Did the parties switch?

Yes. The party realignment was gradual, spanning from 1948 through the 1980s. It began with Thurmond's Dixiecrat campaign in 1948, accelerated when Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, was exploited by Nixon's Southern Strategy in 1968, and solidified under Reagan in 1980. In 2005, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman formally apologized for the Southern Strategy.

Who started the Civil War?

Confederate forces fired the first shots at Fort Sumter at 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861. The Union garrison had not fired a shot. The Confederate states seceded and attacked federal property to preserve slavery, as explicitly stated in their own secession declarations.

Why did Southern states secede?

The seceding states explicitly cited slavery as the cause. Mississippi's declaration states: 'Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world.' Georgia's declaration mentions slavery over 80 times. Tariffs are rarely or never mentioned in these documents.

What was the Southern Strategy?

The Southern Strategy was a Republican electoral strategy to win white Southern voters by appealing to racial resentment. Nixon adviser Kevin Phillips outlined it in 1970. Lee Atwater later explained how it evolved from explicit racism to coded language like 'states' rights' and 'forced busing.' RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized for it in 2005.

Didn't more Republicans vote for the Civil Rights Act?

Yes, but this is misleading. The real divide was regional, not partisan: Northern Democrats voted 94% yes, while Southern Democrats voted only 7% yes. It was North vs South, not Republican vs Democrat. And those Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights? Their voters became Republicans over the following decades, which is exactly what the party switch describes.

What about Robert Byrd?

Robert Byrd joined the KKK in the 1940s, but spent 50 years apologizing for it. He called it 'the greatest mistake I ever made,' voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and supported renewing the Voting Rights Act. The NAACP praised him at his death in 2010. More importantly, the party switch was about voters, not individual politicians. The white South moved from Democratic to Republican; that's the switch.

Primary Source Archive

The Archive

55 verified primary sources. Every claim backed by documentation.

7 of 8 sources verified.

Last verified: February 22, 2026

1860-1865

Secession Era

The Civil War and the documents that started it

Secession documents

Avalon Project [archive] (Yale Law School): SC, MS, GA, TX; Constitution Center [archive] analysis.

Cornerstone Speech

Teaching American History [archive]; American Battlefield Trust [archive] copy and commentary.

Republican Platform 1860

Lincoln-era platform [archive] (UCSB): "The normal condition of all territory of the United States is that of freedom."

Confederate Constitution

Avalon Project [archive] (Yale Law School): Explicitly protected slavery in Article I, Section 9.

Fort Sumter chronology

National Park Service [archive]; American Battlefield Trust [archive] timelines.

Jefferson Davis speeches

Rice University archive [archive]: Confederate president's papers including 1858 Senate speech calling slavery "a moral, a social, and a political blessing."

1860 U.S. Census

Census Bureau: Enslaved population data showing nearly 4 million people held in bondage.

Crittenden Compromise

Yale Avalon (Archive): The South rejected this compromise because it didn't provide ENOUGH protection for slavery. Proves it was never about 'states' rights.'

Frederick Douglass July 4th Speech

Teaching American History: 'What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?' The most powerful indictment of American slavery.

Lincoln's First Inaugural

Yale Avalon: Lincoln promised NOT to interfere with slavery—and the South attacked Fort Sumter anyway. They weren't defending themselves.

1865-1954

Reconstruction & Jim Crow

From emancipation through legal segregation

Texas v. White

Supreme Court ruling [archive] that secession was unconstitutional: "The Constitution... looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States."

Wilmington Coup

History.com: Armed white supremacists overthrew Wilmington's elected biracial government, the only successful coup d'état in American history.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Oyez: Supreme Court upheld "separate but equal" doctrine, legalizing segregation for 58 years.

Memphis Massacre 1866

National Park Service: White mobs murdered 46 Black people over 3 days. Congressional investigation led to the 14th Amendment.

New Orleans Massacre 1866

National Park Service: Police and white mobs attacked a constitutional convention debating Black voting rights, killing 34-50. General Sheridan called it 'an absolute massacre.'

Colfax Massacre 1873

National Park Service: Easter Sunday massacre where 60-150 Black militia members were executed after surrendering. Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876) gutted federal civil rights enforcement.

Hamburg Massacre 1876

SC Encyclopedia: On America's centennial, Red Shirts militia executed Black militia members after surrender. Massacre leader Matthew Butler was elected U.S. Senator.

Wilmington Coup 1898

NC Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources: The only successful coup d'état in American history. White supremacists overthrew an elected biracial government and murdered 60-300 Black citizens. Textbooks falsely called it a 'race riot' until the 2006 state commission report corrected the record; curriculum wasn't updated until 2011.

Tulsa Race Massacre 1921

Tulsa Historical Society: White mobs destroyed 'Black Wall Street,' killing 100-300+ and leaving 10,000 homeless. The massacre was hidden from textbooks for decades.

Thaddeus Stevens speeches

Teaching American History: Radical Republican leader's demand for Confederate land confiscation and treason trials. 'Strip a proud nobility of their bloated estates.'

