On March 24 in Columbia, a gathering of conservative Democrats, called the Peace and Harmony convention, plotted strategy for the upcoming gubernatorial election.

The conservatives had learnt from their defeat to Tillman in the gubernatorial election of 1890 and realized that it was necessary to give their nominee momentum prior to the canvassing of delegates for the Democratic nominating convention.

The conservatives requested a primary to select the nomination of the statewide Democratic ticket instead of the convention system currently being used, but the Tillmanites refused because they were fully in control of the party machinery.

Furthermore, the Tillmanites introduced a new rule that blacks could only participate in the selection of delegates if they had ten white men vouch that they voted for Hampton in the gubernatorial election of 1876.

"[1] Sheppard put up a good fight against Tillman, yet fell short by 22,092 votes in the primary on August 29 to select delegates to the state nominating convention.