organize the Utah Territory. To alleviate the Mormon population's concerns over religious freedom, Taylor promised they would have relative independence from Congress despite being a federal territory. Taylor sent his only State of the Union report to Congress in December 1849.
He recapped international events and suggested several adjustments to tariff policy and executive organization, but such issues were overshadowed by the sectional crisis facing Congress. He reported on California's and New Mexico's applications for statehood, and recommended that Congress approve them as written and "should abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of a sectional character". The policy report was prosaic and unemotional, but ended with a sharp condemnation of secessionists. It had no effect on Southern legislators, who saw the admission of two free states as an existential threat, and Congress remained stalled. After his death on July 9, 1850, Vice President Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th President of the United States.
Before and during Taylor's presidency, a crisis had developed over the land acquired after the Mexican–American War in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The key issue was the status of slavery in the territories, which, for many leaders, represented a debate over not just slavery but also morality, property rights, and personal honor. Southern extremists like U.S Senator, former U.S Secretary of State and former U.S Vice President John C. Calhoun (D-S.C), who viewed any limit on slavery as an attack on the Southern way of life, while many Northerners opposed any further expansion of slavery. Further complicating the issue was the fact that much of the newly-acquired Western lands seemed unsuitable to slavery due to climate and geography. In 1820, Congress had agreed to the Missouri Compromise, which had banned slavery in all lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36° 30' parallel, and many Southerners sought to extend this line to the Pacific Ocean.
A series of terrible laws were passed to defuse a civil war, such as the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War. It also set Texas's western and northern borders and included provisions addressing fugitive slaves and the slave trade. The compromise was brokered by Senators Clay and Douglas with the support of President Fillmore. The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.
The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a "slave power conspiracy". It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Bill," for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery, and is considered one of the causes of the Civil War. The Compromise of 1850 shook up partisan alignments in South, with elections being contested by unionists and extremist "Fire-Eaters" rather than Whigs and Democrats.
The victory of pro-compromise Southern politicians in several elections, along with Fillmore's attempts at diligently enforcing the Fugitive Slave Clause, temporarily quieted Southern calls for secession. There was less support for outright secession in the North than in the South, but in the aftermath of the Compromise politicians such as Senator Seward began contemplating the creation of a new major party explicitly opposed to the extension of slavery. Despite the disruptions caused by the debate over the Compromise, no major long-term partisan realignment occurred during Fillmore's presidency, and both parties remained intact for the 1852 presidential election. Millard Fillmore did not seek a full term in the 1852 campaign. Former Senator Franklin Pierce (D-N.H) was elected as the 14th (and second worst) President of the United States.
During President Pierce's Administration (during the time he was not silently grieving over the death of his last surviving son, who died on the way to the inauguration), the status quo was upheld. Quite frankly, Franklin Pierce did not have the leadership skills, nor was his mind focused enough on governing to solve the problems of our Country. He signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and enforced the Fugitive Slave Act. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 (10 Stat. 277) was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Senator Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress.
Douglas introduced the bill with the goal of opening up new lands to development and facilitating construction of a transcontinental railroad, but the Kansas–Nebraska Act is most notable for effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, stoking national tensions over slavery, and contributing to a series of armed conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas". In his inaugural address, Pierce expressed hope that the Compromise of 1850 would settle the debate over the issue of slavery in the territories. The compromise had allowed slavery in Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory, which had been acquired in the Mexican–American War. The Missouri Compromise, which banned slavery in territories north of the 36°30′ parallel, remained in place for the other U.S. territories acquired in Louisiana Purchase, including a vast unorganized territory often referred to as "Nebraska". As settlers poured into the unorganized territory, and commercial and political interests called for a transcontinental railroad through the region, pressure mounted for the organization of the eastern parts of the unorganized territory, and organizing the territory was necessary for settlement as the land would not be surveyed nor put up for sale until a territorial government was authorized.
Pierce wanted to organize the territories without explicitly addressing the matter of slavery, but Senator Stephen Douglas could not get enough southern support to accomplish this. Slave state leaders had never been content with western limits on slavery, and felt that slavery should be able to expand into territories, while many Northern leaders were strongly opposed to any such expansion. Douglas and his allies instead proposed a bill to organize the territory and let local settlers decide whether to allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, as most of land in question was north of the 36°30′ parallel. Under Douglas's bill, two new territories would be created: Kansas Territory would be located directly west of Missouri, while Nebraska Territory would be located north of Kansas Territory. The common expectation was that the people of the Nebraska Territory would not allow slavery, while the people of the Kansas Territory would allow slavery.
Pierce wanted to organize the territories without explicitly addressing the matter of slavery, but Senator Stephen Douglas could not get enough southern support to accomplish this. Slave state leaders had never been content with western limits on slavery, and felt that slavery should be able to expand into territories, while many Northern leaders were strongly opposed to any such expansion. Douglas and his allies instead proposed a bill to organize the territory and let local settlers decide whether to allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, as most of land in question was north of the 36°30′ parallel. Under Douglas's bill, two new territories would be created: Kansas Territory would be located directly west of Missouri, while Nebraska Territory would be located north of Kansas Territory. The common expectation was that the people of the Nebraska Territory would not allow slavery, while the people of the Kansas Territory would allow slavery.
Northerners resented Pierce's attempted expansion of slavery through Kansas–Nebraska and Cuba. In this 1856 cartoon, a Free Soiler is held down by Pierce, Buchanan, and Cass while Douglas shoves "Slavery" (depicted as a black man) down his throat. Pierce was initially skeptical of Douglas's bill, knowing it would arouse bitter opposition from the North, but Douglas, Secretary of War Davis, and a group of powerful Southern senators known as the "F Street Mess" convinced Pierce to support the bill. It was tenaciously opposed by Northerners such as Ohio Senator Salmon P. Chase and Massachusetts' Charles Sumner, who rallied public sentiment in the North against the bill. Many Northerners had been suspicious of the Pierce's expansionist foreign policy and the influence of slaveholding Cabinet members such as Davis, and they saw the Nebraska bill as part of a pattern of southern aggression.
