A courthouse clique, courthouse machine, courthouse ring, courthouse gang, or courthouse crowd is a type of political machine in the United States principally composed of county-level public officials. Historically, they were especially predominant in the South until the mid-20th century. Historical era Rise During the colonial period of the United States, the early forms of government established across the Eastern Coast differed by region. In the North, Puritan-led communities set-up democratic systems rooted in local participation. In the South, particularly the Colony of Virginia, more oligarchical forms of governance resembling the systems used in the Kingdom of England were established by the ruling groups. The royal governors appointed county officials, particularly justices of the peace. As in England, the justices were responsible for managing local affairs including setting taxation rates, regulating businesses, and maintaining roads. Other colonies in the South adopted a similar pattern of administration. Most of the appointees were members of the landed gentry and had life-long tenures. Over time they developed significant independence from the governors, and began asserting their right to fill local vacancies. Governors assented to these demands by generally appointing the justices' nominees for vacancies and their choices for sheriffs and other officials. The justices, by virtue of their control over county administration, assumed considerable influence over colonial legislative elections. Despite some occasional protests from poorer citizens, the county courts became a medium by which wealthy planters exercised control over politics in the South. Public agitation towards courthouse cliques contributed to the outbreak of the War of the Regulation in North Carolina. 19th century democratic reforms The court system in the South remained relatively unchanged until the early 1800s. In that time the number of court officials had burgeoned so that some counties had as many 90 justices at once. Meanwhile, the incumbent officers were increasingly criticized by the public for alleged inefficiency, incompetence, and corruption. Professional lawyers spearheaded demands for reform by attacking the planter-justices' lack of legal education. The proliferation of Jacksonian democracy as a political philosophy also challenged the position of the appointed court officers. State legislatures created new statutes and wrote new constitutions which dispensed of the justices and empowered themselves or the citizens of a given county to elect judges for fixed terms. By 1861 most citizens in the South could elect their sheriffs, coroners, constables, and other county officials. Planters still held many local offices but were forced