Changes

===Presidential politics===

===Presidential politics===

 

The South favored the [[Jeffersonian Republicans]] during the [[First Party System]], from the 1790s to 1820s. However, during the [[Second Party System]], 1830-1854, the region was closely balanced between Democrats and the [[Whig Party]], with the Democrats gaining after 1848.

The South favored the [[Jeffersonian Republicans]] during the [[First Party System]], from the 1790s to 1820s. However, during the [[Second Party System]], 1830-1854, the region was closely balanced between Democrats and the [[Whig Party]], with the Democrats gaining after 1848.

Political parties were in disarray in the late 1850s and were suspended during the Civil War. During Reconstruction, 1863–1877, the dominant [[Republican Party]] was a coalition of Freedmen (freed slaves), [[Carpetbaggers]] (new arrivals from the North), and [[Scalawags]] (white southerners), all supported by the U.S. Army. Violent Democrat [[Ku Klux Klan]] confrontations led to the collapse of the Republican state governments in the 1870s; the last three fell in 1877. They were replaced by the [[Redeemers]], white Democrats allied to the [[Bourbon Democrats]] of the North.

Political parties were in disarray in the late 1850s and were suspended during the Civil War. During Reconstruction, 1863–1877, the dominant [[Republican Party]] was a coalition of Freedmen (freed slaves), [[Carpetbaggers]] (new arrivals from the North), and [[Scalawags]] (white southerners), all supported by the U.S. Army. Violent [[Democratic party|Democrat]] [[Ku Klux Klan]] confrontations led to the collapse of the Republican state governments in the 1870s; the last three fell in 1877. They were replaced by the [[Redeemers]], white Democrats allied to the [[Bourbon Democrats]] of the North.

The Democrats repressed a Populist movement in the 1890s and dominated every state with rare exceptions down to 1964.  The "Solid South" as political pundits called it, nearly always supported Democrat presidential candidates, except in 1928, 1952 and 1956.

The Democrats repressed a Populist movement in the 1890s and dominated every state with rare exceptions down to 1964.  The "Solid South" as political pundits called it, nearly always supported Democrat presidential candidates, except in 1928, 1952 and 1956.

While the majority of political scientists believe that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, there is evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s.<ref name="SeanTrende"/> Elections Analyst Sean Trende explains, "the inescapable truth is that the GOP was making its greatest gains in the South while it was also pushing a pro-civil rights agenda nationally. What was really driving the GOP at this time was economic development. As Southern cities continued to develop and sprout suburbs, Southern exceptionalism was eroded; Southern whites simply became wealthy enough to start voting Republican."<ref name="SeanTrende">Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013).[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/30/southern_whites_shift_to_the_gop_predates_the_60s_118172.html Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref>  

While the majority of political scientists believe that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, there is evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s.<ref name="SeanTrende"/> Elections Analyst Sean Trende explains, "the inescapable truth is that the GOP was making its greatest gains in the South while it was also pushing a pro-civil rights agenda nationally. What was really driving the GOP at this time was economic development. As Southern cities continued to develop and sprout suburbs, Southern exceptionalism was eroded; Southern whites simply became wealthy enough to start voting Republican."<ref name="SeanTrende">Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013).[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/30/southern_whites_shift_to_the_gop_predates_the_60s_118172.html Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref>  

 

Republican inroads into the South, which was beginning to weaken overt racism in some areas, may be what prompted Lyndon Johnson to throw off what had been the driving force binding Southern Democrats together. As part of this, the Democrats, knowing they would never win another election if they continued with overt racism and its derived policies, changed strategies by adopting a more subtle and subversive form of racism against blacks and manipulating them into voting Democrat (as admitted by LBJ himself, who was recorded as saying "I'll have those n*****s voting Democratic for the next 200 years")<ref>Ronald Kessler,[https://www.amazon.com/Inside-White-House-Kessler/dp/1433244985 Inside the White House: The Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution], Pocket Books, 1995, p. 33</ref>.  They would do so by weakening public schools across the board via programs such as "social promotion" (the practice of passing students based solely on age and not on demonstrated ability, causing increases in illiteracy and decreases in standard test scores – they would also criticize such tests as being "culturally biased"), instituting the modern [[welfare state]] making minorities dependent on government (which along with the "legalization" of [[abortion]] via [[Roe v. Wade]], and planting of Planned Parenthood facilities in minority areas, also effectively destroyed the black family culture), and turning Democrat-controlled cities into deteriorating slums infested by crime and drugs while falsely taking credit for the Republicans' civil rights advances and falsely accusing anyone opposed to the Democrats' corrupt schemes to undermine blacks of "racism".<ref name="Short History"/>

Republican inroads into the South, which was beginning to weaken overt racism in some areas, may be what prompted Lyndon Johnson to throw off what had been the driving force binding Southern Democrats together. As part of this, the Democrats, knowing they would never win another election if they continued with overt racism and its derived policies, changed strategies by adopting a more subtle and subversive form of racism against blacks and manipulating them into voting Democrat (as admitted by LBJ himself, who was recorded as saying "I'll have those n*****s voting Democratic for the next 200 years")<ref>Ronald Kessler,[https://www.amazon.com/Inside-White-House-Kessler/dp/1433244985 Inside the White House: The Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution], Pocket Books, 1995, p. 33</ref>.  They would do so by weakening public schools across the board via programs such as "social promotion" (the practice of passing students based solely on age and not on demonstrated ability, causing increases in illiteracy and decreases in standard test scores – they would also criticize such tests as being "culturally biased"), instituting the modern [[welfare state]] making minorities dependent on government (which along with the "legalization" of [[abortion]] via [[Roe v. Wade]], and planting of Planned Parenthood facilities in minority areas, also effectively destroyed the black family culture), and turning Democrat-controlled cities into deteriorating slums infested by crime and drugs while falsely taking credit for the Republicans' civil rights advances and falsely accusing anyone opposed to the Democrats' corrupt schemes to undermine blacks of "racism".<ref name="Short History"/>