President Pierce and his administration used threats and promises to keep most Democrats on board in favor of the bill. The Whigs split along sectional lines, and the conflict finally destroyed the ailing party. The Kansas–Nebraska Act passed the Senate with relative ease, but was nearly derailed in the House. Pressure by Douglas and Pierce, combined with the support of many Southern Whigs, ensured the bill's passage in May 1854. In both the House and the Senate, every Northern Whig voted against the Kansas–Nebraska Act, while just under half of the Northern Democrats and the vast majority of Southern congressmen of both parties voted for the act, and this is arguably one of the worst pieces of legislation passed under the Pierce Administration.
In 1856, President Pierce ran for a second term. He lost the nomination to former U.S Secretary of State, and former U.S Ambassador to the U.K, James Buchanan Jr. This is the first and only time that a U.S President was defeated for re-nomination, and the only time that a party that denied their President renomination, managed to retain control of the White House, as Secretary Buchanan was elected to be the 15th (and worst) President of the United States. And remember how the status quo was upheld in the Pierce Administration? The same happens under the Buchanan Administration.
In the aftermath of the Mexican–American War, a new debate had arisen over the status of slavery in the western territories. While abolitionism had not emerged as a strong force, many Northerners saw slavery as a moral blight and opposed the extension of slavery into the territories. Many Southerners, meanwhile, were deeply offended by the moral assault on the institution of slavery and feared that an attack on slavery in the territories could lead to an attack on slavery in the South. The Compromise of 1850 had temporarily defused the situation, but every Northern defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act (passed as part of the compromise) inflamed tensions in the South. The 1852 publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin further divided opinion.
In 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had excluded slavery from territories north of the 36°30′ parallel. Each new state would instead decide upon the status of slavery under the concept of popular sovereignty. The bill was very unpopular in the North, and its passage contributed to the collapse of the Whig Party and the rise of the Republican Party, which consisted almost entirely of Northerners opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories. Though few Republicans sought to abolish slavery in the South, Southerners saw the very existence of the Republican Party as an affront, and the Republicans made little effort to appeal to the South with any of their other policies, such as support for high tariffs and federally-funded internal improvements. Upon taking office, Buchanan hoped to not only end the tensions over slavery but also vanquish what he saw as a dangerously-sectional Republican Party.
The most pressing issue regarding slavery concerned its status of in the territories, and whether popular sovereignty meant that territorial legislatures could bar the entrance of slaves. Seeing an opening in a pending Supreme Court case to settle the issue, President-Elect Buchanan had involved himself in the decision-making process of the Court in the months leading up to his own inauguration. Two days after Buchanan's inauguration, Chief Justice Taney delivered the Dred Scott decision, which asserted that Congress had no constitutional power to exclude slavery in the territories. Prior to his inauguration, Buchanan had written to Justice John Catron in January 1857, inquiring about the outcome of the case and suggesting that a broader decision would be more prudent. Catron, who was from Tennessee, replied on February 10 that the Supreme Court's Southern majority would decide against Scott, but would likely have to publish the decision on narrow grounds if there was no support from the Court's northern justices—unless Buchanan could convince his fellow Pennsylvanian, Justice Robert Cooper Grier, to join the majority.
Buchanan hoped that a broad Supreme Court decision protecting slavery in the territories could lay the issue to rest once and for all, allowing the country to focus on other issues, including the possible annexation of Cuba and the acquisition of more Mexican territory. So Buchanan wrote to Grier and successfully prevailed upon him, allowing the majority leverage to issue a broad-ranging decision that transcended the specific circumstances of Scott's case to declare the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. When the Court's decision in Dred Scott was issued two days after Buchanan's inauguration, Republicans began spreading word that Taney had revealed to Buchanan the forthcoming result. Buchanan's strong public support of the decision earned him and his party the enmity of many Northerners from the outset of his presidency. Oh boy. Following the 1858 elections (which gave the new Republican Party control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in history, while the Democratic Party retained control of the U.S Senate), Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and fellow Southern radicals sought to pass a federal slave code that would protect slavery in the territories, thereby closing the loophole contemplated by Douglas's Freeport Doctrine. In February 1859, as debate over the federal slave code began, Davis and other Southerners announced that they would leave the party if the 1860 party platform included popular sovereignty (Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives, who are the source of all political power.), while Douglas and his supporters likewise stated that they would bolt the party if the party platform included a federal slave code. Despite this continuing debate over slavery in the territories, the decline of Kansas as a major issue allowed unionists to remain a powerful force in the South. In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown led raid on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in hopes of initiating a slave revolt. Brown's plan failed miserably, and the majority of his party was killed or captured.
In the aftermath of the attack, Republican leaders denied any connection to Brown, who was executed in December 1859 by the state of Virginia. Though few leaders in the North approved of Brown's actions, Southerners were outraged, and many accused Republican leaders such as Seward of having masterminded the raid. In his December 1859 annual message to Congress, Buchanan characterized the raid as part of an "open war by the North to abolish slavery in the South," and he called for the establishment of a federal slave code. Senate hearings led by Senator James Murray Mason of Virginia cleared the Republican Party of responsibility for the raid after a long investigation, but Southern Congressmen remained suspicious of their Republican colleagues. The only mistake John Brown made was not planning the revolt against slavery more throughly.
