they were forced to concede the entire South to theopposition. The Republicans had the advantage of having been theparty that had defended the Union against secession and had freedthe slaves. When all other appeals failed, Republican leaders couldsalvage votes in the North and West by reviving memories of thewar. A less tangible but equally valuable advantage was thewidespread belief that the continued industrial development of thenation would be more secure under a Republican than under aDemocratic administration. Except in years of economic adversity,the memory of the war and confidence in the economic program ofthe Republican Party were normally enough to ensure Republicansuccess in most of the Northern and Western states. The Rutherford B. Hayes administrationPresident Hayes (served 1877-81) willingly carried out thecommitments made by his friends to secure the disputed Southernvotes needed for his election. He withdrew the federal troops still inthe South, and he appointed former senator David M. Key ofTennessee to his Cabinet as postmaster general. Hayes hoped thatthese conciliatory gestures would encourage many Southernconservatives to support the Republican Party in the future. But theSoutherners' primary concern was the maintenance of whitesupremacy; this, they believed, required a monopoly of politicalpower in the South by the Democratic Party. As a result, thepolicies of Hayes led to the virtual extinction rather than the revivalof ...
