Taxpayer Revolt Beginning Of End For Radicals

Texans from every corner of the unhappy state gathered in Austin on Sept. 22, 1871, for the “Taxpayers Convention,” the first mass protest against the Radical Republican regime.

Even though military occupation has been replaced by civilian rule, the lives of most people had not improved but taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Under the heavy-handed Radicals, taxes went through the roof as basic rights continued to be systematically violated. When the call went out in August 1871 for a show of statewide dissatisfaction, 91 counties sent delegates to the watershed event called the “Taxpayers Convention.”

While Democratic ex-Confederates made up the majority, several big-name Unionists were also in attendance. Among the dissident Republicans, who had broken ranks with the Radicals, were three ex-governors and a former U.S. Senator: James W. Throckmorton, A.J. Hamilton, E.M. Pease and Morgan Hamilton. To emphasize the political diversity of the coalition, the convention chose Pease as presiding officer.

In his opening remarks, the chairman pulled no punches accusing the free-spending Davis administration of bleeding the treasury dry in a mere 17 months. At a time when the state could get by on $800,000 a year, the Radicals were picking Texans