Changes

==Presidential politics==

==Presidential politics==

When the new nation began in 1789 the two most important schools of interpretation of the Constitution came to be associated with [[Alexander Hamilton]], a Northerner, and [[Thomas Jefferson]], a Southerner.  Each came to dominate the thinking of his respective region.  The two men were also associated with competing sectors of the economy -- finance for Hamilton and agriculture for Jefferson -- and their supporters were therefore identified with Americans who had widely divergent outlooks on and goals in life.  This was one major reason the South has always looked at politics differently than any other major region.

The South favoredf the [[Democratic-Republican Party]]  or Jeffersonian Republicans during the [[First Party System]], from the 1790s to 1820s.  However durting the [[Second Party System]], 1830-1854, the region was closely balance between Demmocrats and the [[Whig Party]], with the Demoicrats gaining after 1848.

[[Andrew Jackson]] was the first national politician to attempt to fuze the two schools.  His experiment, a party in which Northern laborers and Southern yeomen would have an equal stake, lasted throughout the [[Second Party System]], but was unable to hold out in 1860 against the challenge of the [[Republicans]] led by [[Abraham Lincoln]].  Later Democratic Presidents, taking their cue from Lincoln, were far more inspired by Hamilton, seeking almost without exception to expand the role of the [[Federal government]]; but the legacy of Jackson and the [[Civil War]] would keep the South on their side up until 1968.

Political parties were in disarray in the late 1850s and were suspended duting the Civil War. Durring [[Reconstruiction]], 1863-1877, the [[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 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]], conservative white Democrats allied to the [[Bourbon Democrats]] of the North.

From the end of the Civil War to the 1960 election, the "Solid South" as political pundits called it, nearly always supported Democratic candidates. Since 1964, the South has been highly competitive.  

The Democrats repressed a Populist movement in the 1890s, and dominatged every state with very few exceptions down to 1964.  The "Solid South" as political pundits called it, nearly always supported Democratic candidates. Since 1964, the South has been highly competitive.  

===1964 to 1992===

===1964 to 1992===

The Solid South began to break down in the 1964 election, when five southern states voted for Republican [[Barry Goldwater]]. The largest and President Johnson's homestate, Texas, remained Democratic. In 1968, [[Richard Nixon]] carried Florida, and the Carolinas, while an Independent [[George Wallace]] carried the rest, with the exception of Texas, which remained Democratic. Former Democratic Gov. George Wallace commenting on his 1968 Presidential bid declared, that by using a base of electoral votes in the Solid South <ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/1968ec.gif 1968 Electoral Distribution]</ref> and adding a few Northern and Midwestern industrial belt states, a candidate could accumulate enough electoral votes to win.  Wallace did not win in 1968, But eight years later in the 1976 election, Democratic contender [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/1976ec.gif 1976 Electoral Distribution].</ref> succesfully employed Wallace's Southern strategy.  Beginning in 1972, candidates Richard Nixon (1972), Jimmy Carter (1976), [[Ronald Reagan]] (1984), [[George H.W. Bush]] (1988) carried every southern state.The exception to this was Reagan's election in 1980 when he carried every southern state save incumbent President Jimmy Carter's home state of Georgia.

The Solid South began to break down in the 1964 election, when five southern states voted for Republican [[Barry Goldwater]]. The largest and President Johnson's homestate, Texas, remained Democratic. In 1968, [[Richard Nixon]] carried Florida, and the Carolinas, while an Independent [[George Wallace]] carried the rest, with the exception of Texas, which remained Democratic. Former Democratic Gov. George Wallace commenting on his 1968 Presidential bid declared, that by using a base of electoral votes in the Solid South <ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/1968ec.gif 1968 Electoral Distribution]</ref> and adding a few Northern and Midwestern industrial belt states, a candidate could accumulate enough electoral votes to win.  Wallace did not win in 1968, But eight years later in the 1976 election, Democratic contender [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/1976ec.gif 1976 Electoral Distribution].</ref> succesfully employed Wallace's Southern strategy.  Beginning in 1972, candidates Richard Nixon (1972), Jimmy Carter (1976), [[Ronald Reagan]] (1984), [[George H.W. Bush]] (1988) carried every southern state.The exception to this was Reagan's election in 1980 when he carried every southern state save incumbent President Jimmy Carter's home state of Georgia.