Why did the Democratic Party dominate Texas State politics after the civil war?
Also, what were the major events that caused the change?
It’s important to think in context of the time when thinking about the Republican and Democratic parties. The Democratic Party draws its roots to Andrew Jackson, a Southerner who supported slavery and displacement of Native Americans (I’m sure you learned about the “Trail of Tears”). Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who advocated civil rights for African Americans as well as limiting expansion of slavery to the other territories of the United States, and naturally, he was disliked by the South. I don’t know if you ever heard of the term “Yellow Dog Democrat” before, but it refers to people in the South who always vote Democrat even though much has changed since the 1860s/70s because their families had supported the Confederacy during the Civil War and would “vote for a yellow dog before any Republican.” (Surprisingly and ironically, these ultraconservative Yellow Dogs still exist.)
There were several major events – one obviously being the prelude to and events that occurred during the Civil War – but there was also the founding of the Ku Klux Klan, which was heavily dominated by Democrats at the time, and heavy opposition to the Radical Republicans in the Congress who passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments – which dealt with the abolition of slavery and basic civil and voting rights for African Americans and newly emancipated slaves. Southerners were also opposed to the heavily Republican dominated federal government placing thousands of federal troops in the South to ensure that these newly acted amendments were honored. Southern animosity also rose against Republican carpetbaggers who settled in the South from the North after the War who saw its destruction and reconstruction as a business opportunity, and Southerners naturally allied themselves with the party that fought for their views. At the time, Republicans were the liberals and Democrats were the conservatives (it’s the other way around now, of course). This is why up until the 20th century, African Americans consistently voted for Republican candidates.
I know you asked about Texas, but all of these general descriptions of the South fit Texas perfectly. Texas was the most stubborn (and still is – “Don’t Mess With Texas” slogan is very popular here) state after the War and the second last state (behind Georgia) to rejoin the Union.
