The Southern wing of the party defended the institution of slavery and largely came to support secession and the resultant Confederate States in the aftermath of the 1860 election.
Abraham Lincoln's Republican administration successfully prosecuted the war, giving it great political advantage in the Northern states.
[3][4] Democrats began pushing for economic modernization and recovery and alleged that the Republican-controlled state governments were inefficient and corrupt.
As falling cotton prices further increased economic depression in the South, Democrats attacked the Republicans as creating unwelcome tax burdens and being unable to revive the economy.
Both Cameron and Mahone were leaders of the "Readjuster Party," a coalition of Democrats, Republicans and African Americans that sought the reduction of Virginia's pre-war debt.
The New Departure policy made Georgia's reconciliation with the business community in the North easier and facilitated northern investments in the state.
It "opposed to all attempts at centralisation and consolidation of power in the hands of the General Government" and advocated "to secure universal political rights and equality among both the white and the colored people of the United States."