Stevens epitaph

Thaddeus Stevens Society [NPS archive]: Stevens chose burial in a Black cemetery to 'illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life: Equality of Man before his Creator.' (Note: Original NPS page removed in 2025 under EO 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' Dead link: nps.gov/thst/learn/historyculture/stevens-epitaph.htm)

Andrew Johnson quotes

American Presidency Project: Johnson's Third Annual Message defending his obstruction of Reconstruction; White House biography.

Lost Cause origins

Edward Pollard's The Lost Cause (1866) named the mythology; Southern Historical Society Papers institutionalized it; UDC placed monuments and controlled textbooks.

U.S. v. Cruikshank

Cornell Law: Supreme Court ruled the 14th Amendment only applied to state action, not private violence. Effectively legalized Klan terrorism.

Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15

National Archives: '40 acres and a mule' order that granted 400,000 acres to freed people. Reversed by Andrew Johnson, who returned land to former slaveholders.

Mississippi Black Codes

BlackPast: Laws passed immediately after the Civil War to re-enslave Black people in all but name. Shows what happened when the South was left to 'reconstruct' itself.

Mississippi Convention 1890

Facing History: Convention president declared 'We came here to exclude the negro.' Jim Crow's purpose stated explicitly.

Justice Harlan's Plessy Dissent

Cornell Law: 'Our Constitution is color-blind.' The lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson—it took 58 years for the Court to catch up.

Hiram Revels Senate Speech

Senate Archives: First Black Senator's speech on reconciliation. No Black Southerner would serve in Congress again until 1973.

13th Amendment

National Archives: Abolished slavery. Ratified December 6, 1865.

14th Amendment

National Archives: Granted citizenship and equal protection. Ratified July 9, 1868.

15th Amendment

National Archives: Prohibited racial discrimination in voting. Ratified February 3, 1870. Effectively nullified by Jim Crow until the Voting Rights Act.

Ida B. Wells - Southern Horrors

Project Gutenberg: Ida B. Wells' documentation of lynching. Primary source evidence of racial terrorism during Jim Crow.

1948-1968

Civil Rights Era

The fight for legal equality

Dixiecrat Platform

States' Rights Democratic Party platform [archive]: "We stand for the segregation of the races." The first major break in the Democratic Solid South.

Brown v. Board of Education

Oyez: Supreme Court unanimously ruled segregated schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Senate vote record [archive]: Landmark legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

National Archives [archive]: Prohibited racial discrimination in voting, enabling federal oversight of elections.

The Southern Manifesto

Civil Rights Movement Archive (PDF) [archive]: 101 Southern congressmen signed a declaration opposing Brown v. Board. Track where each signatory's seat ended up—nearly all Republican.

Wallace Inaugural Address

Alabama Archives: George Wallace's 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever' speech. He won 5 Southern states in 1968; his voters became Republicans.

LBJ 'We Shall Overcome' Speech

Miller Center: A Southern president embracing the civil rights anthem one week after Bloody Sunday. Democrats chose civil rights over the Solid South.

1968-2005

Southern Strategy

The realignment of American politics

Kevin Phillips interview

New York Times: Nixon strategist explains the plan to win the South by appealing to white racial resentment.

Haldeman Diaries

Nixon Chief of Staff diary [archive]: Documenting Nixon's explicit racial strategy discussions.

Lee Atwater interview

The Nation [archive]: GOP strategist explains how racial appeals became "abstract" through coded language.

Ken Mehlman RNC apology

NPR [archive]: RNC Chairman apologizes to NAACP: "Some Republicans... trying to benefit politically from racial polarization... we were wrong."

Reagan Neshoba County Speech

Neshoba Democrat: Reagan launched his general election campaign 7 miles from where civil rights workers were murdered, declaring 'I believe in states' rights.'

2013-Present

Modern Era

Post-Shelby voting landscape

Shelby County v. Holder

Oyez [archive]: Supreme Court gutted Voting Rights Act preclearance requirements, enabling new voting restrictions.

NC NAACP v. McCrory

4th Circuit ruling [archive]: Struck down NC voting restrictions that targeted Black voters "with almost surgical precision."

State voting restrictions

Virginia; Georgia SB 202; Texas SB 1; Florida SB 7050; North Carolina S747.

Felony disenfranchisement

Sentencing Project [archive]: Research on voting rights denied to citizens with felony convictions.

2024 election results

Associated Press state results; 270toWin national map; supplemental cross-check via state election boards.

Brennan Center voting trackers

Brennan Center for Justice [archive]: 2024 Review, 2025 Update.

Various

Reference Works

Scholarship and archives

Party platforms archive

UCSB American Presidency Project [archive]: Complete collection of party platforms.

Southern Strategy scholarship

Encyclopedia Britannica [archive]; Organization of American Historians [archive] primary source collection.

Historical scholarship

James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Pulitzer Prize); Edward Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told; AHA "16 Months to Sumter" [archive].

Confederate monument timing

Southern Poverty Law Center [archive]: Most monuments erected during Jim Crow (1890s-1920s) and Civil Rights era (1950s-1960s), not memorials, but intimidation.

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Secession Era 1860-1865 Reconstruction & Jim Crow 1865-1954 Civil Rights Era 1948-1968 Southern Strategy 1968-2005 Modern Era 2013-Present Reference Works Various

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