Politics of the Southern United States

Electoral vote of the Southern United States in the 2004 presidential election.

Politics of the Southern United States (or Southern politics) refers to the political landscape of the Southern United States. Due to the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, the American South has been prominently involved in numerous political issues faced by the United States as a whole, including States' rights, slavery, the American Civil War, and the American Civil Rights Movement. Due to the South's conservative political leanings and political power, the South has seen the start of several political movements (such as George C. Wallace's American Independent Party) and the region plays a crucial role in Presidential politics (with the majority of the recent Presidents of the United States having come from the region).

Early political history

When America's first political parties developed in the late in the first term of Washington's presidency the North supported the Federalist believing in a more monarch based government while the South stood behind Jefferson and his interpretation of the 10th amendment. When the XYZ Affair took place resentment of the French quickly developed while the North wanted to resolve the situation diplomatically. This would be the start of a split between the South and the North.

Early in the 19th century, the South's economy became focused nearly exclusively on agriculture, which was largely supported by slavery. Due to the region's agricultural success, the South became integral to the political history of the United States, with many of the United States' early military and political leaders (including nine of its first twelve presidents) coming from the Southern United States.

However, by the middle of the 19th century sectional differences surrounding the issues of slavery, taxation, tariffs, and states' rights led to a strong secession movement. The political drive to secede from the United States hit its peak after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The Southern states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America with Richmond as its capital.

During the four year Civil War which followed, the South found itself as the primary battleground, with almost all of the main battles taking place on Southern soil. The Confederates were eventually defeated by the Union.

After the Civil War, the South found itself devastated, both in terms of its population, infrastructure, and economy. The South also found itself under Reconstruction, with Union military troops in direct political control of the South. Many white Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy found themselves without many of the basic rights of citizenship (such as the ability to vote) while, with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which outlawed slavery), the 14th Amendment (which granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans) and the 15th amendment (which extended the right to vote to black males), African Americans in the South began to enjoy more rights than they had ever had in the region.

By the 1890s, though, a political backlash against these rights developed in the South. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, a clandestine organization sworn to perpetuate white supremacy, used lynchings, cross burnings and other forms of violence and intimidation to keep African Americans from exercising their political rights, while the Jim Crow laws were created to legally do the same thing. It would not be until the late 1960s that these changes would be undone by the American Civil Rights Movement.

The Solid South

Because of the South's experiences during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, from the late 19th century until the 1960s, Southerners often identified with the then-conservative Democratic Party. This was caused by the act of so-called Redemption, which resulted from the disputed Presidential election of 1876. The election was finally resolved by the Compromise of 1877, in which Southern Democrats agreed to support Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as President in exchange for numerous favours to the South, one of which was the removal of Union troops from Southern states. With the removal of these forces, Reconstruction came to an end. Because of this (and a backlash against Reconstruction), the Democratic Party was able to be the undisputed political power in the South until the 1970s. This lock on power was called the Solid South.

The Conservative Movement

In the last thirty-five years, though, this has changed because of the emergence of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and its support for the civil rights movement, as well as the conservative realignment of the Republican Party under the Richard Nixon (see the Southern strategy) and Ronald Reagan presidencies in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the Republican Party has benefited from Southern support, in large measure due to the evangelical Christian vote.

Although the South as a whole defies stereotyping, it is nonetheless known for its conservatism. Additionally, support for such conservative causes as opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion is often found in the South today. Even while still in Democratic control, there was major resistance to feminism, desegregation, the abolition of slavery and interracial marriage.

Presidential politics

The South has long been a center of political power in the United States, especially with regards to Presidential elections. During the history of the United States, the South has supplied between 16 and 18 of the country's 43 presidents. This difference in counts depends on whether people consider Woodrow Wilson, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush as Southern. While Wilson was born in Virginia, he started his professional and political career in New Jersey, and while both Bushes were not born in the South, they lived most of their lives in Texas and received their political starts there. A similar argument could be given for Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky but started his political career in Illinois.

Presidents from the South include:

George Washington of Virginia (term 1789 - 1797).
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia (term 1801 - 1809).
James Madison of Virginia (term 1809 - 1817).
James Monroe of Virginia (term 1817 - 1825).
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee (term (1829 - 1837).
William Henry Harrison of Virginia (term 1841).
John Tyler of Virginia (term 1841 - 1845).
James Knox Polk of Tennessee (term (1845 - 1849).
Zachary Taylor of Virginia (term 1849 - 1850).
Abraham Lincoln of Kentucky (term 1861 - 1865).
Andrew Johnson of North Carolina (term 1865 - 1869).
Woodrow Wilson of Virginia (term 1913 - 1921). Note: While Wilson was from Virginia, he spent his adult and political life in New Jersey
Dwight David Eisenhower of Texas (term 1953 - 1961). Eisenhower was born in Texas however, he grew up in the north (Kansas), and his parents where both midwesterners. However during his military career he spent a number years, off and on, stationed in Texas, he also met and married his wife there.
Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas (term 1963 - 1969).
Jimmy Carter of Georgia (term 1977 - 1981).
George H. W. Bush (term 1989 - 1993) Note: Although Bush was born in Massachusetts, he spent a large portion of his life in Texas, which is where he began his career in politics.
Bill Clinton of Arkansas (term 1993 - 2001).
George W. Bush of Texas (term 2001 - present) Note: Although Bush was born in Connecticut, he lived in Texas from the age of two on; therefore, he is not considered from the South in many Southerners' opinions.

