Editing Reconstruction era (section)

===Democrats try a "New Departure"===
{{Main|New Departure (Democrats)}}
[[File:A republican form of government and no domestic violence.jpg|thumb|''A Republican Form of Government and No Domestic Violence'', by [[Thomas Nast]], a political cartoon about the Wheeler Compromise in Louisiana, published in [[Harper's Weekly]], March 6, 1875]]

By 1870, the Democratic leadership across the South decided it had to end its opposition to Reconstruction and Black suffrage to survive and move on to new issues. The Grant administration had proven by its crackdown on the Ku Klux Klan that it would use as much federal power as necessary to suppress open anti-Black violence. Democrats in the North concurred with these Southern Democrats. They wanted to fight the Republican Party on economic grounds rather than race. The [[New Departure (Democrats)|New Departure]] offered the chance for a clean slate without having to re-fight the Civil War every election. Furthermore, many wealthy Southern landowners thought they could control part of the newly enfranchised Black electorate to their own advantage.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Not all Democrats agreed; an insurgent element continued to resist Reconstruction no matter what. Eventually, a group called "Redeemers" took control of the party in the Southern states.{{sfnp|Perman|1985|loc=ch. 3}} They formed coalitions with conservative Republicans, including supporters of Reconstruction, emphasizing the need for economic modernization. Railroad building was seen as a panacea since Northern capital was needed. The new tactics were a success in [[History of Virginia#Reconstruction|Virginia]] where [[William Mahone]] built a winning coalition. In Tennessee, the Redeemers formed a coalition with Republican Governor [[Dewitt Clinton Senter]]. Across the South, some Democrats switched from the race issue to taxes and corruption, charging that Republican governments were corrupt and inefficient. With a continuing decrease in cotton prices, taxes squeezed cash-poor farmers who rarely saw $20 in currency a year, but had to pay taxes in currency or lose their farms. But major planters, who had never paid taxes before, often recovered their property even after confiscation.{{sfnp|Foner|1988|pp=374–376}}

In North Carolina, Republican Governor [[William Woods Holden]] used state troops against the Klan, but the prisoners were released by federal judges. Holden became the first governor in American history to be impeached and removed from office. Republican political disputes in Georgia split the party and enabled the Redeemers to take over.{{sfnp|Foner|1988|pp=440–441}}

In the North, a live-and-let-live attitude made elections more like a sporting contest. But in the Deep South, many White citizens had not reconciled with the defeat of the war or the granting of citizenship to freedmen. As an Alabamian supporter of Reconstruction explained: "Our contest here is for life, for the right to earn our bread,&nbsp;... for a decent and respectful consideration as human beings and members of society."{{Sfn|Foner|1988|p=443}}