Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865-1900

Unlike most southern whites during the Civil War, the majority of residents of the Appalachian counties resisted secession, and a significant minority fought against the Confederacy. After 1865, many joined the Republican Party and remained the only large group of white southerners in the party until the 1950s.

In this important work, first published in 1978, Gordon McKinney offers a detailed, balanced, and deeply researched narrative history of the emergence and growth of mountain Republicanism. Although the story is told in terms of the changing fortunes of the mountain Republican Parties, McKinney's research and analysis illuminate many facets of the social, economic, and political history of Appalachia. Among the author's principal findings are that the impact of the Civil War and the absence of African Americans, rather than economic or geographical factors, were responsible for the persistence of Republican voting patterns in the Appalachian community. Even more significant is his discovery that mountain Republicanism was the conscious creation of politicians in a five-state region who shaped their party to conform to local political conditions.