As evidenced by this list, most of the recent Presidents of the United States—Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush—have either come from the region or, like George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, spent most of their lives there. This fact is a result of the renewed political power of the South, the fact that the South is the most populous region in the country, and the unique nature of the Electoral College, both of which make it difficult for a Presidential contender to win the White House without carrying part of the South.

Modern political movements

In addition to Presidents, the South in the last half century has produced numerous political movements.

Dixiecrat movement

In 1948, a group of Democratic congressmen, led by Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, split from the Democrats in reaction to an anti-segregation speech given by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, founding the States Rights Democratic or Dixiecrat Party. During that year's Presidential election, the party unsuccessfully ran Thurmond as its candidate.

George Wallace and the Southern strategy

In 1968, Democratic Alabama Governor George C. Wallace ran for President on the American Independent Party ticket. Wallace ran a "law and order" campaign similar to that of Republican candidate, Richard Nixon. While Nixon won, Wallace won a number of Southern states. This inspired Nixon and other Republican leaders to create the Southern Strategy of winning Presidential elections. This strategy focused on securing the electoral votes of the U.S. Southern states by having candidates promote culturally conservative values, such as family issues, religion, and patriotism, which appealed strongly to Southern voters.

Return to power of Congressional Republicans

In 1994, another Southern politician, Newt Gingrich, ushered in a political revolution with his Contract with America. Gingrich, then the Minority Whip of the House, created the document to detail what the Republican Party would do if they won the that year's United States Congressional election. The contract mainly dealt with issues of governmental reform (such as requiring all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress). Almost all Republican candidates in the election signed the contract and for the first time in 40 years the Republicans took control of the Congress. Gingrich became Speaker of the House, serving in that position from 1995 to 1999.

Republicans maintained control of Congress from January 1995 until January 2007, with two exceptions in the Senate. After the 2000 elections, 50-50 split in the Senate temporarily resulted in a Senate presidency by Tennessee's Al Gore in January 2001. (In the event of a tie, party control is decided by the Vice-President's tie-breaking vote.) Republican senator James Jeffords left his party to become an independent in May 2001, giving the Democrats a 50-49 majority in the Senate until early 2003. During this period, a number of current Congressional leaders were also from the South, including former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

The 2006 Elections and Return to Democratic Control

On November 7, 2006 the Democratic Party once again regained control of the House and Senate, as well as control of the Southern Governors' Association. The election was the first since Hurricane Katrina, with government corruption and the current war in Iraq also influencing the decisions of many voters. The election was the first in American history in which Republicans did not win a single Democratic seat.

Prior to the election, two government scandals involving Congressional Republicans fueled a public backlash. The first was the Abramoff scandal, in which lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others presented bribes to legislators on behalf of Indian casino gambling interests. In the wider scope of Southern politics, the scandal had the effect of ending Ralph Reed's political career, as he lost the primary election for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, but in Congress the most prominent effect was that on House Majority Leader Tom Delay.

n 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted DeLay on criminal charges that he had conspired to violate campaign finance laws during that period. DeLay denied the charges, saying that they were politically motivated, but Republican Conference rules forced him to resign temporarily from his position as Majority Leader. In January 2006, under pressure from fellow Republicans, DeLay announced that he would not seek to return to the position. In the months before and after this decision, two of his former aides were convicted in the Jack Abramoff scandal. DeLay ran for re-election in 2006, and won the Republican primary election in March 2006, but, citing the possibility of losing the general election, he announced in April 2006 that he would withdraw from the race and resign his seat in Congress. He resigned on June 9, 2006, and sought to remove his name from the ballot. The court battle that followed forced him to remain on the ballot, despite having withdrawn from the race. Democrat Nick Lampson ultimately won DeLay's House seat in TX-22. (See Main Article: Tom Delay.)

A second scandal, commonly known as the Mark Foley scandal, involved Florida Congressman Mark Foley's transmission of sexually explicit messages to underage United States House of Representatives page. Foley resigned, but his name remained on the ballot, and Democrat Tim Mahoney won the general election. Accusations of a cover-up by House leaders was seen as having a more widespread fallout in the general election.

Senate

In the Senate, Democrats defeated six Republican incumbents in order to gain control of the Senate. The close contest that determined the final outcome of Senate control was Democrat Jim Webb's unlikely victory against incumbent Virginia Senator (and former Governor) George Allen. Allen 's poll numbers had plummeted after a video was released of Allen shouting at an Indian-American student, with what were interpreted as part of a history of racially charged remarks. In Missouri, Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Senator Jim Talent.

House of Representatives

In Georgia, Republicans concentrated on two districts as their best hopes of gaining Democratic seats, those of Jim Marshall and John Barrow. They were not successful in this regard, although the seats were closely contested.

In Texas, both the twenty-second and twenty-third districts switched to Democratic control.

In Florida, both the sixteenth and twenty-second districts were lost to Democrats.

In North Carolina's eleventh House district, Heath Shuler defeated incumbent Charles Taylor.

Southern Leadership in the New Congress

While Republicans lost key Congressional leadership positions following the 2006 elections, new Democratic leaders emerged from below the Mason-Dixon Line.

United States House of Representatives