Yellow dog Democrat

Last updated

The Carolina Dog's wildness and its ginger coat led to its being called a "yaller dog", which in turn may have led to the expression "yellow dog Democrat". Carolina dog 3-13-13.jpg
The Carolina Dog's wildness and its ginger coat led to its being called a "yaller dog", which in turn may have led to the expression "yellow dog Democrat".

Yellow dog Democrats is a political term that was applied to voters in the Southern United States who voted solely for candidates who represented the Democratic Party. The term originated in the late 19th century. These voters would allegedly "vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican", [2] [3] or, "vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket". [1] The term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight party ticket under any circumstances. The South Carolina Democratic Party and Mississippi Democratic Party, among other state parties, continue to use the phrase to refer to committed members of the Democratic Party in the "Yellow Dog Club". [4] [5]

Contents

According to journalist Ed Kilgore, Yellow Dog Democrats were Southerners who saw the Democratic Party as "the default vehicle for day-to-day political life, and the dominant presence, regardless of ideology, for state and local politics." [6]

The term "yellow dog" may be a reference to the Carolina Dog, a dog breed without European heritage and indigenous to the Americas (specifically the Southern United States). [1]

History and usage

The phrase "Yellow Dog Democrat" is thought [7] to have first achieved popularity during the 1928 presidential race between Democratic candidate Al Smith and Republican candidate Herbert Hoover, when Senator J. Thomas Heflin (D-Alabama) crossed party lines and formally supported Hoover. Many Southern voters disliked several items on Smith's platform, as well as his Roman Catholic faith, but still voted for him.

However, the term did not originate from the election of 1928, and there were earlier recorded usages. It was used by Abraham Lincoln in an 1848 speech on the presidential campaign of General Zachary Taylor, whose Democratic opponent was General Lewis Cass. Lincoln derided Cass as one of several recent Democratic presidential candidates in the mold of Andrew Jackson by saying:

A fellow once advertised that he had made a discovery by which he could make a new man out of an old one, and have enough of the stuff left to make a little yellow dog. Just such a discovery has Gen. Jackson's popularity been to you [Democrats]. You not only twice made President of him out of it, but you have had enough of the stuff left to make presidents of several comparatively small men since; and it is your chief reliance now to make still another. [8]

In the run-up to the 1892 presidential election, African-American journalist C. H. J. Taylor of Kansas City, Kansas, in his paper The American Citizen , used the term to refer to Republicans in the West who, he wrote, "would vote for a yellow dog out there if he was named Republican." [9] In 1893, the Kansas City Journal, a Republican newspaper, criticized "This thing of voting for 'yaller dogs', and expecting them to turn black-and-tan after the election," [10] with reference to Missouri voters always voting for Democrats, then being surprised at their allegedly invariable corruption.[ citation needed ]

In the 1899 contest for governor in Kentucky, Theodore Hallam was criticized at a Democratic Party meeting for first supporting William Goebel, then campaigning against him. The critic pointed out that Hallam earlier had said "if the Democrats of Kentucky, in convention assembled, nominated a yaller dog for governor you would vote for him" and asked "why do you now repudiate the nominee of that convention, the Honorable William Goebel?" Hallam responded:

"I admit," he stated blandly, "that I said then what I now repeat, namely, that when the Democratic Party of Kentucky, in convention assembled, sees fit in its wisdom to nominate a yaller dog for the governorship of this great state, I will support him— but lower than that ye shall not drag me!" [11]

There are indications that the term was in widespread and easily understandable use by 1923. In a letter written in Huntland, Tennessee, by W. L. Moore of Kansas City, Missouri, on May 9, 1923, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Moore writes:[ citation needed ]

