An American History

THE SEGREGATED SOUTH ★^659

Whatever Baum’s symbolism, one
thing was clear. McKinley’s victory
shattered the political stalemate that
had persisted since 1876 and created
one of the most enduring political
majorities in American history. During
McKinley’s presidency, Republicans
placed their stamp on economic policy
by passing the Dingley Tariff of 1897,
raising rates to the highest level in his-
tory, and the Gold Standard Act of 1900.
Not until 1932, in the midst of another
economic depression, would the Dem-
ocrats become the nation’s majority
party. The election of 1896 also proved
to be the last presidential election with
extremely high voter turnout (in some states, over 90 percent of those eligible).
From then on, with the South solidly Democratic and the North overwhelmingly
Republican, few states witnessed vigorous two- party campaigns. Voter participa-
tion began a downhill trend, although it rose again from the mid- 1930s through
the 1960s. Today, only around half the electorate casts ballots.

THE SEGREGATED SOUTH

The Redeemers in Power

The failure of Populism in the South opened the door for the full imposition of
a new racial order. The coalition of merchants, planters, and business entrepre-
neurs who dominated the region’s politics after 1877, who called themselves
Redeemers, had moved to undo as much as possible of Reconstruction. State
budgets were slashed, taxes, especially on landed property, reduced, and public
facilities like hospitals and asylums closed. Hardest hit were the new public
school systems. Louisiana spent so little on education that it became the only
state in the Union in which the percentage of whites unable to read and write
actually increased between 1880 and 1900. Black schools, however, suffered
the most, as the gap between expenditures for black and white pupils widened
steadily. “What I want here is Negroes who can make cotton,” declared one
planter, “and they don’t need education to help them make cotton.”
New laws authorized the arrest of virtually any person without employ-
ment and greatly increased the penalties for petty crimes. “They send [a man]
to the penitentiary if he steals a chicken,” complained a former slave in North

4

4

8

1

(^33)
4
3
3
33
4
8
10
15
(^912)
13 14
24 15
17
8
8
9 11 13
4
9
12121 11
23 32
36
44 6
15
(^46)
310
(^6128)
Non-voting territory
Republican
Democrat
Minor parties
Party
McKinley
Bryan
Candidate Electoral V(Share)ote
271 (61%)
17 6 (39%)
Popular V(Share)ote
7,104,779 (51%)
6,502,925 (47%)
31 5,398 (2%)
THE PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION OF 1896
How did the liberties of blacks after 1877 give way to legal segregation across the South?