Replication Data for: 'Restoration' and Representation: Legislative Consequences of Black Disfranchisement in the American South, 1879-1916

The elimination of Black voting in the U.S. South after Reconstruction is the most significant instance of democratic backsliding in American history. I use newly collected state legislative roll call data from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of more than 19,400 unique roll calls, to explore Black disfranchisement’s consequences for legislative representation. Using ideal point estimates in a panel design, I demonstrate that disfranchisement is associated with substantial changes in roll call voting. In states where competition between Democrats and Republicans structured roll call voting, disfranchisement precipitated shifts away from more-Republican roll call records. In states already dominated by Democrats before disfranchisement, disfranchisement often led to relative shifts toward the agrarian, reform wing of the Democratic Party. These results demonstrate the centrality of Black disfranchisement for the creation of the Solid South and the significant impact of Black suffrage on southern politics in the years following Reconstruction.美国重建时期（Reconstruction）结束后，美国南方黑人选举权被剥夺，是美国历史上民主倒退最为显著的案例。本研究使用新搜集的19世纪末至20世纪初州议会唱名表决（roll call）数据，该数据集包含逾19400条独立唱名表决记录，旨在探究黑人选举权剥夺（disfranchisement）对议会代表权造成的影响。本研究借助面板研究设计（panel design）框架下的理想点估计值（ideal point estimates），证明选举权剥夺与唱名表决行为的显著变化存在关联。在两党（民主党与共和党）竞争主导唱名表决格局的州，黑人选举权剥夺促使议会表决行为偏离原本更偏向共和党的表决倾向；而在选举权剥夺前就已由民主党一党独大的州，选举权剥夺往往促使议会表决相对转向民主党内部的农业改革派阵营。上述研究结果表明，黑人选举权剥夺是“民主党稳固南方（Solid South）”格局形成的核心动因，同时也证实了重建时期后黑人选举权（suffrage）对南方政治所产生的深远影响。