The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part One

With so much political turmoil going on in the country right now, and with the involvement in that turmoil of groups long affiliated with the southern part of the United States, more especially, with the former Confederacy, I thought I'd put together some basic political history on those states and their relationship to the Democrats and Republicans. I've chosen to start with 1930, as that year began the shift and realignment in the political system, giving a decided edge to Democrats in the following years. Essentially all of this information is available on the websites of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, respectively.  

The Great Depression, and the failed three and one half year response to it by the Republican administration of Herbert Hoover, helped to give the incoming 1933 Democratic administration of Franklin Roosevelt and a heavily Democratic Congress the chance to make Democrats the majority party, potentially, for years to come. That's just what happened, with Roosevelt winning four presidential terms (there was no term limit at that time), the fourth of which was completed by Harry Truman, due to Roosevelt's death in mid April 1945, and then Truman won a term in his own right in 1948. The Democrats dominated elections for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, with overwhelming support from the states of the former Confederacy. Beginning with the midterm election of 1930, * the Democrats had a majority in the House of Representatives until the election of 1946 (members taking office in 1947**). In the Senate, Republicans barely held on (they had had a 12 seat majority before the election), as the two parties each had 48 seats, but with the vice president able to break any tie vote, this guaranteed Republican control. *** The Democrats gained control of the Senate in 1933, following the election of 1932. They kept control of the Senate until 1947, in the wake of the Republican victory in the 1946 election. 

The states that had composed the Confederacy were solidly Democratic. Here is the break down by state when Congress convened after the 1930 election in 1931:

Alabama U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members-10 Democrats
Arkansas U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 7 Democrats
Florida U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 4 Democrats
Georgia U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 12 Democrats
Louisiana U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 8 Democrats
Mississippi U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 8 Democrats
North Carolina U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 10 Democrats
South Carolina U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 7 Democrats
Tennessee U.S. Senators- 2 Democrats; House members 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans
Texas U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 17 Democrats, 1 Republican (died in office, replaced by Democrat, making all 18 members Democrats)
Virginia U.S. Senators-2 Democrats; House members 9 Democrats, 1 Republican

I have to admit, I was more than a little surprised to find 2 Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representative delegation. They represented two districts in the eastern part of the state, which had elected Republicans in the past. Similar was the case of the one Republican congressman from Texas, who represented a district in eastern Texas in the Houston area for several terms. It is important to remember, the two major political parties were not totally of the same philosophical views as today. 

* During the actual election in 1930, the Republicans retained control of the House by a small margin, but several special elections followed before the House went into session, and Democrats won enough seats to gain a majority. Unlike Congress in more modern times, which meet for a good many months each year, the House members elected in 1930 did not actually convene for legislative purposes until December 1931 (!), by which time, Democrats had won a majority.

** Just to be clear, elections take place in the fall of a year and the new Congress does not meet until the next year. Up until, and ending with, the election of 1932, presidents did not take the oath of office until March 4 after an election, and Congress would convene then, although not necessarily for legislative purposes at that time. Beginning with the election of 1936, presidents were sworn in on January 20 following the election, and Congress "typically" has convened in early January after an election, usually in legislative mode.

*** There were 96 senators in those times, 2 senators x 48 states, as neither Hawaii nor Alaska were yet states. Democrats actually had 47 seats (22 of those in the former Confederacy), and there was 1 senator from the Farm-Labor Party of Minnesota, who often voted with the Democrats. The Vice President of the United States at that time was Charles Curtis.        

WORD HISTORY:
Move-This word "likely" traces back to Indo European "meueh," which had the notion of "move by pushing, push." This gave Latin "movere," with the meaning "move, put into motion." Old French, a Latin-based language, inherited a form of the word as "movoir" ("to move"), which was taken to England by the invading Normans and became "moveir" in Anglo-Norman. By the 1200s the word had become part of English as "moven," before the modern version. The word also took on the added meaning "to be moved emotionally." The noun form was derived from the verb about a century later.