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"Waving the bloody shirt" and "bloody shirt campaign" were pejorative phrases, used during American election campaigns during the Reconstruction era, to deride opposing politicians who made emotional calls to avenge the blood of soldiers who died in the Civil War.
"waving the bloody shirt" This was a campaign tactic used by post-Civil War Republicans to remind northern voters that the Confederates were Democrats. The device was used to divert attention away from the competence of candidates and from serious issues.
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in April 1865 may have marked the military end to the war, while the end of Reconstruction in 1877, and the triumph of Redemptionist politics in the former Confederate States, may stand as alternative landmarks in a not so unanimously-embraced closure of the Rebellion.
“Waving the Bloody Shirt:” Reconstruction Era Violence and Political Identity. Content warning: This post discusses murders motivated by racism against African Americans. Some quotations include language that is considered inappropriate by today’s standards.
BLOODY SHIRT was part of the expression "waving the bloody shirt," referring to a political ploy used in campaigns during the Reconstruction period, following the Civil War. This term described the attempts made by radical northern Republicans to defeat southern Democrats by using impassioned oratory about bloody sacrifice designed to keep ...
The term 'Bloody Shirt' refers to a political tactic used primarily in the late 19th century, especially during the Gilded Age, where politicians invoked the memory of the Civil War and its violence to rally support and attack their opponents.
