AHC: GOP holds House in 1874

[John Fredrick Parker]

With (preferably) no PoDs prior to the 1872 elections, how can Republican losses in the upcoming midterm be mitigated enough that they hold it a little longer?

 

[ragnarokalok]

Bail out the Northern Pacific Railroad, funded by using silver to expand the monetary supply.

 

[Raferty]

Well, not having a massive Financial Panic in 1873 starting would help, as would not having the various cabinet level scandals dominating the newspapers of the time.

This caused the vast majority of the losses. Political polarization was high enough that these factors could always tip those marginal Midwestern House districts from one side to another.

Now, it should also be noted that in the South, the Republicans were walloped in 1874 because they lost the persuadable white vote to a myriad of factors (corruption in the Reconstruction State Governments, the growingly successful New Departure strategy on the part of state Democrats and Independent Republicans, and paradoxically enough, the loss of the Klan as a major factor after the crackdown to toxify the Democratic State Parties). The "Revolution of 1876" had not yet occurred, so the vote had to be persuaded rather than conquered and forced, but enough losses occurred as to make the resulting overthrow in power in 1876 possible.

There were also some fringe topics that might have driven down the Republican vote, like the tension between its core immigrant voting base in the Midwest and the temperance movement that also found a home in the party, as well as dissatisfaction with the Republican brand of political bossism, which had less outright spoils for the voters and ward heelers than the Democratic version tended to have.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Now, it should also be noted that in the South, the Republicans were walloped in 1874 because they lost the persuadable white vote to a myriad of factors (corruption in the Reconstruction State Governments, the growingly successful New Departure strategy on the part of state Democrats and Independent Republicans, and paradoxically enough, the loss of the Klan as a major factor after the crackdown to toxify the Democratic State Parties). The "Revolution of 1876" had not yet occurred, so the vote had to be persuaded rather than conquered and forced, but enough losses occurred as to make the resulting overthrow in power in 1876 possible.

There were also some fringe topics that might have driven down the Republican vote, like the tension between its core immigrant voting base in the Midwest and the temperance movement that also found a home in the party, as well as dissatisfaction with the Republican brand of political bossism, which had less outright spoils for the voters and ward heelers than the Democratic version tended to have.

The tricky thing here is that in the former Confederacy alone, the GOP lost 21 (of the 93) seats this election cycle; if we were to write these losses off, they'd somehow have to reduce their losses in the rest of the country by more than half. Maybe fewer scandals and a smarter reaction to the Crisis (maybe like what @ragnarokalok suggested) will be enough for that, but with post 1872 PoDs that might be tricky.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

Who were the liberals and independents? Is there any way that these 14 individuals could have caucused with the Republicans?

How much corruption was there in reconstruction governments?

Would it be possible for the Temperance Movement to be a Democratic movement rather than a Republican one? Or for the issue of Temperance to be weakened?