Why is Indiana so damned Republican?

[Jacobtm]

Since the Republican party has been around, it seems that Indiana is almost always a SOLIDLY Republican state in Presidential elections. 

Since the existance of the Republican party, Indiana has voted Democratic in Presidential elections 7 times. 1876, 1884, 1892, 1912, 1932, 1936 and 1964.

I'm not sure of the specifics behind Indiana voting Democratic in the 1800's, but in the 1900's, the 4 elections that they went Democratic were all under extreme circumstances.

In 1912, Roosevelt split the Republican vote, and Wilson won with 43%, while if the Republican vote were united, they would've won with 48%.

Obviously, with the Great Depression, it'd make sense to vote for someone different in '32 and '36, but then in '40 and '44, Indiana quickly changed their mind and began voting Republican again.

In '64 Goldwater only won 6 states. Indiana went with the flow here, but it was only because it was SUCH an extreme landslide that Indiana got swept up.

So what's the deal here? It doesn't even make sense that Indiana would've been particularly pro-Republican during the Civil war and Reconstruction, as there was hardly any sort of Abolitionist movement in Indiana. In fact, I've heard that they were one of the worst Union states in regards to Black rights (besides the slave-holding ones). Hell, one of the times they went Democratic was when James G. Blaine was running, so his rather "liberal" stance on slavery and black rights probably had something to do with it.

Currently, it seems that the reason Indiana is SO Republican can be attributed to the fact that it doesn't have any really large cities. Their largest city, I believe, is Indianapolis, which is home to around 850,000 people. In most states, Republicans tend to do better in rurual areas, while Democrats do better in urban areas, so the distinct lack of large urban areas would seem to predispose Indiana towards being Republican now.

But why should it have been so Republican back in the early part of the 1900's, when the Democrats were all populist and people in the rural areas of the nation loved them?

[Jacobtm]

Northerners often tend to convieniently forget their own racist past and present and make the South a scapegoat for all American racism.

I'm well aware of racism in the north.

There were race riots in Boston as late as the 1970's.

Though the south undeniably much worse. You didn't hear quite so much about lynchings/burnings of random black people in the North, nor quite so much about slavery.

[Jacobtm]

Northerners often tend to convieniently forget their own racist past and present and make the South a scapegoat for all American racism.

I'm well aware of racism in the north.

There were race riots in Boston as late as the 1970's.

Though the south undeniably much worse. You didn't hear quite so much about lynchings/burnings of random black people in the North, nor quite so much about slavery.

The North had lots of slavery although they did abolish it before the South did. Slaves made up 18% of Newport, RI's population at the time of the Revolution. In New York, slaves accounted for about 15% (Jack Greene's Pursuits of Happiness). The textile factories that launched Britain and the North into the Industrial Revolution in the early nineteenth century were dependant upon Southern slave labor. The North had very serious race issues in the 20th century as well, with some of the worst riots in Detroit and Newark. Racial tension is a national issue and pops up wherever there are substantial numbers of both blacks and whites.

I know all that, that's why I said you didn't hear quite so much about slavery and lynchings/burnings it in the North as you did in the South. The Noth has a big share of the racism in the U.S., but the South definately has more.

[Jacobtm]

The rural areas are definitely the reason.  More than 70% of Indiana's counties have less than 50,000 people (Group A), and more than 80% have less than 100,000 (Group B).  Group A counties make up 30% of Indiana's population and Group B makes up an astounding 41% of Indiana's population.  Given the fact the rural voters come out in higher numbers than urban voters, it becomes clearer why the state has such strong Republican trends.

That makes sense in current terms, but why were they so strongly Republican back when Republicans were seen as the party of elitist north-eastern Business interests and Democrats were seen as the rural farmer's party?