Abstract:
This article quantitatively analyses voter turnout and voting patterns in North Carolina from the 1850s to 1864. There was increased tension between the slaveholding elite and the smaller farmer class which was exacerbated by the wartime burdens the average North Carolinian suffered. Increased political competition also deepened the divide between the classes. This resulted in a transformation of the political landscape of North Carolina and the formation of a frustrated class of voters who had no ties to antebellum political machines and were determined to be heard.