1885 Confederate States Presidential Election (Brothers No More)

The Confederate States Presidential Election of 1885, the 5th C.S. presidential election, took place on November 3, 1885. In the first Confederate presidential election contested by two parties, Confederate Party candidate Augustus Hill Garland defeated Zebulon Baird Vance of the Southern Party by 5 electoral votes.

Background
The previous six years in the Confederacy were a time of great change. The Southern Party, the first political party in the C.S.A., took control of Congress and the presidency in the 1879 elections. Under the initial leadership of President Alexander H. Stephens, the Southern Party reversed the policies of the first three presidents by decentralizing the government, outlawing military drafts, and shrinking the size of the standing military. Stephens, however, was sickly and infirm throughout his term and died in October 1883. This passed the presidency to Vice President P.G.T. Beauregard. Beauregard experienced much less success than Stephens, as his party lost control of Congress in the 1883 midterm elections and he was much less popular with the C.S. people and his own party. With Beauregard seen as a mediocre president at best, the Southern Party hoped to put forth a strong candidate in this election to continue control over the government. Likewise, the Confederate Party looked to gain control of the presidency in its first contested presidential election.

Confederate Nomination
The Confederate National Convention was held from July 5-7, 1885 in Richmond, Virginia. Augustus Hill Garland was the clear front runner going into the convention; in the past six years since the 1879 elections, Garland had become the clear leader of the young Confederate Party both within Congress and outside of it. There was a relatively small movement to stick to the party's roots and nominate a general instead of a politician, that general usually being 1879 presidential candidate James Longstreet. Garland, however, had the support to overcome this and was nominated on the 1st ballot to a large ovation. John Tyler Morgan of Alabama, a former general known for his expansionist views, was easily nominated for vice president.

Southern Nomination
The Southern National Convention was held from July 11-15, 1885 in Atlanta, Georgia. Coming off of instability in office with the death of President Stephens and the weak showing of President Beauregard, the Southern Party wanted to nominate a strong candidate to continue their control of the presidency. They were mostly torn between three candidates: James Z. George of Mississippi, known as Mississippi's "Great Commoner", Zebulon Baird Vance, a prolific writer and one of the few prominent party members from North Carolina, and Wade Hampton III, a former general during the Southern War of Independence and the Mexican-Confederate War as well as a senator from South Carolina.

After four ballots of deadlock, George agreed to drop out in exchange for the vice presidential nomination. Vance was thus nominated for president on the 5th ballot. Vance was an outlier in his party, being from a state that was considered a Confederate Party stronghold. Party members hoped that his nomination would help them build their popularity in the border states, where they remained generally disliked for their populist and "simplistic" nature. George, being from Mississippi, helped to balance the ticket.

The Campaign
This was the first election in Confederate history where no major candidate was a military officer, although Vance, George, and Morgan all served in the War of Southern Independence. Vance, confident in his ability to carry the Deep South, went on a speaking tour of battleground states like Texas and Tennessee. With only 11 states in the C.S.A., winning or losing a single one could easily mean victory or defeat. The main battleground was Texas, which was growing rapidly and now had the most electoral votes in the country. Whoever won Texas was likely to win the whole election.

While Vance traveled around the nation expressing his views, Garland did a more traditional campaign. He was able to strike a good mix of being a Southern patriot and advocating for limited government while at the same time emphasizing the need for a strong military. The Deep South didn't like him at all- many people despised him, as a matter of fact- but this message had a profound effect in the border states and important parts of Texas.

Results and Aftermath
As was foreseen, the Deep South went to Vance and the border states went to Garland. By 5,000 votes, Garland was able to win Texas and thus the entire election by only 5 electoral votes. Because he won so overwhelmingly in the border states, the popular vote was firmly in his favor despite the razor thin victory.

Much like Stephens, President Garland entered office with majorities in both houses of Congress. Some of the Southern Party's reforms were kept, like the draft being outlawed, but in many other respects the country was returned to how it was in the 1860's and 70's. Garland was the first Confederate president to prioritize the expansion of the navy, and commissioned several state-of-the-art ships for the C.S.A. fleet.

This election had profound effects on the culture and mood of the Confederacy. A rift seemed to be growing between the Deep South and the border states. The border states favored the military and were less agrarian than the Deep South. In addition, slavery was slowly but surely dying out in the border states, and the Deep Southern states began to once again feel that their "peculiar institution" was at risk. They pushed for rapid expansion of slavery into the territories, especially Mexico, but that was hard to do while a Confederate Party president was in office. In their worship of slavery, the Southern Party supporters failed to see that the decline of their institution was becoming inevitable- cotton prices were rapidly declining in the face of international markets like India. Slavery was becoming unprofitable and wouldn't be sustainable for long. In any case, there was a growing animosity between the northern and southern parts of the Confederacy, and some observers feared a second civil war.

Tensions would ease by the end of 1892, but the early years of Garland's presidency were enough to cause worry in the minds of many Southerners. By the end of Garland's term, most in the C.S. were won over by Garland and Morgan's promises of Confederate military expansion and worldwide glory.