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Chapter 16: The Bourbon Ascendancy
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The BourbonAscendancy The DemocraticParty. When it took over the reigns of governmentin West Virginia in 1871, the Democratic Party was essentially a coalition of diverse interests. Ex-Confederatesmingled with former Unionists, and lifelong Democrats welcomed to their ranks former Whigs who found the Republican Party unacceptable. The party included a strong infusion of Bourbons, devoted to Southern agrarian ideals but eager to reap advantages from the emerging industrial age. Traditionalapproachesto politics persisted among Democrats. Despitethe change wrought by war and Reconstruction, postwar leaders recognized continuities in the social and economic life of the new state, particularly in its eastern and southerncounties. Many were strongly attuned to local or sectional interests and easily won backwoods support with a folksy attention to the everyday life and concerns of the people and with speeches at court days and other assemblages. Both politicians and the people felt comfortable with this brand of politics, which nurtured and reinforced conservatism. Thousands of West Virginians, according to the opinionated New York Times, were Democrats "because they don't know any better."' At least four major elements could be discerned within the Democratic Party, but the lines dividingthem were somewhatblurred. John A. Williamshas identified them as Regulars, Redeemers, Agrarians, and the "Kanawha Ring." The Regulars were strongest in the northern and western sections of the state. They were represented by industrialists Johnson Newlon Camden and Henry Gassaway Davis, who drew upon their business experiences to modernize the organizationand methodsof the party and began to underminethe old informal style of politics that had generally prevailed. The Redeemers and Agrarians appealed to rural voters. The Redeemers, who upheld older political practices as well as social and economic patterns of the past, counted upon former Confederate politicians and sympathizers. Strongestin eastern,southern,and interior counties, they regained much of their former influence following the Democratic victory of 1870. The Agrarians, found mostly alongthe Baltimore and OhioRailroad andin the KanawhaValley, 'New York Times, October 8, 1876 166 West Virginia: A HWory generally disdained Redeemer emphasis upon the evils of Reconstruction and sought a more forward-lookingapproachto politics. PattyOrganizdion. Democrats such as Lewis Baker, editor of the WheelingRegister , recognizedthe need for a disciplinedparty organizationas early as the 1860s.For leadershipthey lookedfirstto olderDemocratssuch as Benjamin H. Smith of Kanawha County, the Jacksons of Wood County, and William G . Brown of Preston County, but they gradually turned to Camden and Davis, both relative newcomers to the party. Camden and Davis were vigorousmen in their forties, and neither had a controversialpolitical record. Their industrialempires provided them ample funds to give needed financial vitality to their party. Althoughleadership in the DemocraticParty was diffused, Camdenwas its titular head form 1868 to 1875. Born in Wood County, he attended the United StatesMilitary Academy at West Point and laterpracticed law. Steeringclear of statehood and Reconstruction politics, he concentrated on business interests. Camden became one of the first oil producers in the Burning Springs field in Wirt County, erected his own refinery at Parkersburg, and in 1875 sold his intereststo the StandardOil Company.The epitome of the businessmonopolist in West Virginia politics, he lobbied diligently with both the legislature and congress to advance the interestsof the Standard Oil Company and to assure it almost complete control over the oil industry of West Virginia. For several years high political office eluded Camden. He was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1868 and 1872,but he was defeated both times. He was disappointedin his desire for a United StatesSenate seat in 1875,when the legislature chose Allen T. Caperton of Monroe County as a means of placating the Kanawha Valley for its decision to move the state capital back to Wheeling, and again in 1877, when after Caperton's death Republicans threw their support to Davis. In 1881, when he was in complete command of the Democratic Party organization, Camden at last won the coveted Senate seat. Despite his indulgence in and support of monopolisticbusiness practices, he rendered important services, includingsponsorshipof the provision of the InterstateCommerceAct of 1887which forbaderailroads to charge more for short hauls than long hauls, thereby removing discriminations against West Virginia shippers. Convinced that a tariff for revenue, with incidental protection to industry, was adequate to the needs of West Virginia, he dutifully supported Grover Cleveland for president in 1884and 1888,althoughmany Democratsobjected to Cleveland'sviews on the tariff. Opposition to Carnden mounted within his own party, and he failed to win reelection in 1887. Farmers berated him for his monopolistic leanings, and twelve Agrarian state senators from eastern counties...