Straight-Out Democratic Party

The Straight-Out Democratic Party was a Southern faction that broke with the Democratic Party in the 1872 presidential election. Dissatisfied with the Democratic Party throwing their support to the Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley, they held a convention on August 16 in Louisville, Kentucky; 604 delegates from all states attended. The delegates nominated for President Charles O'Conor (who informed them by telegram that he would not accept their nomination) and for Vice President John Quincy Adams II. Philosophy In a letter accepting his nomination, Adams provided a lengthy description of the party's philosophy: Despite O'Conor's refusal and lacking time to find a new candidate, the party ran the ticket anyway. They received 23,054 votes (0.36%) and no Electoral College votes. ==1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election==

In the 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election, the Straightout Democrats (no hyphen) were an activist faction that succeeded in taking control of the party. They sometimes wore red shirts to show their support for the paramilitary white supremacist groups known as Red Shirts, who used violence and the threat of violence to prevent blacks from voting. Their candidate, Wade Hampton III, became governor. ==1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election==

An unsuccessful breakaway group of Democrats in the 1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election called themselves the Straightout Democrats. They wore red shirts in memory of the 1876 party. ==Newspaper==

The Delaware Straight-Out Truth Teller was the name of a newspaper published in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1872. The Straight-Out Democrat was the name of a newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina, between 1878 and 1879. ==References==