Readjuster Party
Readjuster Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | William Mahone Harrison H. Riddleberger |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Dissolved | 1895 |
| Split from | Democratic Party |
| Merged into | Republican Party[1] |
| Ideology | Progressivism Reformism Modernization Populism Racial integration |
The Readjuster Party was a bi-racial state-level political party formed in
The party was led by Harrison H. Riddleberger of Woodstock, an attorney, and William Mahone, a former Confederate general who was president of several railroads. Mahone was a major force in Virginia politics from around 1870 until 1883, when the Readjusters lost control to white Democrats.[4]
The Readjuster Party refinanced the Commonwealth's debts and invested in schools, especially for African Americans, who gained
History
Immediately after Virginia's adoption of a
In the decades before 1861, the
Virginia needed its infrastructure rebuilt to restore its economic base, especially to get crops and manufactured goods to market. Accordingly, the Virginia General Assembly allowed reclassification of its first mortgages on existing rail lines to second mortgages, so that the railroads could get money from first mortgages to rebuild. Executive officials also allowed corporations to self-assess for other tax purposes, which meant corporate taxes were very low. However, the state still needed money to pay the debt as well as to operate the government and particularly public schools (theoretically possible since the days of Thomas Jefferson but only required by the state constitution since 1870). The Funding Act also contained a provision allowing coupons to be used at full value to pay taxes, which cut state revenues significantly (as the bonds were usually discounted significantly). In 1872, the General Assembly reduced the interest rate to 4%, but debt interest still constituted more than half of government expenditures, and the state ran a significant deficit. By the end of the decade, the state auditor was paying the bond debt, but not debts owed to teachers or to localities which had built public schools.
As much of the prewar debt was held by Northern banks and investors, the issue of debt repayment was complex. Those who supported a readjustment of the debt, were known as "Readjusters", whereas those in favor of funding the entire debt (plus interest), became known as "Funders".
The Readjuster Party promised to "readjust" the state debt, repeal the
After the American Civil War, Mahone tried to combine many southern Virginia railroads into a system leading to the port of
While his railroad went through several receivers, Mahone ran for Governor, as the
Meanwhile, Rev. John E. Massey (Parson Massey) and Harrison H. Riddleberger, populists representing heavily taxed farmers in the state's Piedmont and northwestern regions, proposed to reorganize the state's debt at a lower interest rate.
Mahone became the Readjuster Party's driving force, as it held a convention in February 1879, and elected a majority of the Virginia General Assembly by year's end. He formed a coalition of
Readjusters in power
The Readjusters won a legislative majority in 1879 and again in 1881 (when Governor Holliday was not eligible for re-election). The Readjuster Party elected its candidate,
In 1882, Riddleberger pushed a measure through the
State legislators elected Mahone as a U.S. Senator, and he served one term, from 1881 to 1887. In Congress, he primarily aligned on voting with the members of the Republican Party, as did fellow Readjuster Harrison H. Riddleberger, whom fellow legislators elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served one term from 1883-1889.
Collapse
While Republicans controlled the Presidency, Mahone controlled patronage in Virginia. When
The Readjusters lost control of the state legislature in 1883 after the Danville Massacre, which occurred immediately before voting began. Democrat Fitzhugh Lee became governor, defeating Readjuster John Sergeant Wise by 5% and succeeding Cameron in 1885. However, Readjuster Parson Massey won election as Lieutenant Governor in 1885. The collapse of the Readjuster party was also precipitated in part by its appointment of two freedmen to the Richmond school board.[citation needed] J. Taylor Ellyson, who would serve several terms as Richmond's mayor and later become Lieutenant Governor, was elected a state senator from Richmond on an anti-Readjuster platform.
Legislators elected Democrat
The collapse of the biracial Republican coalition was also related to a broader struggle over marriage, and the legislature's attempt to ban miscegenation. John M. Langston, whose father was white and mother of African and Native American heritage, ran for U.S. Congress in Mahone's Petersburg stronghold, criticizing the political boss for neglecting African Americans except on election day. Freedmen wanted to protect equality of rights in marriage, in part to gain protection for previous common-law marriages.[9]
Mahone stayed active in politics, but after losing his bid for reelection as U.S. Senator, in 1889 lost another bid for Governor as a Republican (losing by a much greater margin than had J. S. Wise four years earlier).[10] Riddleberger died in 1890, Mahone in 1895, and Parson Massey in 1901.
After the Readjuster Party disappeared, the Republican Party ceased to be competitive in the state. Virginia's Democratic Party dominated, and embedded
Members
Federal officials
- William Mahone, U.S. Senator (1881–1887)
- Harrison H. Riddleberger, U.S. Senator (1883–1889)
- John Critcher, U.S. Representative (1871–1873)
- John Ambler Smith, U.S. Representative (1873–1875)
- John Paul, U.S. Representative (1881–1883)
- Abram Fulkerson, U.S. Representative (1881–1883)
- Robert Murphy Mayo, U.S. Representative (1883–1884)
- Harry Libbey, U.S. Representative (1883–1887)
- Benjamin S. Hooper, U.S. Representative (1883–1885)
- Henry Bowen, U.S. Representative (1883–1885, 1887–1889)
- John Sergeant Wise, U.S. Representative (1883–1885)
- Campbell Slemp, U.S. Representative (1903–1907)
State officials
- William E. Cameron, Governor of Virginia (1882–1886)
- John F. Lewis, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (1869–1870, 1882–1886)
- John E. Massey, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (1886–1890)
- Frank S. Blair, Attorney General of Virginia (1882–1886)
- Thomas T. Fauntleroy, Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (1883–1895)
- Drury A. Hinton, Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (1883–1895)
- Benjamin W. Lacy, Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (1883–1895)
- Robert A. Richardson, Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (1883–1895)
- Isaac C. Fowler, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates (1881–1883)
- Daniel M. Norton, Virginia State Senator (1871–1873, 1877–1887)
- James R. Jones, Virginia State Senator (1876–1877, 1881–1883)
- Asa Coleman, Virginia State Delegate (1871–1873)
- Robert Norton, Virginia State Delegate (1869–1874, 1876–1883)
- Edward David Bland, Virginia State Delegate (1879–1884)
- Shed Dungee, Virginia State Delegate (1879–1882)
- Phillip S. Bolling, Virginia State Delegate (1883–1884)
- Amos Andre Dodson, Virginia State Delegate (1883–1885)
- Samuel P. Bolling, Virginia State Delegate (1885–1887)
See also
- Byrd Organization
- History of Virginia
- Bourbon Democrat
References
- JSTOR 1835892.
- ^ "Readjuster Party, The – Encyclopedia Virginia".
- ^ Pearson, Charles Chilton (1917). The Readjuster Movement in Virginia. Yale University Press. p. 146.
- ^ "Readjuster Party". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
- ^ "William Mahone". Lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- ^ Moger, Allen (1968). Virginia: Bourbonism to Byrd, 1870-1925. University Press of Virginia. OCLC 435376
- ^ a b c "Readjuster Party, The". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ Dailey, Jane (2000). Before Jim Crow: The Politics of Race in Postemancipation Virginia. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 40.
- ISBN 0-691-00193-6.
- OCLC 950985518.