President Buchanan was (and still is) rated as the worst President of the United States, for his failure to prevent succession (he said that the Southern states legally could not secede, but did nothing to stop them), and essentially, he was a "doughface" (a Northerner with pro Southern "principles" [he was a serial flip flopper] and it's worth pointing out that he's another ---- face. You can guess what that means).
Under the 16th (and first Republican) President of the United States, In August 1862, Lincoln stated: "If I could save the union without freeing any slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." So of course, Lincoln was not without his flaws, and he did work very hard to pass the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution (which came into effect months after his death). He led us through most of the Civil War (at the time of his death, it was rapidly coming to a close), and while he's imperfect, he had his good moments. To address the 13th Amendment:
"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
Here's what the Amendment should have said:
"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
This still allows prisoners to be enslaved by the state to do the jobs that private citizens would do. I'd rather die than work for virtutally nothing for anyone.
Lincoln was re-elected in the 1864 Presidential election in a landslide, and spent the remainder of his first term to get lame duck legislators to vote in favor of the 13th Amendment, doing what ever he could to get them to switch their vote. The Senate passed the amendment on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6; two Democrats, Reverdy Johnson of Maryland and James Nesmith of Oregon voted for the amendment. However, just over two months later on June 15, the House failed to do so, with 93 in favor and 65 against, thirteen votes short of the two-thirds vote needed for passage; the vote split largely along party lines, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. In the 1864 presidential race, former Free Soil Party candidate John C. Frémont threatened a third-party run opposing Lincoln, this time on a platform endorsing an anti-slavery amendment. The Republican Party platform had, as yet, failed to include a similar plank, though Lincoln endorsed the amendment in a letter accepting his nomination, Frémont withdrew from the race on September 22, 1864 and endorsed Lincoln.
With no Southern states represented, few members of Congress pushed moral and religious arguments in favor of slavery. Democrats who opposed the amendment generally made arguments based on federalism and states' rights. Some argued that the proposed change so violated the spirit of the Constitution it would not be a valid "amendment" but would instead constitute "revolution". Representative White, among other opponents, warned that the amendment would lead to full citizenship for blacks. I laugh at his corpse.
Republicans portrayed slavery as uncivilized and argued for abolition as a necessary step in national progress. Amendment supporters also argued that the slave system had negative effects on white people. These included the lower wages resulting from competition with forced labor, as well as repression of abolitionist whites in the South. Advocates said ending slavery would restore the First Amendment and other constitutional rights violated by censorship and intimidation in slave states. White, Northern Republicans and some Democrats became excited about an abolition amendment, holding meetings and issuing resolutions.
Many blacks though, particularly in the South, focused more on land ownership and education as the key to liberation. As slavery began to seem politically untenable, an array of Northern Democrats successively announced their support for the amendment, including Representative James Brooks, Senator Reverdy Johnson, and the powerful New York political machine known as Tammany Hall. Lincoln instructed Secretary of State William H. Seward, Representative John B. Alley and others to procure votes by any means necessary, and they promised government posts and campaign contributions to outgoing Democrats willing to switch sides. Seward had a large fund for direct bribes. Ashley, who reintroduced the measure into the House, also lobbied several Democrats to vote in favor of the measure. Representative Thaddeus Stevens later commented that "the greatest measure of the nineteenth century was passed by corruption aided and abetted by the purest man in America"; however, Lincoln's precise role in making deals for votes remains unknown.
Republicans in Congress claimed a mandate for abolition, having gained in the elections for Senate and House. The 1864 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Representative George H. Pendleton, led opposition to the measure. Republicans toned down their language of radical equality in order to broaden the amendment's coalition of supporters. In order to reassure critics worried that the amendment would tear apart the social fabric, some Republicans explicitly promised the amendment would leave patriarchy intact. In mid-January 1865, Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax estimated the amendment to be five votes short of passage, and Ashley postponed the vote.
At this point, Lincoln intensified his push for the amendment, making direct emotional appeals to particular members of Congress. On January 31, 1865, the House called another vote on the amendment, with neither side being certain of the outcome. With 183 House members present, 122 would have to vote "aye" to secure passage of the resolution; however, eight Democrats abstained, reducing the number to 117. Every Republican (84), Independent Republican (2), and Unconditional Unionist (16) supported the measure, as well as fourteen Democrats, almost all of them lame ducks, and three Unionists. The amendment finally passed by a vote of 119 to 56, narrowly reaching the required two-thirds majority.
The House exploded into celebration, with some members openly weeping. Black onlookers, who had only been allowed to attend Congressional sessions since the previous year, cheered from the galleries. While the Constitution does not provide the President any formal role in the amendment process, the joint resolution was sent to Lincoln for his signature. Under the usual signatures of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (Vice President), President Lincoln wrote the word "Approved" and added his signature to the joint resolution on February 1, 1865. On February 7, Congress passed a resolution affirming that the Presidential signature was unnecessary, leaving the Thirteenth Amendment is the only ratified amendment signed by a President, although James Buchanan had signed the Corwin Amendment that the 36th Congress had adopted and sent to the states in March 1861.
To act as if Republicans were not willing to tone down a Constitutional amendment's language (that provided human beings freedom) to win votes, is a lie. After Lincoln's assassination, several more constitutional Amendments, such as the 14th and 15th Amendments were passed, against the objections of his Democratic Vice President (and successor) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States. Republicans controlled Congress throughout Johnson's Presidency, with more than enough Republican members of Congress to theoretically override any vetoes. And they would override Johnson's vetoes more often than not. The enacted the 1866 Civil Rights Act under his veto.