I am a Democrat from inheritance, from prejudice and principle, if the principle suits me. But I have passed the yaller dog degree.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1876 United States presidential election</span> 23rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1856 United States presidential election</span> 18th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1856 United States presidential election was the 18th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1856. In a three-way election, Democrat James Buchanan defeated Republican nominee John C. Frémont and Know Nothing nominee Millard Fillmore. The main issue was the expansion of slavery as facilitated by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. Buchanan defeated President Franklin Pierce at the 1856 Democratic National Convention for the nomination. Pierce had become widely unpopular in the North because of his support for the pro-slavery faction in the ongoing civil war in territorial Kansas, and Buchanan, a former Secretary of State, had avoided the divisive debates over the Kansas–Nebraska Act by being in Europe as the Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1860 United States presidential election</span> 19th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the states that would become the Confederacy seceding from the Union. This marked the first time that a Republican was elected president. It was also the first presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1904, 1920, 1940, 1944, and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1864 United States presidential election</span> 20th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1864 United States presidential election was the 20th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan, by a wide margin of 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. For the election, the Republican Party and some Democrats created the National Union Party, especially to attract War Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1868 United States presidential election</span> 21st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1868 United States presidential election was the 21st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1868. In the first election of the Reconstruction Era, Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour of the Democratic Party. It was the first presidential election to take place after the conclusion of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. It was the first election in which African Americans could vote in the reconstructed Southern states, in accordance with the First Reconstruction Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1896 United States presidential election</span> 28th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1896 United States presidential election was the 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican nominee, defeated former Representative William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a political realignment that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1900 United States presidential election</span> 29th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1900 United States presidential election was the 29th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1900. In a re-match of the 1896 race, incumbent Republican President William McKinley defeated his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's victory made him the eighth president to win consecutive re-election and first since Ulysses S. Grant accomplished the same feat in 1872. Until 1956, this would be the last time in which an incumbent Republican president would win re-election after serving a full term in office. This election saw the fifth rematch in presidential history but the first to produce the same winner both times; neither would occur again until 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1908 United States presidential election</span> 31st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1908 United States presidential election was the 31st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1908. Republican Party nominee William Howard Taft defeated three-time Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1932 United States presidential election</span> 37th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. Roosevelt was the first Democrat in 80 years to simultaneously win an outright majority of the electoral college and popular vote, a feat last accomplished by Franklin Pierce in 1852, as well as the first Democrat in 56 years to win a majority of the popular vote, which was last achieved by Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Roosevelt was the last sitting governor to be elected president until Bill Clinton in 1992. Hoover became the first incumbent president to lose an election to another term since William Howard Taft in 1912, the last to do so until Gerald Ford lost 44 years later, and the last elected incumbent president to do so until Jimmy Carter 48 years later. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans. It was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitutional Union Party (United States)</span> United States political party (1860–1861)

The Constitutional Union Party was a political party which stood in the 1860 United States elections. It mostly consisted of conservative former Whigs from the Southern United States who wanted to avoid secession over slavery and refused to join either the Republican Party or Democratic Party. The Constitutional Union Party campaigned on a simple platform "to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the Enforcement of the Laws".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid South</span> 1877–1964 U.S. Democratic voting bloc

The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this period, the Democratic Party controlled southern state legislatures and most local, state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, Southern Democrats disenfranchised nearly all blacks in all the former Confederate states. This resulted in a one-party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting.

Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Republican Party</span> Kansas affiliate of the Republican Party

The Kansas Republican Party is the state affiliate political party in Kansas of the United States Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized in May 1859.

In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with more conservative views than most Democrats. Traditionally, conservative Democrats have been elected to office from the Southern states, rural areas, and the Midwest. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 14% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters identify as conservative or very conservative, 38% identify as moderate, and 47% identify as liberal or very liberal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Republican Party (United States)</span> Aspect of US political history

The Republican Party, also known as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States. It is the second-oldest extant political party in the United States after its main political rival, the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nebraska Democratic Party</span> Political party in United States

The Nebraska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Nebraska. Over 700 Democrats are elected across the state of Nebraska. Jane Kleeb is the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and also serves as the Midwest Chair of the Association of State Democratic Committees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1858–59 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1858–59 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1858 and 1859, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span>

The 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1899, to choose the 33rd governor of Kentucky. The incumbent, Republican William O'Connell Bradley, was term-limited and unable to seek re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Jennings Bryan 1896 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. Bryan, a former Democratic congressman from Nebraska, gained his party's presidential nomination in July of that year after electrifying the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech. He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1908 United States presidential election in Kansas</span>

The 1908 United States presidential election in Kansas was held on November 3, 1908 as part of the 1908 United States presidential election. Kansas voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hitt, Jack (July 15, 2013). "D.N.A. Backs Lore on Pre-Columbian Dogs". New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  2. ↑ "A Solid Leader for Solid South". LIFE. Vol. 40, no. 21. Chicago: Time. May 21, 1956. pp. 31–35. Page 34 "We're pretty much yellow-dog Democrats here," said an Arkansan last week, explaining the state would vote Democratic even if the party nominates a "yellow dog."
  3. ↑ Morton, Julius Sterling (August 11, 1898). "In Old Times". The Conservative. 1 (5). Nebraska City, Nebraska: Morton Print. Co: 6.. The Republican party of Nebraska, when its nomination to a state office was equivalent to an election, boasted that it could run "a yellow dog" for Governor and beat the best and ablest Democrat named for that office.
  4. ↑ "Yellow Dog Democrats". scdp.org. South Carolina Democratic Party. 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Yellow Dogs". Mississippi Democratic Party. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ Digby Parton, Heather (November 12, 2014). "Bye-bye, blue dog "Democrats": What the end of conservative Dems means for America". Salon.
  7. ↑ "Yellow dog Democrats". wais.stanford.edu. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  8. ↑ Lincoln Speeches, Abraham Lincoln, Penguin Civic Classics Series
  9. ↑ "Democrats?" The American Citizen, June 17, 1892, p. 1
  10. ↑ "The Farce Over", Kansas City Journal, March 2, 1893, p. 4
  11. ↑ Irvin S. Cobb, Exit Laughing, Bobbs-Merrill, 1941.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.