Bourbon Democrats | |
|---|---|
 1884 cartoon illustrating the decline of the "Democrat Bourbonism" (represented as an empty jug) byJoseph Keppler | |
| Prominent members | Charles O'Conor Samuel J. Tilden Grover Cleveland John M. Palmer Alton B. Parker Robert E. Withers |
| Associated parties | Straight-Out Democratic Party National Democratic Party |
| Founded | 1872; 153 years ago (1872) |
| Dissolved | 1912; 113 years ago (1912) |
| Ideology | Classical liberalism Conservatism Merit system Anti-corruption Laissez-faire Anti-imperialism Pro-Gold Standard Fiscal conservatism[A] |
| Political position | Center tocenter-right[1] |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
The term "fiscal conservatism" was not in use at the time, but in the context of modern American politics Bourbon Democrats are called "fiscal conservatives" in that they held positions opposite to "progressives" or "radical liberals".[2] | |
Bourbon Democrat was a term used in theUnited States in the later 19th century and early 20th century (1872–1904) to refer to members of theDemocratic Party who were ideologically aligned withfiscal conservatism orclassical liberalism,[2] especially those who supported presidential candidatesCharles O'Conor in 1872,Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, PresidentGrover Cleveland in 1884, 1888, and 1892 andAlton B. Parker in 1904.
Bourbon Democrats were promoters of a form oflaissez-fairecapitalism which included opposition to the high-tariffprotectionism that theRepublicans were then advocating, as well as fiscal discipline.[3][4] They represented business interests, generally supporting the goals of banking and railroads, but opposing subsidies and trade protectionism. They opposed the annexation of Hawaii. They fought for thegold standard againstthe use of silver to inflate prices., thereby promoting what they called "hard" and "sound" money. Strong supporters ofstates' rights[3] and reform movements such as theCivil Service Reform and opponents of the corruptcity bosses, Bourbons led the fight against theTweed Ring. The anti-corruption theme earned the votes of many RepublicanMugwumps in 1884.[5]
After 1904, the Bourbons faded away.Woodrow Wilson abandoned his Bourbonism and made a deal in 1912 with the leading opponent of the Bourbons,William Jennings Bryan: Bryan endorsed Wilson for the Democratic nomination and Wilson named Bryan Secretary of State.
The term "Bourbon Democrats" was never used by the Bourbon Democrats themselves. It was not the name of any specific or formal group and no one running for office ever ran on a Bourbon Democrat ticket. The term "Bourbon" refers to the reactionary government of France that replaced Napoleon in 1815.[6] A number of splinter Democratic parties, such as theStraight-Out Democratic Party (1872) and theNational Democratic Party (1896), that actually ran candidates, fall under the more general label of Bourbon Democrats.
The nickname "Bourbon Democrat" refers to theBourbon Dynasty of France, which was overthrown in the1790s, but returned to power in 1815 to rule in a reactionary fashion until its overthrow in theJuly Revolution of 1830.[6] A widely quoted aphorism at the time had it that the Bourbons "have learnt nothing, and forgotten nothing." During Reconstruction, the term "Bourbon" would have had the connotation of a retrogressive, reactionary dynasty out of step with the modern world.