Johnson implemented his own form of Presidential Reconstruction, a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to reform their civil governments. Southern states returned many of their old leaders and passed Black Codes to deprive the freedmen of many civil liberties, but Congressional Republicans refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressional Republicans overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment which gave citizenship to former slaves. In 1866, he went on an unprecedented national tour promoting his executive policies, seeking to break Republican opposition, which failed, with the 2/3 Republican majority in both house of Congress expand dramatically.
As the conflict grew between the branches of government, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act (also over his veto) restricting Johnson's ability to fire Cabinet officials. He persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, but ended up being impeached by the House of Representatives and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate. He did not win the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination and left office the following year. Ulysses S. Grant would become the 18th President of the United States. These next eight years are rather important.
Throughout his presidency, Grant was continually concerned with the civil rights of all Americans, "irrespective of nationality, color, or religion." Grant had no role in writing the Civil Rights Act of 1875 but he did sign it a few days before the Republicans lost control of House of Representatives. The new law was designed to allow everyone access to public eating establishments, hotels, and places of entertainment. This was done particularly to protect African Americans who were discriminated across United States. The bill was also passed in honor of Senator Charles Sumner who had previously attempted to pass a civil rights bill in 1872.
In his sixth message to Congress, he summed up his own views, "While I remain Executive all the laws of Congress and the provisions of the Constitution ... will be enforced with rigor ... Treat the Negro as a citizen and a voter, as he is and must remain ... Then we shall have no complaint of sectional interference." In the pursued equal justice for all category from the 2009 CSPAN presidential rating survey Grant scored a 9 getting into the top ten. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 proved a very little value to Blacks. The Justice Department and the federal judges generally refused to enforce it, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. Historian William Gillette calls it "an insignificant victory."
Now, this is where Republicans lose the argument when it comes to protecting the rights of people of color. During the 1876 Presidential election, President Grant -facing an economic depression, and an Administration marred by scandals- opted not to seek re-election to a third consecutive term (he ran unsucessfully for re-nomination in 1880). The Republicans nominated Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes for President and William A. Wheeler (a Congressman from New York) for Vice President. The Democrats nominated New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden for President, and Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks for Vice President. The election was nasty, with Republicans saying:
"Not every Democrat was a rebel (against the Union in the Civil War), but every rebel was a Democrat." Keep in mind, the Civil War was 12 years behind us, but still very fresh in the minds of voters, and this was a drag on the Democratic ticket. But the Republican ticket was dogged with the fact that the incumbent Republican President presided over an economic depression and had an Administration dogged with scandals and corruption. Both parties knew that the election would be awfully close. On November 7th, 1876 -election day- the final results were too close to call. At the time, the Electoral College had 369 votes, of which a majority is 185. Governor Hayes had 165, and Governor Tilden had 184. In the popular vote, Governor Tilden had a 50.9-47.9% lead against Governor Hayes.
Governor Hayes lost the popular vote to Governor Tilden by a margin of 252,666 votes -or exactly 3.0%- and depending on how the outcome, he would be the second Presidential candidate to be elected President while losing the popular vote (but he would be the first to win the Electoral College outright while losing the popular vote).
Out of the 20 disputed electoral votes, Governor Tilden needed only one of those votes -5% of the total- while Governor Hayes needed all of them. So it's an understatement to say that the pressure for both candidates was very strong. The state of Orgeon, worth three electoral votes -worth 0.81% of the total Electoral College at the time- only could give two out of the three votes to Governor Hayes, considering that one of his electors was ineligible to serve due to being a sitting public office holder. The vote in Oregon was not close -compared to the other disputed states.
Governor Hayes led Governor Tilden by only 889 votes, or 0.48%. This is the closest state in the 1876 campaign.
Governor Hayes led Governor Tilden by only 922 votes, or 1.98%. This was the second closest state.
Governor Hayes led Governor Tilden by only 4,807, or 3.30%, this was the largest margin out of the three states.
Allegations of electoral fraud were made by both sides, and the dispute dragged on until just before inauguration day. Everyone wanted this problem to end, considering how close to March 4 (inauguration day) we were getting without solving the problem. Eventually, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, and a Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation to create an Electoral Commission, with a fifteen member panel. Five memebers of the House, Senate, and Supreme Court would join the Commission. Three Democrats and two Republicans from the House, three Republicans and Democrats from the Senate, and two Republicans and two Democrats with one independent form the Supreme Court, were the people in question.
The independent, was David Davis, was the one member of the Commission that everyone was unsure of how he would vote. The Commission's rulings were final -provided that both chambers of Congress did not override them- and this whole situation took place before the 17th Amenmdment, which allow the American people to directly elect someone to the United States Senate. That gave the Democrats in the Illinois Legislature (since Legislatures were the ones tasked with electing Senators) an idea. An awful idea.
They elected Justice Davis to the United States Senate, conviced that they just purchased his support. Instead, he resigned from both the Commission and the Supreme Court so he could take his seat in the United States Senate. His replacement, leaned more to the Republicans, and he broke all of the ties in favor of the Republicans, giving all 20 disputed electoral votes -and the Presidency- to Mr. Hayes. Needless to say... Democrats were not happy. Not one bit.
"Tilden or blood!" Was a chant. Threats of a second civil war were made. President Grant started organizing troops to prepare for conflict. In the end, a compromise was made. In exchange for the Democrats accepting President-elect Hayes (derspite the fact that they would call him "Rutherfraud", "His Fraudulency", and "His Accidency"), Republicans would remove ALL federal troops from the South, which ended Reconstruction, and left blacks and impoverished whites at the mercy of the Southern Democrats.
