Mississippi farmers blamed the Bourbon leaders for their economic problems, and in the 1880s they believed that in order to improve their economic plight, they needed to gain control of the Democratic Party by electing candidates who reflected their interests rather than attempting to create a third party.
The three primary reasons are <em>the requirements for Confederate states to reenter the Union; overseeing the rebuilding of a Southern economic infrastructure; the fate of millions of freed slaves.</em> These were the main issues and hot topics of American Civil War during that time.
