Mountain Republicanism in the South

[jiacinto]

The period from the the 1860s through the 1950s is the one as the Solid South. Democrats dominated the South in that region.

But one thing that I don't understand is why they don't tell people that Republicans were able to win office in KY and in MO during that period. Also the very high Mountain Areas in TN elected Republicans and that very high in the Applachians Republicans dominated.

Why isn't that mentioned?

[mhr]

1. What is Your Point

Your question is unclear!

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Because...

compared tot he overall trend in the South as a whole during the same period the number of Republicans elected was insignificant. And the reasons go back to the Civil War..Kentucky and Missouri were border states, about equally split between pro-Union and pro-Confederacy (Kentucky seceded, Missouri didn't). And the mountain South was mostly pro-Unionist and anti-slavery, especially TN, WV, and parts of KY. Historically, that's the reason for the not-quite "solid" South.

[jiacinto]

4. But why don't teachers and professors mention that?

nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. It seems...

that one of the goals of the American educational system, when it comes to history, is not to tax the minds of students with subtleties...to present everything in black-and-white terms that hew to the officially accepted version of events. There's a lot more besides just that that goes unremarked or misrepresented about American history. The goal seems more to produce consistency of opinion than to educate.

[jiacinto]

8. Ok

nt

[Classical_Liberal]

10. The solid south is a reference to Presidential elections

and most of those republican voters were swamped most of the time. My teachers did tell me that Mountain areas were pro-union which is why West Virginia seceeded from Virginia to join the North. It doesn't take a genius to extrapolate the tendency to the rest of appalachia.

[jiacinto]

11. Ok

nt

[Classical_Liberal]

7. Kentucky didn't secede either

.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. Whoops. Sorry about that, you're right.

My mistake.

[jiacinto]

12. Ok

nt

[CMT]

3. The pro-Republican areas of those border states

of Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee were areas which actually supported the union during the civil war and they kept the Republican faith while the rest of the cotton south thanks to Jim Crow was solidly Democratic.

I've seen it mentioned in histories, but you are correct not as much as the "solid south"--which on the whole was solid for Democrats with some regional exceptions in those few states--though TR cracked it in 1904 winning Missouri and also Hoover picked up several southern states against the Catholic Al Smith in 1928.

[jiacinto]

5. TN and OK supported Coolidge in 1920

nt

[Scoopie]

13. TN also went Clinton

both times.
Gore lost because he took us, his home people, for granted (even though I voted for him).
Never, ever, ever take your home state for granted.
BTW, I'd like to thank you guys for your accuracies on this thread. I hear so much crap about Southerners (we shouldn't exist or count or... blah, blah, blah), but we aren't the only region in the country who turned Republican during Reagan (I wasn't old enough to vote then).
In fact, I think Clark's entrance into the race will make Tennessee a battleground - already I've seen tons of positive things about him in our local papers and the die-hard Republicans are writing anti-Bush letters to the editor. It's weird to see that in the second-most Republican voting district in the country! :o

[jiacinto]

14. Yeah

I Do hope that they fight for TN next year.

[dsc]

16. I think the opposite is true in regards to Gore

I think they thought Tennessee was hopeless not that they took it for granted.

[Devlzown]

15. Economics played a big role.

The mountainous areas of the South had few plantations, hence few slaves. People in those regions felt that the cause of the South was "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." Many of the mountain people were conflicted in their allegiances. They were mostly small farmers who didn't buy the State's Rights arguments of other Southerners. They saw the Southern cause more as a defense of slavery. Some fought for the Union, while others felt a duty to be loyal to their state and fought for the Confederacy.

[Yupster]

17. I think it is mentioned

but it's a footnote in a much larger story.

We still use a word from the period today. The Confederates of the valleys, coasts and riverbanks made fun of the poorer, less educated pro Union mountain folks. They called them the Billy Yanks in the hills, or the hillbillies.

[jiacinto]

18. Interesting

So that is where the term "hilblly" came from.

[jiacinto]

19. kick

nt

[carthage71]

20. hmmm

The period from the the 1860s through the 1950s is the one as the Solid South. Democrats dominated the South in that region


Yep and racism was also dominated in those same regions by those that dominated.