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book: Texas After The Civil War

"With the demise of the Davis administration, the Texas Democratic party took over the reins of government and controlled them virtually unchallenged until the middle of the twentieth century. At least through the nineteenth century, the Redeemer Democrats who represented the plantation, merchant, and railroad interests that had come to dominate the party by the end of Reconstruction remained in control and shaped not only party policy but also that of the state government. Their basic positions on public affairs began to be formed almost immediately during the sessions of the Fourteenth Legislature as party leaders attempted to secure three major goals. The first was to lower taxes as much as possible, a purpose that cemented small farmers to the party and fulfilled the desires of the large landed interests of the state, including planters and by this time the railroads. The second objective was the continued encouragement of economic development through aid to railroads and other such endeavors, though without raising taxes. And the third was securing the state's landed interests' control over labor. A new constitution in 1876 provided the institutional framework that assured that the Redeemers achieved these ends. Democratic politics throughout the rest of the century revolved around the use of whatever means were needed to maintain power to meet the party's aims.

"The Fourteenth Legislature began the process necessary for Democrats to gain their political goals, but from the beginning, party leaders realized that achieving them required changes in the basic institutions of government. As a result, during the first session, they initiated efforts at writing a new consti- tution. Governor Coke and other Democratic leaders originally wanted law- makers to carry out this task, avoiding the costs of a convention and also lim- iting the possibilities that an open fight would take place between the party's regular leadership and the agrarians. A committee drafted a document that differed from the Constitution of 1869, before its amendment, primarily in its provisions for supporting internal improvements and carrying out elections. The proposal confirmed the use of land grants as a means of encouraging the development of a transportation system, maintained a system of voter regis tration, and added the requirement that all voters had to pay a poll tax, a feature clearly intended to restrict black participation. What would have been the Constitution of 1874 failed to pass both houses of the legislature, however. This led to a constitutional convention in 1875.

"The convention met at Austin on September 6, 1875, and remained in ses- sion for almost three months. Democrats dominated the proceedings, and even though disputes developed between the delegates who represented the controlling interests of the party and agrarians-possibly forty of the ninety delegates were members of the Grange-they produced a draft constitution..."

chapter: Conservative Triumph
page 199

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