Why did the South vote Democratic for many years after the US Civil War?

Answer 1

At that time democrats were a party of wealthy landowners primarily. Democrats or Dixiecrats supported the southern way of life, not meaning slavery as only 5 percent of southerners could afford slaves. Republicans like Abe Lincoln were for supporting a unified country. Democrats became more in support of social welfare, unions and civil rights in the mid 20th century. The GOP was at that time labeled as a party for the rich, however Democrats have consistently been the party with the wealthiest representatives. As of 2010, the richest person in congress and 3 of the top 4 richest people in congress were Democrats.

Answer 2

The South was an anti-Republican region even before the US Civil War. The Republican Party was born with the demise of the Whig Party. As an aside, Abraham Lincoln had been a Whig. The chaos of "Bleeding Kansas", gave strength to this new antislavery party called the Republican Party. Clearly before the war, the Party's antislavery stance brought no Southerners to this new party.When a war is lost, it's rare for the political party that operated the Northern war effort would find much support in the Reconstruction era in the South.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party was split on the Civil War issue and Democrats in the South supported slavery.

After the war, the first Democratic US president was Grover Cleveland, in the 1884 presidential election. This, however, was followed by a string of Republican presidents up until Herbert Hoover's election in 1928.

Aside from the lost "slavery issue" ( most Southerners never owned a slave ) was the utter destruction of the South's agricultural system. The so-called "total war" conducted by Lincoln, Sherman and Grant greatly embittered Southerners. The Southern economy had not gone back to its original strength even as late as 1900.

In the deep South, the only recourse was to vote Democratic. Various laws and terror kept Black people in the South from voting. Thus the term "Solid South" was created and assured voting popularity for decades. As an extreme example of Southern animosity at the Union, the Fourth of July was not celebrated in Vicksburg, Mississippi until 1945.