to reckon with the demands of common voters. Post-Reconstruction consolidation In the Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War in the South, the systems of choosing local officials was further democratized. However, by the 1870s the planter class, well-embedded in the Democratic Party, began a campaign to "redeem" the South from the control of Radical Republicans, which had disrupted the previous social order and elevated the political prominence of black freedmen, "carpetbaggers", and "scalawags". Allying themselves with emerging industrialists, the planters moved to quickly curtail any further disruption. In Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina the Democrats successfully stripped the ability of citizens to choose their local governments and made such choices the purview of either the state legislature or governor. Violence and electoral fraud, aided by county-level politicians, helped secure Democratic control of the "Solid South" elsewhere. Courthouse cliques also became entrenched in Kentucky county politics. Under Democratic dominance in the South, most county-level offices were filled by Democratic candidates who were selected at local conventions, often nominating a single candidate for a post who would go on to win formal election. Almost all candidates were white men. Courthouses served as convenient forums for politics, since they allowed politicians—and ambitious attorneys in particular—to meet with important local figures and gave them chances to speak to groups of locals. Courthouses were also often located near networks of communication which allowed politicians to establish contact with other public figures across a state. The cliques were never formal organizations, but were instead groups of men who had social prominence, business connections, and long residency in public office that managed affairs through personal relationships. The leaders of courthouse cliques who exerted the most influence varied across different states. In Alabama, probate judges were generally the most powerful county figures, while in Virginia circuit court judges were the most privileged. In Louisiana and Mississippi the control of county politics often rested with sheriffs, who monitored gambling and bootlegging in their jurisdictions. Some county political leaders in the South from both the Democratic Party and Republican Party practiced vote buying to ensure the election of their preferred candidates. The Democratic dominance of the South provoked the ire of Republicans and independents, who frequently complained of courthouse cliques wielding control of public affairs. The perception of county political machine control also upset poor white farmers and contributed to the growth of the Populist movement in the