The Conservative Party of Virginia was a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

during the second half of 19th century. It centered on opposition to

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. During its history, the party was successful in electing six congressmen to the

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, all during the

41st Congress The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1869, ...

. The party was related to similar conservative movements in other states, combining Liberal Republicans and repentant Democrats looking to improve their image as "friends of the black people" on a national level. The movement was also closely tied to the "New Departure" movement of

statesman

William Mahone William Mahone (December 1, 1826October 8, 1895) was a Confederate States Army general, civil engineer, railroad executive, prominent Virginia Readjuster Party, Readjuster and ardent supporter of former slaves. He later represented Virginia in th ...

. The Conservative Party's efforts ultimately divided the Republican Party in the state and caused its political power in Virginia to diminish.

History

Foundation

From December 11–12, 1867 a group of former Democrats, former Whigs, and moderate Republicans, led by Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart held a convention in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. Raleigh T. Daniel, the party's first chairman and a former Whig, led the organization of the party throughout the state. Alexander H. H. Stuart would later lead the

Committee of Nine The Committee of Nine was a group of conservative political leaders in Virginia, led by Alexander H. H. Stuart, following the American Civil War, when Virginia was required to adopt a new Constitution acknowledging the abolition of slavery before ...

to negotiate a compromise with President Ulysses S. Grant and leading members of Congress. The compromise called for a separate vote on former Confederate disfranchisement at the time of the referendum.

Rise

The party won majorities in both houses of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

in the 1869 elections and endorsed many moderate Republicans who had run against

Radical Republicans The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...

. However, despite their opposition to the radical Republicans the party was divided on the issue of black suffrage although most were in agreement on economic issues. Despite the party's divided opinion on black suffrage thirty blacks were elected to assembly and many of them had their views in line with the Conservatives.

Division

In 1869 the Conservative party used its majorities in the assembly to create a free public school system as required by the new state constitution and the next year would segregate all schools in Virginia. Later the assembly voted to sell most of the state's stock in railroad companies, but the low prices that investors paid created suspicions of corruption, and the state treasury received less money than anticipated and voted to pay the large public debt left over from the pre–Civil War years by issuing new bonds with thirty-four-year maturity and six percent annual interest. The Funding Act of 1871 was widely unpopular and created two factions in the party, the Funders and the Readjusters, who would later create their own party, over the debate on whether or not paying the debt was more important than supporting the public schools. A group of conservative members of the Virginia state legislature met in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

on July 1, 1870 to reorganize the party and submit their recommendations to the Legislatures with respect to congressional redistricting.

Demise

A popular bill that would increase the amount of revenue available to public schools was introduced and passed by the assembly in 1878, but was vetoed by Governor Frederick W. M. Holliday. The Readjusters would break away from the Conservative party and formed their own party and the remaining Conservative Funders lost their majorities in both houses in the same year to the Readjusters. The Readjusters would later win the governorship in 1881 causing the few Conservative bills passed by the assembly to be vetoed by William E. Cameron. In 1883 the party and most of its members merged with the Democratic party.

Criticism

In 1876, former Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise denounced the party during testimony before the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

Committee on Elections, as nothing more than "old-fashioned Democrats, old-fashioned Whigs,

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

s, locofocos, sour-crout (sic) Democrats, and Greelyites," the latter a reference to

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, whose candidacy the Conservative Party endorsed for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

in the 1872 presidential election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conservative Party Of Virginia Defunct state and local conservative parties in the United States Political parties in Virginia