Two-Party Politics in the One-Party South: Alabama's Hill Country, 1874-1920

614 Pages·1997·2.17 MB·English

by  Samuel L. Webb

Two-party Politics in the One-party South :
title:
Alabama's Hill Country, 1874-1920
author: Webb, Samuel L.
publisher: University of Alabama Press
isbn10 | asin: 0817308954
print isbn13: 9780817308957
ebook isbn13: 9780585212944
language: English
Alabama--Politics and government--1865-
1950, Political culture--Alabama--History-
-19th century, Political culture--Alabama--
subject
History--20th century, Political parties--
Alabama--History--19th century, Political
parties--Alabama--History--20th century.
publication date: 1997
lcc: F326.W43 1997eb
ddc: 306.2/09761
Alabama--Politics and government--1865-
1950, Political culture--Alabama--History-
-19th century, Political culture--Alabama--
subject:
History--20th century, Political parties--
Alabama--History--19th century, Political
parties--Alabama--History--20th century.
Page i
Two-Party Politics in the One-Party South
Page ii
Page iii
Two-Party Politics in the One-Party South
Alabama's Hill Country, 18741920
Samuel L., Webb
The Universe of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa and London
Page iv
Copyright © 1997
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information Science-
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Webb, Samuel L., 1946
Two-party politics in the one-party South : Alabama's hill
country, 18741920 / Samuel L. Webb.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index
ISBN 0-8173-0895-4 (alk. paper)
1. AlabamaPolitics and government18651950. 2. Political
cultureAlabamaHistory19th century. 3. Political culture
AlabamaHistory20th century. 4. Political PartiesAlabama
History19th century. 5. Political partiesAlabama
History20th century. I. Title.
F326.W43 1997
306.2'09761dc21 97-20596
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
Frontispiece: Shelby County, ca. 1900 (courtesy of the Alabama
Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama)
Page v
To the memory of my mother, Ruby Jones Webb, whose honesty, sincerity,
sense of humor, and courage in the face of adversity impressed all who
knew her. She played her music, and people listened.
Page vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Old Guard and the Populists 11
2. James Lawrence Sheffield and the Roots of Hill 31
Country Independence
3. The Growth of Dissent: Anti-Democrats, 18761887 59
4. Alliancemen, Populists, and Republicans, 18881892 86
5. Who Were the Populists, and What Did They Believe? 114
6. Triumph, Tragedy, and Disillusionment, 18931898 131
7. What Happened to the Upcountry Populists? 18981904 155
8. From Populists to Progressive Republicans, 19041912 185
Conclusion 213
Notes 221
Bibliography 263
Index 275
Page ix
Acknowledgments
All of the people mentioned below have been helpful to me, and if
these acknowledgments sound a bit sentimental, I hope that the reader
will forgive.
My fascination with the history of American politics began even
before I entered elementary school, and no dinner table conversation
in my parents' home neglected the subject. My father, Samuel L.
Webb, Sr., was a local politician who taught me about the drama and
significance of elections at the county level and about the important
connections local politicians establish with state and national leaders.
When I was seven he took me with him while he campaigned, and it
was an experience I will never forget. Some of the most exciting
nights of my life were spent with my father at the Sumter County
courthouse waiting for election returns.
My maternal grandfather, Robert Sanders Jones, cast his first vote for
William Jennings Bryan in 1908 and his last for George McGovern in
1972. He was living history, and he brought the past alive for me. His
colorful storytelling ability and rhetorical flair grew from the great
oral tradition that so many southerners of his generation shared. I
never spent a dull moment with him. His house was strewn with
magazines, newspapers, and good books, and no day passed that I did
not find him propped on the side of his bed immersed in some dog-
eared volume. I was very lucky that he lived next door while I was
growing up, and the true origins of this book were the always
wonderful times I spent with him.
Many teachers have helped me, and although some of them are now
deceased, I must acknowledge their exceptional ability. My history
teacher at Sumter County High School, Miss Vermelle Jones, inspired
me and hundreds of other students. In the 1960s a group of dedicated
English teachers gathered at Livingston University, including Robert
Gilbert, Lynn Smith, Nathaniel Reed, Beverly Smith, and John
Craiger. They were tough, thorough, and unrelenting in their battles
against my ignorance, but they were also generous and decent
gentlemen. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Ed Harrell,
Tennant S. McWilliams, Virginia Hamilton, Dan Bjork, and Harriet
Amos Doss all helped and encouraged me. Ed, Tennant, and Harriet
(now my colleague) did their best to make