Lincoln, the Republican Party and The Drastic Shift From Voting Republican by Black Voters, to Calhoun Conservatism and Voting for the Democratic Party Among Black Voters: The Republican Party’s Loss of the Black Vote (1865 – 2016)

Author

Cameron N. Griffin, Claremont McKenna CollegeFollow

Graduation Year

2016

Date of Submission

4-2016

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Government

Reader 1

Jay Martin

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2016 Cameron N Griffin

Abstract

The thesis of this paper is that the evolution of the black vote from Republicanism to the Democratic Party was determined by several causes, and these are the subjects of my paper.

Following Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, African Americans in the United States joined the Republican Party and by and large voted for Republican candidates, both in the North and South. Following the end of Reconstruction in 1876, the pressures or renewal of social conservatism, Southern localism, and the re-emergence of so-called “Calhoun” politics, along with main spread interference with African-American voting, all combined to establish the beginnings of a transition from Republican Party affiliation to increasing membership in the Democratic Party.

Recommended Citation

Griffin, Cameron N., "Lincoln, the Republican Party and The Drastic Shift From Voting Republican by Black Voters, to Calhoun Conservatism and Voting for the Democratic Party Among Black Voters: The Republican Party’s Loss of the Black Vote (1865 – 2016)" (2016). CMC Senior Theses. 1426.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1426