1. The “New South”

2.  After Reconstruction, Democrats known as
Bourbons rose to power in the South.
 The Bourbons thought that the South needed to
have more industry and rely less on agriculture
for its economic welfare.
 In Georgia, three leaders dominated state
politics: came to be known as the Bourbon
Triumvirate.

3.  Bourbon Triumvirate was made of the
following men:
 Joseph E. Brown
 John B. Gordon
 Alfred H. Colquitt
 The Triumvirate expanded railroads, and
increased industrialization in the South.
 The Triumvirate also promoted “white
supremacy” – the idea of white being superior
to African Americans.

7.  Editor of the Atlanta Constitution.
 Used the paper to promote what he called the
“New South”.
 Grady believed the South needed to be more
like the North economically and stop relying
on cotton and farming.
 Convinced many northern business to invest in
the South.
 Started a new university that came to be
known as “Georgia Tech”.

9.  In an attempt to attract northern businesses to
the South, Grady promoted the first
International Cotton Exposition.
 Expositions are public shows, often put on by
businesseses.
 Despite the efforts of the Bourbon’s and Grady,
agriculture remained the states biggest
business.

11.  Not everyone agreed with Henry Grady’s vision of
the New South.
 Political leader Tom Watson criticized the New
South program because he claimed it hurt small
farmers in Georgia.
 Many farmers had reason to believe Watson was
correct. Many of the farmers were going into debt
do to the crop lien system.
 Crop lien system allowed farmers to borrow
against their upcoming harvest in order to get
supplies. Many times the next harvest would not
be big enough to pay back the loan causing the
farmers to go further in debt.

12.  Angry and frustrated about getting further and
further in debt, a large number of southern
farmers joined the populist movement.
 Populism was a political movement that fought
to help farmers.
 Eventually the populist group came to known
as the People’s Party.
 Tom Watson becomes the most powerful voice
for Populism in Georgia and one of the most
powerful in the nation.

15.  As industrialization continued to grow in the
South, businessmen in Atlanta gained more power.
 Rural Georgians feared they were being pushed
out of the political process by northern influences.
 In response to these fears, Georgia established the
county-unit system.
 The county-unit system gave more power to the
rural counties, rather than the more industrialized
(populated) counties.
 Many felt the county-unit system was unfair
because the rural counties candidates would win
elections even though the majority of the state
would vote for someone else.

18.  Latimer was the wife of a progressive
congressman, and an activist.
 Latimer and her husband challenged the
Bourbon Triumvirate, and their convict lease
system.
 Fought for woman's suffrage (right to vote).
 First women to serve as U.S. Senator for the
state of Georgia. Filling in for Tom Watson
after he died.

20.  In September 1906, due to growing racial
tensions over segregation (keeping blacks and
whites – separate but equal) Atlanta suffered a
three day Atlanta Race Riot.
 White mob started the riot over unproven
reports that black men assaulted several white
women.
 Mob attacked black-owned businesses and
killed several business owners.
 Over twenty African Americans and at least
two whites died during the riot.

22.  African Americans were not the only targets of
ethnic violence during this time period.
 April 1913, 13 year old Mary Phagan was
murdered.
 Leo Frank, the Jewish factory superintendent
from whom Phagan worked was convicted,
arrested, and later charged for the murder of
Mary Phagan.
 Leo Frank was sentenced to hang, but John M.
Slaton (Georgia Governor) commuted
(reduced) the sentence to life in prison after
personally investigating the case.

23.  Slaton believed if given time eventually Leo
Franks innocence would be proven.
 Many Georgians were outraged, and on a dark
night in 1915, a group from Phagan’s
hometown kidnapped Leo Frank and hung
him from a tree in Marietta Georgia.
 This remains the only known Jewish person
hung in the United States.
 Decades later, evidence showed that Leo Frank
was innocent , and the state pardoned him
seventy-one years after his death.