Southern Democrats

Civil Rights Act of 1960: Voting Referees and Criminal Penalties Still Prove Inadequate Against Southern Resistance

1960-05-06 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 6/10

President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, expanding on the 1957 Act by authorizing federal courts to appoint voting referees to register Black voters and imposing criminal penalties for obstruction of court orders. However, the law’s case-by-case approach and dependence on …

Dwight D. Eisenhower Congress Lyndon B. Johnson Southern Democrats Department of Justice voting-rights civil-rights federal-legislation voting-referees obstruction

Fair Labor Standards Act Passes Over Fierce Business and Southern Opposition to Minimum Wage and Child Labor Ban

1938-06-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on June 25, 1938, establishing a federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, a maximum 44-hour workweek, and banning oppressive child labor—but only after more than a year of fierce congressional opposition from business …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Frances Perkins Hugo Black U.S. Congress Southern Democrats +1 more labor-rights minimum-wage child-labor new-deal corporate-resistance

Compromise of 1877: Wormley Agreement Abandons Black Americans

1877-02-26 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats meet secretly at Wormley’s Hotel in Washington to negotiate the Compromise of 1877—an unwritten political deal settling the disputed 1876 presidential election by abandoning federal protection of Black civil rights. Southern Democrats agree to accept …

Rutherford B. Hayes (President-elect) Southern Democrats Northern Republicans Disenfranchised Black Americans democratic-erosion institutional-capture racial-injustice political-corruption

Democratic Party Convention Split Over Slavery Platform Fractures Last National Institution Binding North and South

1860-04-23 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Democratic National Convention convenes in Charleston, South Carolina, with Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois as the front-runner for presidential nomination. Before the convention begins, delegations from seven Deep South states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, …

Stephen A. Douglas William Yancey John C. Breckinridge Democratic Party Southern Democrats +1 more democratic-party slavery political-manipulation election-1860 sectional-crisis +1 more

Wilmot Proviso Triggers Sectional Crisis Over Slavery in Conquered Mexican Territory

1846-08-08 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

On August 8, 1846, amidst the Mexican-American War, Democratic Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduces an amendment to President James Polk’s $2 million appropriation bill for purchasing territory from Mexico, boldly declaring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude …

David Wilmot James K. Polk U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate Northern Democrats +1 more wilmot-proviso slavery-expansion sectional-conflict mexican-american-war territorial-expansion +1 more