Turning Point: Republicans

In 1867, the Conservatives who’d held power in Texas lost their position; they had enacted seemingly race-neutral legislation that was really a Black Code, and they had refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to protect the civil rights of Black Texans. The Republican Party in the US Congress, controlled by the “radical” wing which favored punitive measures toward ex-Confederates in addition to Black voting rights, dismantled Southern governments for their intransigence. Union military officers wielded authority over state officials, and General Philip Sheridan actually removed Texas Governor James Throckmorton as an “impediment to Reconstruction.”

The policies of the Republicans in Congress offered hope to Black and white Texans who disagreed with the ideas of the Democratic/Conservative faction in state politics and prompted them to organize themselves into a state chapter of the Republican Party. The most loyal core of this coalition consisted of free-Blacks and newly emancipated Blacks who identified the Republicans as the guardians of freedom and the only political vehicle for them to assert the rights they deserved as a result of their freedom and citizenship. Many people mistakenly assume that white Southerners did not join the Republican Party during Reconstruction. In Texas, support for the Republicans centered on promoting economic development through railway subsidies, establishing a system of free public education, and voicing the concerns of residents from the more westerly counties who were underrepresented in the state legislature.

When the Republican Party held power in Texas (1867-1874), they enacted many reform-minded laws that promoted economic development and education. But another important part of their program was a “law and order” platform predicated upon the goal of protecting the civil and political rights of Black Texans. In their mind, a public sphere where everyone carried a gun was just an opportunity for the Confederate-sympathizing majority in Texas to assassinate them. As a result, they embraced the idea of comprehensive weapon regulations. It is their commitment to civil rights and biracial democracy that gave birth to the public carry laws of Texas.