1900 United States presidential election in Louisiana explained

See main article: 1900 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1900 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Country:Louisiana
Flag Year:1861b
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1896 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Previous Year:1896
Next Election:1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Next Year:1904
Election Date:November 6, 1900
Image1:WilliamJBryan1902 3x4.jpg
Nominee1:William Jennings Bryan
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:Nebraska
Running Mate1:Adlai Stevenson I
Electoral Vote1:8
Popular Vote1:53,668
Percentage1:79.03%
Nominee2:William McKinley
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Ohio
Running Mate2:Theodore Roosevelt
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:14,234
Percentage2:20.96%
Map Size:350px
President
Before Election:William McKinley
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:William McKinley
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1900 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 1900. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1900 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Following the overthrow of Reconstruction Republican government, Louisiana, like most of the former Confederacy, established a Democratic-dominated but highly fraudulent political system[1] that would from 1890 be challenged by the rise of the Populist Party due to declining conditions for farmers. Both the Populists and the earlier Greenback Party — who shared key leaders like James B. Weaver — would be supported by the state Republican Party.[2] At the same time, outside of Acadiana — where French Catholic beliefs produced less hardline attitudes towards black voting[3] — intimidation was already drastically reducing the number of black voters.

Although the state GOP was deeply divided between “black and tans” and an insurgent “lily white” faction led by Acadian sugar planters,[4] a multi-party fusion candidacy in the 1896 gubernatorial election gave a strong showing against the Democratic Party, being denied according to most analyses by the persistent fraud.[5] Fear of a return to “carpetbag” and black rule amongst the state’s plantation elite was so strong that this group radically rewrote the state’s constitution in the ensuing gubernatorial term. A poll tax, a literacy test, a grandfather clause, and a secret ballot all made voting by the lower classes much more difficult, producing a reduction in the number of registered black voters by 96 percent,[6] and virtual elimination of black voting in Acadiana until the 1950s. In the remainder of the state very few blacks could vote until after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[7]

In Louisiana, the Republican party lacked any white base because Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.[8] Consequently, the state after the elimination of its black electorate became a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. After 1900, not until 1964 would another Republican serve in the state legislature.[9]

Louisiana was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Adlai Stevenson I of Illinois. They defeated the Republican nominees, incumbent President William McKinley of Ohio and his running mate Theodore Roosevelt of New York. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 58.07%.

With 79.03% of the popular vote, Louisiana would prove to be Bryan's third strongest state in the 1900 presidential election only after South Carolina and Mississippi.[10]

Bryan had previously won Louisiana against McKinley four years earlier and would later win the state again in 1908 against William Howard Taft.

This is the last time a Republican won two terms without ever winning the state.

Results

1900 United States presidential election in Louisiana[11]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
DemocraticWilliam Jennings Bryan53,66879.03%8
RepublicanWilliam McKinley (incumbent)14,23420.96%0
Write-insScattered40.01%0
Totals67,906100.00%8
Voter turnout

Results by parish

1900 United States presidential election in Louisiana by parish[12] ! rowspan="2"
Parish
Democratic

Republican
Margin
data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"% data-sort-type="number" width="11%"data-sort-type="number" width="11%"% data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%
Acadia57770.02%24729.98%33040.05%824
Ascension82456.36%63843.64%18612.72%1,462
Assumption58453.53%50746.47%777.06%1,091
Avoyelles95185.06%16714.94%78470.13%1,118
Bienville88993.19%656.81%82486.37%954
Bossier63599.06%60.94%62998.13%641
Caddo1,33896.05%553.95%1,28392.10%1,393
Calcasieu1,55970.93%63929.07%92041.86%2,198
Caldwell28380.63%6819.37%21561.25%351
Cameron18571.98%7228.02%11343.97%257
Catahoula52678.51%14421.49%38257.01%670
Claiborne88596.30%343.70%85192.60%919
Concordia36295.51%174.49%34591.03%379
92398.19%171.81%90696.38%940
83784.89%14915.11%68869.78%986
17695.65%84.35%16891.30%184
55196.50%203.50%53192.99%571
Franklin36292.35%307.65%33284.69%392
Grant35069.17%15630.83%19438.34%506
Iberia1,03060.66%66839.34%36221.32%1,698
Iberville67464.50%37135.50%30329.00%1,045
Jackson33380.24%8219.76%25160.48%415
Jefferson1,28295.60%594.40%1,22391.20%1,341
Lafayette69667.31%33832.69%35834.62%1,034
Lafourche1,23059.77%82840.23%40219.53%2,058
Lincoln51789.45%6110.55%45678.89%578
Livingston39996.38%153.62%38492.75%414
Madison15396.84%53.16%14893.67%158
Morehouse46198.29%81.71%45396.59%469
Natchitoches84588.20%11311.80%73276.41%958
Orleans18,16879.98%4,54920.02%13,61959.95%22,717
Ouachita66393.51%466.49%61787.02%709
Plaquemines56783.14%11516.86%45266.28%682
58696.38%223.62%56492.76%608
Rapides1,42081.66%31918.34%1,10163.31%1,739
46298.72%61.28%45697.44%468
Richland30495.90%134.10%29191.80%317
Sabine54391.26%528.74%49182.52%595
39889.64%4610.36%35279.28%444
43590.25%479.75%38880.50%482
39548.59%41851.41%-23-2.83%813
33178.62%9021.38%24157.24%421
1,29784.99%22915.01%1,06869.99%1,526
53882.64%11317.36%42565.28%651
81857.44%60642.56%21214.89%1,424
51576.41%15923.59%35652.82%674
Tangipahoa93880.38%22919.62%70960.75%1,167
Tensas21297.70%52.30%20795.39%217
Terrebonne74060.16%49039.84%25020.33%1,230
Union75087.72%10512.28%64575.44%855
Vermilion62562.75%37137.25%25425.50%996
Vernon52266.67%26133.33%26133.33%783
Washington44989.26%5410.74%39578.53%503
Webster60498.53%91.47%59597.06%613
18582.96%3817.04%14765.92%223
17398.86%21.14%17197.71%175
32094.40%195.60%30188.79%339
Winn29355.60%23444.40%5911.20%527
N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Totals53,66879.03%14,23420.96%39,43458.07%67,906

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hair, William Ivy. Bourbonism and agrarian protest; Louisiana politics, 1877-1900. 1969. 0807109088. 114–115.
  2. Book: Kousser, J. Morgan. The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910. 1975. Yale University Press. New Haven, Connecticut. 0-300-01973-4. 25. Second Printing.
  3. Howard. Perry H.. 1954. Political Tendencies in Louisiana, 1812-1952; An Ecological Analysis of Voting Behavior. 112-113. A New Look at Reconstruction. LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 8115.
  4. Book: Heersink. Boris. Jenkins. Jeffrey A.. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. 265–266. 1107158435.
  5. Kousser. The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 41
  6. Book: Lewinson, Paul. Race, class and party; a history of Negro suffrage and white politics in the South. 1965. Grosset & Dunlap. New York City. 81.
  7. Subcommittee No. 5 . 1965. 1965 Voting Rights Act. Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives. 4, 139–201.
  8. Book: [[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips]], Kevin P.. The Emerging Republican Majority. 208, 210. 9780691163246.
  9. Kang. Michael S.. Hyperpartisan Gerrymandering. Boston College Law Review. May 29, 2019. 69. 1395.
  10. Web site: 1900 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
  11. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Louisiana
  12. Web site: Géoelections. Popular Vote for President, 1900 (.xlsx file for €15).