The South would become an overwhelmingly Democratic region, where Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynchings, among other atrocities would happen. So yes, Republicans were willing to discard the rights of blacks so they could win the Presidency, and have Democrats pay lip service about how they accepted the results. Throughout the Presidencies of Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, S. Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., William Howard Taft, T. Woodrow Wilson, and Warren G. Harding, any push for civil rights lost out to the status quo, regardless if the President supported it or not. Republicans were pretty far away from the Radical Republicans, who fought hard for the rights of black people after the Civil War. President J. Calvin Coolidge Jr., signed legislation which enfranchised all Native Americans, during his Presidency.
According to one biographer, Coolidge was "devoid of racial prejudice," but rarely took the lead on civil rights. Coolidge disliked the Ku Klux Klan and no Klansman is known to have received an appointment from him. In the 1924 presidential election, his opponents (Robert La Follette and John W. Davis), and his running mate Charles G. Dawes, often attacked the Klan but Coolidge avoided the subject. Coolidge spoke in favor of the civil rights of African-Americans, saying in his first State of the Union address that their rights were "just as sacred as those of any other citizen" under the U.S. Constitution and that it was a "public and a private duty to protect those rights." Coolidge repeatedly called for laws to make lynching a federal crime (it was already a state crime, though not always enforced), but Congress refused to pass any such legislation.
On June 2, 1924, Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians living on reservations. (Those off reservations had long been citizens.) On June 6, 1924, Coolidge delivered a commencement address at historically black, non-segregated Howard University, in which he thanked and commended African-Americans for their rapid advances in education and their contributions to US society over the years, as well as their eagerness to render their services as soldiers in the World War, all while being faced with discrimination and prejudices at home. In a speech in October 1924, Coolidge stressed tolerance of differences as an American value and thanked immigrants for their contributions to U.S. society, saying that they have "contributed much to making our country what it is." He stated that although the diversity of peoples was a detrimental source of conflict and tension in Europe, it was peculiar for the United States that it was a "harmonious" benefit for the country. Coolidge further stated the United States should assist and help immigrants who come to the country and urged immigrants to reject "race hatreds" and "prejudices".
During the 1928 Presidential campaign (in which President Coolidge declined to run for a second full term), Republican former Secretary of Commerce captured his the GOP nomination, and New York Governor Alfred E. Smith captured the Democratic nomination. In the South, Hoover and the national party pursued a "lily-white" strategy, removing black Republicans from leadership positions in an attempt to curry favor with white Southerners. The issues of Catholicism and Prohibition badly divided the Democrats, and with a popular sitting Republican President, and a strong economy, and with the Republicans siding with the majority of Americans on Prohibition, the Republican ticket of Secretary Hoover and Senate Majority Leader Charles Curtis (of Kansas) defeated the Democratic ticket of Governor Smith and Senate Minority Leader Joseph T. Robinson (of Arkansas) by a 58.2-40.8% margin in the popular vote, and a 444-87 Electoral College margin.
I mention the 1928 election because of this image. Here's my rebuttal:
#1, While Secretary Hoover managed to win Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Tennesee, Virgina, and North Carolina (worth 72 electoral votes in 1924) -which all voted against the GOP in 1924, this did not automatically mean that the Solid South (this refers to how Democrats could easily win the Southern base of the electorate) started it's slow descent to the GOP right then.
How these states voted in 1924 vs 1928 vs 1932:
Texas:
1924: John W. Davis: 73.7% | Calvin Coolidge: 19.8% | Other: 6.5% | Margin: 53.9%
1928: Herbert C. Hoover: 51.8% | Alfred E. Smith: 48.1% | Other: 0.1% | Margin: 3.7%
1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt: 88.06% | Hervert C. Hoover: 11.35% | Other: 0.59% | Margin: 76.71%
Similar results are seen in the other states I mentioned. Secretary Hoover won all of those aforementioned states in 1928, only to OVERWHELMINGLY lose them to New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt four years later. The margins varied in the three elections, but the point remains: While Republicans managed to outperform the 1924 vote totals, their success died with the Great Depression, and it took decades for them to rebuild. The U.S Elections Atlas proves this, using the numbers I have provided. Roosevelt swept the ENTIRE south four times by landslide margins, and Republicans kept losing. Electoral nuance is one of many things PragerU has no formal reading in.
#2: The "Myth" said "Angry Southerners" not "Angry Senators", so P.U misrepresenated the claim. A lot of Southerners voted for Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ). Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina, all voted for Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA), and none of them would vote for the Democrats again until 1976. As for Senators, most of them were angry with the Democratic establishment, but did not swtich parties, most likely out of not finding it to be a deal breaker.
#3: Most Southern Democratic members of Congress (as well as Democrats all over the nation) had their personal popularity, incumbency advantage, and voters splitting the ticket to thank for getting re-elected. Republican Presidential nominees could win a landslide in a State that voted overwhelmingly in a State that elected a Democratic Senator.
Keep in mind, one big thing. The ideologies of the parties would have led to a big switch anyway. during the 1910's, progressives existed in both parties. in 1912, incumbent President William Howard Taft (R-OH), former President Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (P-N.Y), and Democratic Governor T. Woodrow Wilson (D-N.J) all identified as "Progressive." President Taft defeated President Roosevelt in the Republican primary, but President Roosevelt managed to form a third party (the Progressives), and split the GOP roughly in half. The damage was irreversible, as some Progressives never rejoined the GOP, and some even became Democrats., which allowed Conservatives to keep control of the GOP until The Great Depression, and the Conservatives would be unable to control the GOP until 1980 onwards.
President Taft ran as a "Progressive Conservative", so the election was about which kind of progressivism you wanted, never a "Progressivism -vs- Conservatism" battle that we see today. The "damage" was that progressives never fully returned to the GOP. Some did, while others became Democrats. With Progressives losing control of the GOP, and non-Progressives still being the majority in the Democratic Party, the 1920's was rather Conservative decade (as of 2020, Republicans have not had a 2/3 majority in either chambers of Congress). In 1924, two Conservatives battled for the White House, with Senator Robert M. LaFollette Sr. (P-WI), running to give Americans a non-conservative choice, although 82.8% of Americans chose Conservatism, and Conservatives won the Electoral College by a 518-13 margin.
