ABSTRACT
Between the C i v i l War and the election of 1928, an overwhelming majority of Afr ican American voters were Republicans. This loyalty was completely understandable: f rom its inception in 1854, the Republican Party was anti-slavery. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, was closely identified w i t h slaveholders and secession. The first Republican President, A b r a h a m L i n c o l n , had signed the Emancipat ion Proclamation, and his allies and successors passed and (for a time) enforced the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. D u r i n g Reconstruction, newly enfranchised black voters in the South helped the Republ ican Party achieve nat ional pol i t i ca l hegemony that lasted unt i l at least 1880.