The term was occasionally used in the 1860s and 1870s to refer to conservative Democrats (both North and South) who still held the ideas ofThomas Jefferson andAndrew Jackson and in the 1870s to refer to the regimes set up in the South byRedeemers as a conservative reaction againstReconstruction.[6]
The electoral system elevated Bourbon Democrat leaderGrover Cleveland to the office of President both in1884 and in1892, but the support for the movement declined considerably in the wake of thePanic of 1893. President Cleveland, a staunch believer in thegold standard, refused to inflate the money supply with silver, thus alienating the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party.[7]
The delegates at the1896 Democratic National Convention quickly turned against the policies of Cleveland and those advocated by the Bourbon Democrats, favoringfree silver as a way out of the low prices in the depression. Nebraska CongressmanWilliam Jennings Bryan now took the stage as the great opponent of the Bourbon Democrats. Harnessing the energy of an agrarian grassroots insurgency with his famousCross of Gold speech, Congressman Bryan became the Democratic nominee for president in the1896 election.[7]
Some of the Bourbons sat out the 1896 election or tacitly supportedWilliam McKinley, theRepublican nominee, whereas others set up thethird-party ticket of theNational Democratic Party led byJohn M. Palmer, a former Governor of Illinois. These bolters, called "Gold Democrats", mostly returned to the Democratic Party by 1900 or by 1904 at the latest. Bryan demonstrated his hold on the party by winning the 1900 and 1908 Democratic nominations as well. In 1904, a Bourbon,Alton B. Parker, won the nomination and lost in the presidential race as did Bryan every time.[7]
The nomination of Alton Parker in 1904 gave a victory of sorts to pro-gold Democrats, but it was a fleeting one. The oldclassical liberal ideals had lost their distinctiveness and appeal. By World War I, the key elder statesman in the movementJohn M. Palmer – as well asSimon Bolivar Buckner,William F. Vilas andEdward Atkinson – had died. During the 20th century, classical liberal ideas never influenced a major political party as much as they influenced the Democrats in the early 1890s.[8][page needed]
West Virginia was formed in 1863 after Unionists from northwestern Virginia establish theRestored Government of Virginia.[10] It remained in Republican control until the passing of theFlick Amendment in 1871 returned states rights to West Virginians who had supported the defunct Confederacy.[11] A Democratic push led to a reformatting of theWest Virginia State Constitution that resulted in more power to the Democratic Party. In 1877,Henry M. Mathews, as a Bourbon, was elected governor of the state and the Bourbons held onto power in the state until the 1893 election of RepublicanGeorge W. Atkinson.
In the spring of 1896, mayorJohn Fitzpatrick ofNew Orleans, leader of the city's Bourbon Democratic organization, left office after a scandal-ridden administration, his chosen successor badly defeated by reform candidateWalter C. Flower. However, Fitzpatrick and his associates quickly regrouped, organizing themselves on December 29 into the Choctaw Club, which soon received considerable patronage from Louisiana governor and Fitzpatrick ally Murphy Foster. Fitzpatrick, a power at the 1898 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, was instrumental in exempting immigrants from the new educational and property requirements designed to disenfranchise blacks. In 1899, he managed the successful mayoral campaign of Bourbon candidatePaul Capdevielle.[12]
Mississippi in 1877–1902 was politically controlled by the conservative whites, called "Bourbons" by their critics. The Bourbons represented the planters, landowners and merchants and used coercion and cash to control enough black votes to control the Democratic Party conventions and thus state government.[13] Elected to the House of Representatives in 1885 and serving until 1901, Mississippi DemocratThomas C. Catchings participated in the politics of both presidential terms of Grover Cleveland, particularly the free silver controversy and the agrarian discontent that culminated in populism. As a "gold bug" supporter of sound money, he found himself defending Cleveland from attacks of silverite Mississippians over the 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and other of Cleveland's actions unpopular in the South. Caught in the middle between his loyalty to Cleveland and the Southern Democrat silverites, Catchings continued as a sound money legislative leader for the minority in Congress while hoping that Mississippi Democrats would return to the conservative philosophical doctrines of the original Bourbon Democrats in the South.[14]
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During theSegregationist response toCivil Rights in the United States theSouthern Democrats were often referred to as neobourbons.[18] Popularized by Numan Bartley, the social outlook of neobourbons was said to match the ideals of Bourbons who resisted the first reconstruction.[19]
Neobourbons were categorized as industrialists who resisted efforts at labor and civil rights in the Black Belt, while representing a paternalistic view of segregation.[20] They relied onscientific racism[21] while having white supremacy goals of protecting institutions of segregation[22] and identifying with "Older Bourbons".[23]
Bourbon Democrats were a combination of several constituencies including southerners, political and fiscal conservatives, and classical liberals.
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