This is what began the transfer of support from Republicans to Democrats amongst black voters. After losing four Presidential elections to F.D.R, Republicans thought they had a chance to unseat his Vice President and successor, Harry S. Truman (D-MO). President Truman desegregated the military, which caused Southern Democrats to back the States Rights Democratic (Dixiecrat) ticket of Governor J. Strom Thurmond (D-S.C) and Governor Fielding L. Wright (D-MS). The Dixiecrats had no path to winning the election outright, as they had only ballot access in enough states to bring him 175 electoral votes, which would -assuming he won all of them- would bring him 91 votes away from victory, as he needed 266/531 electoral votes at the time.
Former Vice President and Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace (P-IA) was nominated for President by the Progressives, and Senator Glen H. Taylor (P-ID) for Vice President. But with the allegations of communism (Progressives leaving to support Vice President Wallace) and racism (segregationsists leaving to support Governor Thurmond), it cleaned up the image of the Democrats, and with the terrible ineffective campaign of the Republican ticket of Governor Thomas E. Dewey Sr. (R-N.Y) and Governor Earl Warren (R-CA), President Truman and his running mate, Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) easily defeated all of their opponents, and won back control of both chambers of Congress. While segregationists were willing to vote against Truman, they were willing to vote against the Republicans simply because Governor Dewey's record on civil rights was the best in the nation even better than Truman's. In 1952, the Dixiecrats rejoined the Democratic Party, voting for the ticket Governor Adlai E. Stevenson II (D-IL) and Senator John J. Sparkman (D-AL), who lost to General Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-N.Y) and Senator Richard M. Nixon (R-CA). President Eisenhower made clear his stance in his first State of the Union address in February 1953, saying "I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces". When he encountered opposition from the services, he used government control of military spending to force the change through, stating "Wherever Federal Funds are expended ..., I do not see how any American can justify ... a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds".
When Robert B. Anderson, Eisenhower's first Secretary of the Navy, argued that the U.S. Navy must recognize the "customs and usages prevailing in certain geographic areas of our country which the Navy had no part in creating," Eisenhower overruled him: "We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second class citizens in this country." The Eisenhower Administration declared racial discrimination a national security issue, as Communists around the world used the racial discrimination and history of violence in the U.S. as a point of propaganda attack. Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and of 1960 and signed those acts into law. The 1957 act for the first time established a permanent civil rights office inside the Justice Department and a Civil Rights Commission to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights, although both acts were much weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since 1875.
In 1957 the state of Arkansas refused to honor a federal court order to integrate their public school system stemming from the Brown decision. Eisenhower demanded that Democratic Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus obey the court order. When Governor Faubus balked, the President placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent in the 101st Airborne Division. They escorted and protected nine black students' entry to Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school, marking the first time since the Reconstruction Era the federal government had used federal troops in the South to enforce the U. S. Constitution. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to Eisenhower to thank him for his actions, writing "The overwhelming majority of southerners, Negro and white, stand firmly behind your resolute action to restore law and order in Little Rock".
Eisenhower's administration contributed to the McCarthyist Lavender Scare with President Eisenhower issuing his Executive Order 10450 in 1953. During Eisenhower's Presidency, thousands of lesbian and gay applicants were barred from federal employment and over 5,000 federal employees were fired under suspicions of being homosexual. From 1947 to 1961 the number of firings based on sexual orientation were far greater than those for membership in the Communist Party, and government officials intentionally campaigned to make "homosexual" synonymous with "Communist traitor" such that LGBT people were treated as a national security threat stemming from the belief they were susceptible to blackmail and exploitation. After the 1960 GOP ticket of Vice President Nixon and former Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. lost to the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy and Texas Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, the beginning of the most consequential decade in civil rights history began. It should be pointed out that Nixon had a better record than Kennedy on civil rights, but didn't try to use that to his advantage during the campaign of 1960.
The John F. Kennedy Administration (01/20/1963-11/22/1963).
The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of the 1960s. Jim Crow segregation had been established law in the Deep South for much of the 20th century, but the Supreme Court of the United States had ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Many schools, especially in southern states, did not obey the Supreme Court's decision. Kennedy favored desegregation and other civil rights causes, but he generally did not place a high priority on civil rights, especially before 1963. Recognizing that conservative Southern Democrats could block legislation, Kennedy did not introduce civil rights legislation upon taking office.
Kennedy did appoint many blacks to office, including civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall. Kennedy also established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity to investigate employment discrimination and expanded the Justice Department's involvement in voting rights cases. Kennedy believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would anger many Southern whites and make it more difficult to pass civil rights laws in Congress, and he distanced himself from it. As articulated by brother (and Attorney General) Robert, the administration's early priority was to "keep the president out of this civil rights mess." Civil rights movement participants, mainly those on the front line in the South, viewed Kennedy as lukewarm, especially concerning the Freedom Riders.
