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1018 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

New York state legislature and became a leader of the Republican party caucus in his
second session. In 1866 Depew signed on as an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's
railroads, beginning an association that would last for the rest of his life. By 1874 he
was a director of the Vanderbilt system and in 1875 became its general counsel. In
1885 Depew advanced to the presidency of the New York Central Railroad. Though
primarily a businessman, Depew was drawn to politics. In 1899 Depew stepped down
from the presidency of the New York Central Railroad (but remained chairman of the
board) to serve in the U.S. Senate. Although Depew was criticized as a hired lobbyist
for the railroad and insurance industries, he completed his two Senate terms.
Chauncey Depew, My Memories of Eighty Years (New York, 1924); ANB, 6:459-60;
BDUSC (online).

436.37-437.35 "I have only ... now before you."] The text of this impromptu
speech before the Republican national convention on 19 June 1888 in Chicago's
Armory Hall was reported with minor variants in newspapers all across the nation.
Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 5:388-90.

437.2 Mugwump party] The term "mugwump" describes a political bolter or
maverick. It was the name given to Republicans who refused to support the presiden-
tial candidacy of James G. Blaine, a man they viewed as hopelessly corrupt, in the
1884 campaign. Indeed, these true Mugwumps went a step further and supported
Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland. The first known use of the term "mugwump"
was in John Eliot's Indian Bible, published in 1663 . It is derived from the Algonquian
word mugquomp, which referred to a chief or another high-ranking individual. The
term was popularized politically in 1884 by the New York Sun and became the com-
mon name for anti-Blaine Republicans. The term persisted in the United States and
Great Britain as a label for political boilers but has most often been ascribed to inde-pendent Republicans. Safire, New Political Dictionary, 471-72; Mathews, Dictionary
of Americanisms, 2:1098.

437.11 the solid South] In the late nineteenth century, "Solid South" referred to
the supposedly monolithic vote of the southern states for the Democratic party.
During Reconstruction, southern whites detested the so-called northern "Carpetbaggers"
and "Scalawags" who through the Republican party controlled most state govern-
ments. The Democratic party appealed to white southerners who harbored resentment
after the Confederacy's defeat, and Democratic politicians came to rely on the former
Confederate states for strong support. Ironically, the phrase "Solid South" was popu-larized by Confederate cavalry leader John Singleton Mosby, who startled many
southerners when he supported Republican (and Union army veteran) Rutherford B.
Hayes over Democrat Samuel Tilden in the 1876 election. In a widely publicized let-
ter, Mosby wrote: "Suppose Hayes is elected with a solid South against him--what
are you going to do then?" Mosby's usage, in the context of a southerner fighting the
solidity of the South, gave the phrase an air of political excitement. After Mosby's
letter was published, Harper's Weekly reported that ''The Solid South is the Southern
Democracy seeking domination of the United States through the machinery of the