Tests of Priority

Abstract

This chapter examines how southern members of Congress balanced and selected among their contending priorities, how they sought to change legislative institutions to achieve their goals, and how their choices and actions shaped national policy in enduring ways. It examines southern lawmaking across three broad issues: revenue, economic regulation, and spending. In each issue area, the South hoped to achieve changes that would make policy more equitable across the country's regions. Each confronted the South with a set of unpalatable choices, options that the region's representatives ultimately were unable to reconcile. The chapter first looks at the politics of revenue, an issue on which southern Democrats had to make common cause with often unreliable northern allies. Then, it turns to market regulation and finance, particularly efforts to regulate interstate commerce, break up trusts, and establish a more locally responsive financial system. Finally, it considers national spending policies.