Arkansas was won by the Democratic nominees, former PresidentGrover Cleveland of New York and his running mate Adlai Stevenson I of Illinois. This election illustrated the political movement towards the one-party Jim CrowSouth – which would cover every county in Arkansas except Unionist Ozark Newton and Searcy.[1] Wealthy white landowners were extremely angry that via the Union Labor Party – which the state Republicans had endorsed in the 1888 and 1890 gubernatorial elections – poor blacks and poor whites might be uniting against them.[2] The Democratic Party thus introduced a poll tax that would weigh extremely heavily upon poor Union Labor supporters and also introduced the secret ballot which would make it more difficult for illiterate blacks and poor whites to cast a vote even if they could pay the poll tax.[3]
Populist Weaver thought he had “magnificent” chances in the impoverished South,[4] and campaigned heavily there.[4] but as it turned out the halving of the electorate meant he could gain very little support. Weaver was not helped by his controversial decision to take a woman – Mary Lease – on his campaigns, as the South thought any political involvement degraded womanhood.[5] Weaver did nonetheless win counties in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas.
Results
1892 United States presidential election in Arkansas[6]
^ abcdeIn this county where Harrison ran third behind Cleveland and Weaver, margin given is Cleveland vote minus Weaver vote and percentage margin Cleveland percentage minus Weaver percentage.
References
^See Urwin, Cathy Kunzinger (January 1991). Agenda for Reform: Winthrop Rockefeller as Governor of Arkansas, 1967-71. University of Arkansas Press. p. 32. ISBN1557282005.
^Whayne, Jeannie M.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo, George (July 2014). Arkansas: A Narrative History. University of Arkansas Press. p. 280. ISBN978-1610750431.
^Perman, Michael (April 3, 2003). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888-1908. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 65. ISBN0807860255.
^ abRichardson, Darcy G. (April 2007). Others: Third Parties During the Populist Period. iUniverse. p. 138. ISBN978-0595443048.
^Kauffman, Gina (January 24, 2012). More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Kansas Women. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN978-0762776337.
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