Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
How does stuff like this happen? I'm used to reading about minorities and women being oppressed, but then you'll occasionally read about stuff like this or a woman governor in Wyoming or something, and it kind of muddies up the nice neat picture of the olden days being white men with whips beating on everyone else.
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After they seceded, the Southern states lost their seats in the US Congress.
In 1870, Mississippi was still in Reconstruction, but had regained their seats. Accordingly, their legislature was required to elect the 2 senators that would fill the remaining terms of their senators. Back then, the legislatures of the various states elected their senators. Direct election of Senators did not come until much later with the passage of the [mumble] amendment to the Constitution.
The legislatures of the Southern States were dominated during Reconstruction by carpetbaggers from the North, almost inevitably Republicans, and African American Southerners. Accordingly, the choices they made were not exactly in accordance with the wishes of the majority of their citizens.
Once Reconstruction came to a complete end, the "Solid South" became apparent. I looked it up, and Mississippi had exclusively Democratic Senators from 1881-1978...
EDIT: The other Senator the Mississippi legislature appionted was a former Union general. I doubt he would've won a direct election...