Bourbon Democracy in Alabama, 1874-1890 PDF
Preview Bourbon Democracy in Alabama, 1874-1890
Bourbon Democracy in Alabama, 1874- title: 1890 Library of Alabama Classics author: Going, Allen Johnston. publisher: University of Alabama Press isbn10 | asin: 0817305807 print isbn13: 9780817305802 ebook isbn13: 9780585270753 language: English Alabama--Politics and government--1865- subject 1950. publication date: 1992 lcc: F326.G65 1992eb ddc: 976.1/061 Alabama--Politics and government--1865- subject: 1950. Page i Bourbon Democracy in Alabama 18741890 Page ii The Library of Alabama Classics, reprint editions of works important to the history, literature, and culture of Alabama, is dedicated to the memory of Rucker Agee whose pioneering work in the fields of Alabama history and historical geography continues to be the standard of scholarly achievement. Page iii Bourbon Democracy in Alabama 18741890 Allen Johnston Going With a New Foreword by the Author Page iv Copyright © 1951, 1992 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 354870380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ¥ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Science- Permanence of Paper for Printed Library materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Going, Allen Johnston, 1917 Bourbon democracy in Alabama, 18741890 / Allen Johnston Going: with a new foreword by the author. p. cm. (Library of Alabama classics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8173-0580-7 1. AlabamaPolitics and government18651950. I. Title. II. Series. F326.G65 1992 976.1'061dc20 91-35780 CIP British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available Page v Contents Maps and Charts vi Foreword vii Preface xvii One 1 Introduction: Party Politics During Radical Reconstruction Two 9 The Overthrow of Radical Reconstruction Three 27 Organization and Operation of the Democratic Party Four 41 Threats to Democratic Supremacy Five 61 Debt Adjustment Six 79 State Finances Seven 92 Agricultural Problems Eight 109 Business and Industrial Policies Nine 126 The State and Railroads Ten 147 Public Education Eleven 170 Penal System Twelve 191 The State and Social Welfare Thirteen 207 Conclusion Appendix 213 Bibliography 233 Index 247 Page vi Maps and Charts State Tax Rate and Assessed Valuations 84 Receipts and Disbursements of the State Government 84 Railroads in Alabama, 1882 128 Political Parties Represented in the Legislature 214 Page vii Foreword References to a book as a "pioneering study" and a "classic" give the author pause for thought. My thoughts go back to the 1940s when I first began to investigate seriously the post-Reconstruction era in Alabama. At that time no study focused on the years between ''Redemption" and the turbulent nineties, and only a few studies dealt with certain aspects of the period. These years fell between two exciting and controversial eras in Alabama, and each had been treated in published doctoral dissertations. Walter L. Fleming's Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905) has often been labeled one of the best in the "Dunning school" state studies, all of which treated Reconstruction from a southern perspective. John B. Clark in Populism in Alabama (1927) devoted approximately the first third of his book to the period from 1874 to 1890 with emphasis on agrarian grievances and organizations. Albert B. Moore's History of Alabama (1935) did include five chapters on these post-Reconstruction years, but only certain topics were discussed, and in a confusing, disorganized way. The 1940s witnessed some accelerating trends in the reinterpretation of post-Civil War southern history, and I increasingly began to question the then current accounts of Alabama's history. Were the state's Redemption leaders really "without blemish and paragons of virtue" in contrast to the "alien, ignorant, Page viii and corrupt" Radicals? Perhaps a sharp focus on alabama's government and policies during the fifteen-year period after "restoration" would be enlightening. Thus, unlike Fleming's treatise, my book would not be a general history of the state within a specified time frame but would analyze and discuss many of the state's problems and programs in the post-Reconstruction era. Preceding this would be a brief introductory chapter on Reconstruction party politics which, I hoped, would provide a more balanced and less prejudiced account of the years immediately prior to 1874. While I plodded along in pursuit of the Alabama Bourbons, C. Vann Woodward was working on his landmark study, Origins of the New South 18771913 (1951), and both books were published in the same year. His unflattering depiction of the Democratic-Conservative Redeemers as business-industry oriented rather than agrarian oriented politicians revolutionized the study of this era for years to come. In the countless writings and discussions of the "Woodward thesis" my book has often been cited as supportive. Of course, I knew nothing of his ideas at the time other than his admiration for agrarian Populists in the biography, Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel (1938). For Alabama I concluded that the Democratic-Conservative policies reflected both agrarian and business-industry influences with the latter predominating increasingly in the 1880s. In a review of my book, Woodward chided me for referring to the advocates of a forward- looking New South program as "progressives" in contrast to the agrarian (Bourbon) faction. Woodward's book and other factors touched off during the next four decades a great deal of activity in post-Civil War southern history. For practically every state a published monograph dealt with the Redeemer period, often linked with the Populist nineties. Many supported Woodward's concepts, while others found that agrarian influences predominated over business-industry pressures on the
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