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All Politics Are Local: Another Look at the 1890s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2010

Peter H. Argersinger
Peter H. Argersinger
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University
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Abstract

Although rarely considered by historians, legislative and congressional apportionments were among the most important, absorbing, and contentious political issues of the late nineteenth century. Local, state, and national party leaders struggled to shape apportionments and thereby secure disproportionate influence for the counties, districts, and states their followers controlled. Gerrymanders, in turn, not only distorted representation but often incited a furious opposition, which disrupted legislative bodies, transformed political campaigns, and ultimately produced unprecedented judicial intervention. In surveying these overlooked developments, this essay points to important questions that historians must hereafter address.

Type
2008 Presidential Address
Information
The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 7 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 2009

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References

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17 Some states, of course, reapportioned their legislatures on the basis of state censuses, but the timing was similar. In Indiana, both Democrats and Republicans appealed to voters in the 1890 campaign on the issue that the legislature elected would reapportion the state using the 1889 state census. In New York, Republicans had long simply blocked a new state census, thereby preventing reapportionment. When Democrats gained control of the 1892 legislature, they first enacted a law for a census and then, after adjourning, reassembled immediately in special session to approve a new apportionment.

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26 Baltimore Sun, Dec. 11, 14, 1891Google Scholar;Grand Rapids Weekly Democrat, Dec. 24, 1891Google Scholar. What the Democratic critics failed to mention, of course, was that while Harrison's victory in the Electoral College stemmed from Republican pluralities in states with divided electorates, the Democrats' edge in the popular vote rested on their suppression of the votes of African American Republicans in southern states. In either case, again, voters' influence depended upon their location.

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28 Gerry Hazelton to Andrew J. Turner, May 2, 4, and Oct. 20, 1891, and H. C. Payne to Turner, Apr. 23, 1891, Andrew J. Turner Papers, WHS; John Spooner to John Hicks, Dec. 1, 1891, John Spooner Papers, WHS. Spooner was the key figure in collaboration on obstacles and tactics. See Gerry Hazelton to Andrew J. Turner, May 6, 1891, Turner Papers; Spooner to William E. Chandler, Dec. 1, 1891; Spooner to Edgar L. Murlin, May 18, 1892; Spooner to James A. Blanchard, May 19, 1892; Spooner to Frank Hiscock, April 1, 1892; Spooner to L. J. Nash, Mar. 25, 1892, Spooner Papers; John Spooner to Charles Fairbanks, Sept. 6, 1892, Charles Fairbanks Papers, Lilly Library, Indiana University.

29 Spooner to Andrew J. Turner, Nov. 16, 1891, and Spooner to Philetus Sawyer, Jan. 15, 1892, Spooner Papers; J. F. Ellarson to Andrew J. Turner, Dec. 3, 1891, Jan. 1, 1892, and Charles Estabrook to Turner, Nov. 14, 1891, Turner Papers; C. A. Billington to A. W Wishard, Jan. 24, 1893, and Eugene H. Bundy to Charles Fairbanks, July 7, Aug. 7, 1892, Fairbanks Papers;Indianapolis Journal, Oct. 3, 1892Google Scholar;Chicago Times, Sept. 28, 1892Google Scholar.

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