New York in the latter half of the 19th century

[Rob]

Not exactly part of this topic, but oh well: Interesting how the KKK endorsed candidates like Kalvin Koolidge [sic] when the Democrats were still the party of the south.

The reason is that the "second Klan" of the 1920's was not a southern institution. The KKK was strongest not in Mississippi and Alabama (though it certainly had its adherents there); it was strongest in the northern states of Oregon and Indiana. The organization's doctrine of "Native, White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Supremacy" held strong appeal for northern whites (even New York City had a strong chapter). A great many of these new Klansmen were Republicans, traditional supporters of the Party of Lincoln.

As for Klammy Kool Kalvin Koolidge (the name taken from a Democratic poster attacking him for being supported by the Klan): he refused to denounce the KKK, while both Democrat John Davis and Progressive Robert LaFollette openly attacked the organization throughout the campaign.

[Rob]

And that all contributed to making New York generally more liberal than New England in those days or...?

No, by today's standards the Democrats were conservative and the Republicans were liberal. The Democrats supported free trade, low taxes, states' rights, wanted a smaller federal government, and opposed civil rights.

[Rob]

No, by today's standards the parties may have reversed their stance on the issues, but in their respective frame of reference the Republican party was always the party of big money, and the Democrats always sought to represent the average man.

That's true, but the Democrats had their own business base. Financiers liked free trade, and so they supported the party; the GOP was supported by industrialists who wanted high tariffs. Also, in the western states businessmen tended to be Democrats, while the workers tended to be Republicans.

In any case, the voting division then wasn't economic; it was cultural. Civil War memories trumped all other issues for decades, and only the tariff came close as an issue.

[Rob]

How would you say Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (yes, I know, this is a tad later than this thread is concerned with) represented their parties respectively?

That doesn't relate to this thread, because after 1896 the political situation was completely different. Anyway, I'd say TR represented the GOP well. He was part of the progressive Republican tradition, leading back to abolitionism. Wilson did not represent his party well.  Bryan began the process of breaking the Democratic Party from its conservatism; Wilson completed it.

[Rob]

Isn't it the case though that the Democrats got the minorities and the Republicans the New England elite throughout the entire 19th century?

In the Northeast, yes. The immigrants and urban poor voted Democratic, both because of boss control and because the Republicans supported nativist policies such as prohibition. The WASP elite voted Republican because they were hungry for higher tariffs, many of them being in high industry.

However, in the rest of the country this was reversed. In the old Confederacy, the Bourbon elite were staunchly Democratic and the poorest citizens- blacks and "white trash" Unionists- voted Republican. In the West, the prosperous merchants and business leaders were quite often Democrats, while their employees- identifying with Lincoln's ideal of the common man- voted Republican.