IV.

The American Civil War and Its Aftermath

Increased southern demands for the protection of slavery and the resistance to it by northern Democrats (out of fear of even further party collapse) caused a split in 1860. This enabled the Republicans under Abraham Lincoln to win the presidency. The party’s problems were compounded during the Civil War that followed. Remaining consistent, Democrats refused to accept the need to increase government power in order to fight the war. They opposed the draft, social changes, and government encroachment into everyday life. They strongly resisted Republican tariff and taxation policies to finance the war. All of this, however, put them on the defensive. The Republicans charged them with disloyalty and made it an effective campaign slogan for the rest of the 19th century. This tactic, known as “waving the bloody shirt,” always hurt the Democrats in close elections until powerful emotional memories faded. They did not regain control of either house of Congress until 1874 and did not win the presidency again until 1884.

Democrats won many local and state elections after 1860 and threatened the Republicans in others. They made especially effective use of the race issue in the North, taking advantage of white hostility to blacks. At the same time, the South became an increasingly solid Democratic voting bloc. Neither was enough, however, and party leaders never found the means to attract enough new voters or to convert enough Republicans to win national power in the generation after the Civil War. Between then and the Great Depression the Democrats were the minority party in the nation, able to win only when the Republicans were badly split.