Southern Mountain Republicans 1865-1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community

The mountaineer stereotype — violent people who preserve a traditional lifestyle and vote Republican — has been perpetuated through the years. McKinney found that the impact of the Civil War and the absence of blacks, rather than economic and geographical factors, were responsible for the persistence of Republican voting patterns. Also, mountain Republicanism was the conscious creation of politicians in a five-state region to shape their party to conform to local political conditions.

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