The Freedom Riders organized an integrated public transportation effort in the South and were repeatedly met with white mob violence. Robert Kennedy, speaking for the president, urged the Freedom Riders to "get off the buses and leave the matter to peaceful settlement in the courts." Kennedy feared sending federal troops would stir up "hated memories of Reconstruction" among conservative Southern whites. Displeased with Kennedy's pace addressing the issue of segregation, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his associates produced a document in 1962 calling on the president to follow in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln and use an executive order to deliver a blow for civil rights as a kind of "Second Emancipation Proclamation." In September 1962, James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi but was prevented from entering.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy responded by sending 400 federal marshals, while President Kennedy reluctantly sent 3,000 troops after the situation on campus turned violent. The Ole Miss riot of 1962 left two dead and dozens injured, but Meredith did finally enroll in his first class. Kennedy regretted not sending in troops earlier and he began to doubt whether the "evils of Reconstruction" he had been taught or believed were true. On November 20, 1962, Kennedy signed Executive Order 11063, prohibiting racial discrimination in federally supported housing or "related facilities". Sensitive to criticisms of the administration's commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of minorities at the ballot box, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, early in 1962, urged the president to press Congress to take action.
Rather than proposing comprehensive legislation, President Kennedy put his support behind a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. He considered the constitutional amendment the best way to avoid a filibuster, as the claim that federal abolition of the poll tax was unconstitutional would be moot. Still, some liberals opposed Kennedy's action, feeling that an amendment would be too slow compared to legislation. The poll tax was one of several laws that had been enacted by states across the South to disenfranchise and marginalize black citizens from politics so far as practicable without violating the Fifteenth Amendment. Several civil rights groups opposed the proposed amendment on the grounds that it "would provide an immutable precedent for shunting all further civil rights legislation to the amendment procedure."
The amendment was passed by both houses of Congress in August 1962, and sent to the states for ratification. It was ratified on January 23, 1964, by the requisite number of states (38), becoming the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Disturbed by the violent reaction to the civil rights campaign in Birmingham, and eager to prevent further violence or damage to U.S. foreign relations, Kennedy took a more active stance on civil rights in 1963. On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending. Wallace moved aside only after being confronted by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard, which had just been federalized by order of the president.
That evening Kennedy delivered a major address on civil rights on national television and radio. In it he launched his initiative for civil rights legislation that would guarantee equal access to public schools and other facilities, the equal administration of justice, and also provide greater protection of voting rights. Kennedy's embrace of civil rights causes would cost him in the South; Gallup polls taken in September 1963 would show his approval rating at 44 percent in the South, compared to a national approval rating of 62 percent. As the president had predicted, the day after his civil rights address, and in reaction to it, House Majority leader Carl Albert called to advise him that his effort to extend the Area Redevelopment Act had been defeated, primarily by the votes of Southern Democrats and Republicans.
A crowd of over one hundred thousand, predominantly African Americans, gathered in Washington for the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Kennedy initially opposed the march, fearing it would have a negative effect on the prospects for the civil rights bills pending in Congress. These fears were heightened just prior to the march when FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover presented the administration with allegations that some of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s close advisers, specifically Jack O'Dell and Stanley Levison, were communists. When King ignored the administration's warning, Robert Kennedy issued a directive authorizing the FBI to wiretap King and other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Although Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones "on a trial basis, for a month or so", Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.
The wiretapping continued through June 1966 and was revealed in 1968. The task of coordinating the federal government's involvement in the August 28 March on Washington was given to the Department of Justice, which channeled several hundreds thousand dollars to the six sponsors of the March, including the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. To ensure a peaceful demonstration, the organizers and the president personally edited speeches that were inflammatory and collaborated on all aspects related to times and venues. Thousands of troops were placed on standby. Kennedy watched King's speech on TV and was very impressed. The March was considered a "triumph of managed protest", and not one arrest relating to the demonstration occurred.
Afterwards, the March leaders accepted an invitation to the White House to meet with Kennedy and photos were taken. Kennedy felt that the March was a victory for him as well and bolstered the chances for his civil rights bill. Notwithstanding the success of the March, the larger struggle was far from over. Three weeks later, a bomb exploded on Sunday, September 15 at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham; by the end of the day, four African American children had died in the explosion, and two other children shot to death in the aftermath. Due to this resurgent violence, the civil rights legislation underwent some drastic amendments that critically endangered any prospects for its passage.
An outraged president called congressional leaders to the White House and by the following day the original bill, without the additions, had enough votes to get it out of the House committee. Gaining Republican support, Senator Everett Dirksen promised the legislation would be brought to a vote, preventing a Senate filibuster. The following summer, on July 2, the guarantees Kennedy proposed in his June 1963 speech became federal law, when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Administration (11/22/1963-01/20/1969).
The assassination of a popular sitting President -resulting a wave of bipartisan sympathy- as well as the new President's legislative experience and strong relationship with Congress, gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the momentum he needed to push his legislative agenda through Congress over the objections of his opponents. The fight to pass the Civil Rights act was in danger of failing when Republicans nominated Arizona Senator Barry M. Goldwater for President. Goldwater had voted in favor most most civil rights legislation, but had voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on the grounds that it was unconstitutional as it violated (in his opinion) the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. Thus, Republican support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was starting to decline. The decline was not anywhere enough to derail it's passage in the House of Representatives, but it nearly was enough to derail it in the Senate, where a 2/3 vote requirement to break a filibuster (end debate) was narrowly achieved (71-29).
Republicans will point out that their party voted to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a stronger margin than Democrats. While that's true, both parties gave more than 3/5 of their voteshares to passing this bill. There were still plenty of Republicans who voted down the measure. Nonetheless, President Johnson easily defeated Senator Goldwater in a historic landslide, and the liberal win of the Democratic Party won control of Congress, and this would be the last time (as of 2020) that Democrats (as a whole) would have a 2/3 majority in both houses of Congress. The Conservative Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 realized that their voters for the Democratic Party would no longer be a vote to uphold white supremacy, but they were not exactly ready to jump onto the ship of the Republican Party.
