Letters from an American

On My Mind

History Extra for September 13, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson
Sep 14, 2024
∙ Paid

Americans began to use the term “Bourbon Democrat” in 1871 to represent those white men standing against the rights of the Black workers white southerners claimed were radical revolutionaries. 

The term was loosely associated with what Americans knew of the European House of Bourbon, from which sprang monarchies throughout the ages. One of the branches o…

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