Well Fed and Ready to Vote Republican
Republican Barbecue, Courtesy of The New York Public Library
In 1876, a presidential election year, Republicans controlled the White House. A reconstruction era Congress had members of the US military stationed in what had been Confederate states during the Civil War or bordering states to protect the rights of potentially Republican voters many of them freedmen (formerly enslaved people). A common practice among Democrats and Republicans had been to host political rallies where party leaders distributed free food in exchange for listening to party leaders and candidates for public office. For example in August of 1876, Republican Party officials held a well-attended barbecue in Richmond, Indiana. When the pit master and crew finished barbecuing the meat and prepared to serve it to those in attendance, US soldiers and others in attendance “fought nobly” for it. At the end of the rally all left well fed and ready to vote Republican.