With those who opposed what they saw as "big government", and the U.S Supreme Court's rulings in areas of civil rights, rights for the accused, etc, and they were concerned about social issues like abortion, interracial marraige, and birth control, and when the 1968 campaign was heating up, Republicans would begin aggressively employing the "Southern Strategy". They made appeals to Southern, conservative voters, using talking points that on the surface level, sounded "conservative", but held a more sinister message that only a selcet group was intended to understand. Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon (R-N.Y), made the case for his campaign based off of "law and order", which appealed to many who were sick and tired of riots and protests, and on the surface, it sounds reasonable. After the assassinations of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator (and former Attorney General) Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y), and protests against the Vietnam War, and the riots in reaction to King's death, a large chunk of Americans were sick and tired of the drama, and wanted peace. The blame for the disaster known as the Vietnam War, was at the feet of the Johnson Administration, and incumbent Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. (D-MN) was nominated for President, and he was seen as a continuation of all off Johnson's policies.
For some, "law and order" meant that peace would be restored, and that was it. For others, "law and order" meant violently opposing protesters, and meant targeting minority neighborhoods, enacting tougher penalties for criminal offenses, harsher tactics being used by the police, etc. These penalties may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws, and in some countries, capital punishment. The War on Crime has been credited with facilitating greater militarization of police and contributing to mass incarceration in the United States.
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
The use of the term "state's rights" has been controversial since both Senator Goldwater and Vice President Nixon both used it in their campaigns. State's rights refers to the right of the states to have their own laws, provided that they do not violate the U.S Constitution. When the Supreme Court invalidated segregation in public schools, invalidated interracial marriage bans, among other issues, many felt that state's rights were being trampled. Some believed this in principle. Others used it to undermine civil rights, and Vice President Nixon had his ability to mention state's rights, and argue that he was definitely not a racist for making that argument.
Senator Goldwater supported a large amount of civil rights legislation, and his stance actually was in principle, unlike Vice President Nixon's. The terms "code word(s)" and "dog whistle" have been used to describe the Nixon campaign. Many anti-civil rights Democrats backed the ticket of Nixon, and his running mate, Governor Spiro T. Agnew (R-MD), or the American Independent Party ticket of former and future Governor George C. Wallace Jr. (D-AL), and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S Air Force Curtis E. Lemay (R-CA), while Vice President Humphrey and his running mate, Senator Edmund S. Muskie (D-ME) didn't farewell. The Nixon-Agnew ticket barely defeated the Humphrey-Muskie ticket, while the Wallace-Lemay ticket nearly succeeded in deadlocking the election. While Nixon mentioned law and order, as well as state's rights, he was not explicitly defending segregation, unlike Governor Wallace, who advocated for reversing desegregationist policies, and Nixon did enforce desegregation in the South as President of the United States.
Since the Nixon Administration, Republicans have grown less and less friendly toward civil rights, especially for LGBT individuals (passing laws against transgender individuals using the bathrooms that corresponds with their gender identity, the disabled (they blocked an international treaty intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities), and those who are the survivors of police brutality (by advocating for more LaW aNd OrDeR nonsense). Nixon was a skilled politician who usually knew what to say in order to get elected (save for losing to JFK in 1960), but Wallace was a politician who said anything to get elected, but -unlike Nixon- he later apologized for his racism.
Throughout the Administrations of Gerald R. Ford (R-MI), James E. "Jimmy" Carter Jr. (D-GA), Ronald W. Reagan (R-CA), George H.W Bush (R-TX), William J. "Bill" Clinton (D-AR), George W. Bush (R-TX), Barack H. Obama Jr. (D-IL), and Donlad J. Trump Sr. (R-FL), the South trended more Republican, and the South would trend more Democratic. The Southern Strategy gave Republicans a large base in the South, but it gave Democrats a large base in the Northeast. Based off of the 2020 Presidential election polls, it looks like the Southern Strategy is falling apart. In 1971, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education that "Busing was a permissible tool for desegregation purposes." However, in the closing days of the Nixon Administration, the Supreme Court largely eliminated District Court ability to order busing across city and suburban systems in the case of Milliken v. Bradley. It meant that disgruntled white families could move to the suburbs and not be reached by court orders regarding segregation of the central city schools. Ford, representing a Michigan district, had always taken the position in favor of the goal of school desegregation but opposition to court-ordered forced busing as a means of achieving it. In the first major bill he signed as president, Ford's compromise solution was to win over the general population with mild anti-busing legislation. He condemned anti-busing violence, promoted the theoretical goal of school desegregation, and promised to uphold the Constitution. The problem did not go away – it only escalated and remained on the front burner for years. Tension exploded in Boston, where working-class Irish neighborhoods inside the city limits violently resisted court-ordered busing of black children into their schools.
President Carter had no significant impact on civil rights, but he was supportive of them. Under President Reagan, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department both prosecuted far fewer civil rights cases per year than they had under Carter. In 1988, Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, but his veto was overridden by Congress. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and business owners. Civil rights under both Bushes and Clinton, civil rights were stuck. Under Barack Obama, gay marraige was legalized, which is a huge plus. As for Donald Trump, no significant civil rights legislation has passed.
I want to make something clear, you are not a racist if you beliee in federalism, originalism, and state's rights, but do keep in mind that racists used arguments like "state's rights" or "original intent" to keep disadvantaged people subjugated. If you support federalism, originalism, and state's rights, but support civil rights, and you don't support using the law to oppress people, then please make that clear in those conversations. The parties switched, both on political views, regional and factional strength, and what groups support them. The conversation needs more nuance. Republicans are not all racists, but they have decide to mostly back a racist President.
Chao.
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Preceded by: "Here's How To WIN A Debate Against The "All Lives Matter" 'Movement' (This also applies to "Blue Lives Matter")."
Succeeded by: "Stop Rehabilitating George W. Bush, It's Just So Unprincipled."
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