The great Democratic Ratification meeting in New Orleans was one of many state or city gatherings organized by local Democrats to ratify Horatio Seymour as the party’s nominee. The New Orleans mass meeting introduced a new song to the world:
Charleston Mercury
Thursday, Aug 20, 1868
Charleston, SC
Page: 4
Horatio Seymour was the former governor of New York. Frank Blair came from a prominent Democratic family. He served as a general with the Union army, but by 1868 he was one of the most pronounce racists of the Northern Democrats.
In the second section of the song, the Democratic slogan of A White Man’s Government appears. The “mendicants” referred to are Northerners who came South after the Civil War. The song says that Grant will fight under a flag of “sable hue.” Sable is black. The implication is that the Republicans are the black man’s party.
In case you want to get your church choir to sing The White Man’s Banner, I procured a copy of the sheet music.
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