Bourbon Democrats

(noun)

Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States from 1876 to 1904 to refer to a member of the Democratic Party, conservative or classical liberal, especially one who supported Charles O'Conor in 1872, Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, President Grover Cleveland in 1884–1888/1892–1896, and Alton B. Parker in 1904. After 1904, the Bourbons faded away.

Related Terms

Examples of Bourbon Democrats in the following topics:

  • Depression Politics

    • The main issues revolved around the severe economic depression, which the Republicans blamed on the conservative Bourbon Democrats led by Cleveland.
    • The delegates at the 1896 Democratic National Convention quickly turned against the policies of Grover Cleveland and those advocated by the Bourbon Democrats, favoring bimetallism as a way out of the depression.
    • Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan now took the stage as the great opponent of the Bourbon Democrats.
    • Most Bourbons returned to the Democratic party by 1900 or 1904 at the latest.
    • Bryan demonstrated his hold on the party by winning the 1900 and 1908 Democratic nominations as well; in 1904, a Bourbon, Alton B.

  • The Bourbons and the Redeemers

    • Redeemers were the southern wing of Bourbon Democrats—the conservative, pro-business wing of the Democratic Party during Reconstruction.
    • Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States from 1876 to 1904 to refer to a member of the Democratic Party, conservative or classical liberal—especially one who supported Charles O'Conor in 1872, Samuel J.
    • Woodrow Wilson, who had been a Bourbon, made a deal in 1912 with the Bourbon's leading opponent, William Jennings Bryan; Bryan endorsed Wilson for the Democratic nomination, and Wilson named Bryan Secretary of State.
    • Bourbon Democrats were promoters of capitalism and opposed to the protectionism that the Republicans were then advocating.
    • Redeemers were the southern wing of the Bourbon Democrats—the conservative, pro-business faction in the Democratic Party who sought to oust the Republican coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags.

  • Politics in the Gilded Age

    • Gilded Age politics were characterized by intense competition between Republicans and Democrats and much demographic change.
    • Accordingly, there were widespread calls for reform, such as the Civil Service Reform led by the Bourbon Democrats and Republican Mugwumps.
    • In 1884, the Democrats won their first national victory since 1856 with the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland to the presidency.
    • The Bourbon Democrats supported a free-market policy, with low tariffs, low taxes, less spending, and in general, a laissez-faire (hands-off) government.
    • Demographic trends boosted the Democrats' totals, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants had become Democrats and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans.

  • The Debate over American Imperialism

    • Journalist Ashley Smith divides theories of the U.S. imperialism into five broad categories: (1) "Liberal" theories, (2) "social-democratic" theories, (3) "Leninist" theories, (4) theories of "super-imperialism," and (5) "Hardt-and-Negri-ite" theories.
    • A "social-democratic" theory says that imperialistic U.S. policies are the products of the excessive influence of certain sectors of U.S. business and government—the arms industry in alliance with military and political bureaucracies and sometimes other industries such as oil and finance, a combination often referred to as the "military-industrial complex. " The complex is said to benefit from war profiteering and the looting of natural resources, often at the expense of the public interest.
    • Many of the League's leaders were classical liberals and "Bourbon Democrats" (Grover Cleveland Democrats) who believed in free trade, a gold standard, and limited government; they opposed William Jennings Bryan's candidacy in the 1896 presidential election.
    • Instead of voting for protectionist Republican William McKinley, however, many, including Edward Atkinson, Moorfield Storey, and Grover Cleveland, cast their ballots for the National Democratic Party presidential ticket of John M.

  • Social Darwinism in America

    • For example, The Bourbon Democrats supported a free-market policy, with low tariffs, low taxes, less spending and, in general, a laissez-faire government.

  • Louis XVIII and the Bourbon Restoration

  • Napoleon's Constitution

    • The document virtually replaced the previous Napoleonic Constitutions and reframed the Napoleonic constitution into something more along the lines of the Bourbon Restoration Charter of 1814 of Louis XVIII, while otherwise ignoring the Bourbon charter's existence.
    • Worried by the democratic forces unleashed by the Revolution, but unwilling to ignore them entirely, Napoleon resorted to regular electoral consultations with the French people on his road to imperial power. 

  • Democratic Socialism

    • France is an example of a democratic socialist state.
    • On one end, democratic socialism may combine a democratic national political system with a national economy based on socialist principles.
    • On the other end, democratic socialism may refer to a system that uses democratic principles to organize workers in a firm or community (for example, in worker cooperatives).
    • Democratic socialism became a prominent movement at the end of the 19th century.
    • France is an example of a democratic socialist state.

  • The Democratic Party

    • The Democratic Party is a major political party in the US which promotes a social liberal, social democratic and progressive platform.
    • President Barack Obama is the15th Democrat to hold the presidency.
    • The Democratic-Republican Party gained power in the election of 1800.
    • As the American Civil War broke out, Northern Democrats were divided into War Democrats and Peace Democrats.
    • The Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of fiscal and social conservatives and moderates, forms part of the Democratic Party's current faction of conservative Democrats.

  • Louis XV

    • Louis XV (1710 – 1774), known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1715 until his death.
    • To remedy this situation, the Duke of Bourbon set about choosing a European princess old enough to produce an heir.
    • Following the advice of Fleury, Louis XV appointed his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, to replace the late Duke of Orléans.
    • The ministry of the Duke of Bourbon pursued policies that resulted in serious economic and social problems in France.
    • As a result of Bourbon's rising unpopularity, the king dismissed him in 1726 and selected Cardinal Fleury, his former tutor, to replace him.