re negroes were
in the majority. This meant that the issue of white supremacy was
present in every State, for the negro majorities in such counties could
elect the local officers and control the local governments.

To attain a political consolidation of the white population all other
issues must be subordinated. Differences of opinion and judgment must be
held in abeyance. No question upon which white men might seriously
disagree must be placed in the party platform, if any way to avoid such
insertion could be found. If by any chance the majority adopted a course
obnoxious to the minority, the decision must be accepted loyally if not
cheerfully, and the full white vote must be cast. Objection to a
candidate or measure must not be expressed at the ballot box. Personal
ambition must be restrained, and weakness and even unfitness in a
candidate must be overlooked for the sake of white solidarity.

The task of creating a permanently solid South was not easy. The
Southerner had always been an individualist, freely exercising his right
to vote independently, engaging in sharp political contests before 1861,
and even during the War. The Confederate Congress wrangled impotently
while Grant was thundering at the gates of Richmond. So strong was the
memory of past differences, that old party designations were avoided.
The political organization to which allegiance was demanded was
generally called the Conservative party, and the Republican party was
universally called the Radical party. The term Conservative was adopted
partly as a contrast, partly because the peace party had been so called
during the War, and especially because the name Democrat was obnoxious
to so many old Whigs. It was not until 1906 that the term Conservative
was officially dropped from the title of the dominant party in Alabama.

It is not surprising that men continued to turn for leadership to those
who had led in battle and, to a less extent, to those who had taken part
in the civil government of the Confederacy. But for the humiliations of
Reconstruction, some of these men might have been discredited, but the
bitter experiences of those years had restored them to popular favor. As
the Federal soldier marched out of the public buildings everywhere, the
Confederate soldier marched in. These men had led in the contest against
the scalawags and the carpetbaggers and many had suffered thereby. Now
they came into their own. In some States the organization of v