Partisan Consequences of the US Civil War in the Post-Reconstruction Period

Sven E. Wilson, Brigham Young University
Doug Atkinson, Brigham Young University

The decade following Reconstruction in the US saw significant political changes relevant to veterans of the Civil War. In 1879, the Arrears Act was passed that significantly expanded the amount of compensation available to recipients of the Union Army pension, and during the subsequent decade, applicants faced a period of informal liberalization of pension eligibility which resulted in a large expansion of the system. As part of this expansion, veterans were mobilized politically under the auspices of their main fraternal organization, the GAR, which was fueled by motivated claims agents who benefited financially from assisting veterans in applying for pensions. Though the South was solidly Democratic (especially as Blacks were again disenfranchised), the North had an important cleavage that could be exploited. The Pro-tariff policies of the GOP business interests were generally opposed by rural areas across the country. But many of those rural Northern communities had a large veteran population that could be mobilized to support the surpluses generated by tariffs as they were funneled into an expanding pension system. Building on the prior work of Belston and Skocpol, we bring new data sources to understand the interplay between the pension expansion and the development of partisan geography during this period. Adding to existing data on electoral outcomes at the county level, we have collected new data on county-level growth in the pension system over this decade and a first-ever collection of veteran status for all Congressional candidates over the same period. Through this longitudinal analysis, we can show the long reach of the Civil War on the partisan political development of the nation during a politically dynamic period of history.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 130. Policymaking in U.S. Politics