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The Civil War would shape Kentucky politically for not merely the rest of the nineteenth century but also for the twentieth by creating entrenched divisions between secessionist, Democratic counties and Unionist, Republican ones. The southern cultural hegemony meant state as a whole leaned Democratic throughout the Third Party System and the GOP would never carry the state during that era at either the presidential or gubernatorial level.
Brown, Thomas J.; ‘The Roots of Bluegrass Insurgency: An Analysis of the Populist Movement in Kentucky’; The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Summer 1980), pp. 219-242
See Tiffany, Jordan A.; ‘On How the Republican Party Won Elections: 1860 To 1892’ (thesis), p. 40