Changes

Prior to 1890, like most Louisiana voters at that time, Bailey was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]. Thereafter, he joined the Populist Party, which claimed to represent the "common man" against the entrenched "interests." Soon Bailey emerged as a regional leader of the Populists. The party's Louisiana branch was organized on October 2, 1891, at a convention of delegates from seventeen parishes held in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. In addition to Bailey, another leading Populist at the founding convention was Hardy L. Brian, a native of Grant Parish, then residing in Winnfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/7.1/sipress.html|author=Joel Sipress|title=A Narrowing of Vision: Hardy L. Brian and the Fate of Louisiana Populism|publisher=historycooperative.org|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>​

Prior to 1890, like most Louisiana voters at that time, Bailey was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]. Thereafter, he joined the Populist Party, which claimed to represent the "common man" against the entrenched "interests." Soon Bailey emerged as a regional leader of the Populists. The party's Louisiana branch was organized on October 2, 1891, at a convention of delegates from seventeen parishes held in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. In addition to Bailey, another leading Populist at the founding convention was Hardy L. Brian, a native of Grant Parish, then residing in Winnfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/7.1/sipress.html|author=Joel Sipress|title=A Narrowing of Vision: Hardy L. Brian and the Fate of Louisiana Populism|publisher=historycooperative.org|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>​

 

The national Populists offered their first presidential nominee in 1892, General James Baird Weaver (1833-1912) of [[Iowa]], who won four states, mostly in the American West. From 1893 to 1907,<ref name=bailey/> Bailey edited his ''Winnfield Comrade'' [[newspaper]] in Winn Parish, the ancestral home of the Democratic [[Huey Long|Long]] political faction.<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-b/|title=Bailey, Bryant W.|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' in its sketch of Bailey uses Elizabeth Daniel, "The Louisiana People's Party," ''Louisiana Historical Quarterly'', XXVI (1943), and William Ivy Hair, ''Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900'' (1969).</ref> Longism was considered an outgrowth of the early Populist movement; indeed some viewed [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], as a "radical populist."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html|title=History: Huey Long: Every Man a King|publisher=ssa.gov|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>​

The national Populists offered their first presidential nominee in 1892, General James Baird Weaver (1833-1912) of [[Iowa]], who won four states, mostly in the American West. From 1893 to 1907,<ref name=bailey/> Bailey edited his ''Winnfield Comrade'' [[newspaper]] in Winn Parish, the ancestral home of the Democratic [[Huey Long|Long]] political faction.<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-b/|title=Bailey, Bryant W.|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' in its sketch of Bailey uses Elizabeth Daniel, "The Louisiana People's Party," ''Louisiana Historical Quarterly'', XXVI (1943), and William Ivy Hair, ''Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900'' (1969).</ref> Longism was considered an outgrowth of the early Populist movement; indeed some viewed [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], as a "radical populist."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html|title=History: Huey Long: Every Man a King|publisher=ssa.gov|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>​

 

In both 1894 and 1896, when the Populists endorsed the Democratic nominee, [[William Jennings Bryan]] of [[Nebraska]], for [[U.S. President]], Bailey was an unsuccessful candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]] on the Populist ticket. In 1898, Bailey was the only Populist delegate to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention held that year in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. He refused to sign the final document, which after ratification remained in effect until 1921.<ref name=lahist/> This Constitution contained the [[grandfather clause]] allowing whites whose fathers or grandfathers were registered to vote as of January 1, 1867, to be exempt from the literacy test otherwise given to potential [[African American]] voters.<ref name=bailey/> The grandfather clause, which spread to other states including [[Oklahoma]], was subsequently struck down in 1915 in the case ''Guinn v. United States'' as a violation of the [[Fifteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/G/GU001.html|title=''Guinn v. United States''|date=1915|publisher=digital.library.okstate.edu|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>​

In both 1894 and 1896, when the Populists endorsed the Democratic nominee, [[William Jennings Bryan]] of [[Nebraska]], for [[U.S. President]], Bailey was an unsuccessful candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]] on the Populist ticket. In 1898, Bailey was the only Populist delegate to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention held that year in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. He refused to sign the final document, which after ratification remained in effect until 1921.<ref name=lahist/> This Constitution contained the [[grandfather clause]] allowing whites whose fathers or grandfathers were registered to vote as of January 1, 1867, to be exempt from the literacy test otherwise given to potential [[African American]] voters.<ref name=bailey/> The grandfather clause, which spread to other states including [[Oklahoma]], was subsequently struck down in 1915 in the case ''Guinn v. United States'' as a violation of the [[Fifteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/G/GU001.html|title=''Guinn v. United States''|date=1915|publisher=digital.library.okstate.edu|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>​