Francis W. Dawson, pragmatic editor of the influential Charleston News and Courier, and Daniel H. Chamberlain, last Reconstruction governor of South Carolina, developed a close working relationship during the years 1874 through 1876. The two Southern emigres had opposing political affiliations. Dawson, a Democrat, bitterly fought both the nomination and election of Republican Chamberlain in 1874. The editor's evaluation of the Republican voting strength in the state nonetheless led him to support a bolting group of Independent Republicans in the 1874 campaign. However, Chamberlain's attempts to secure orderly, peaceful reform soon won the praise and ultimately the complete support of Dawson and the powerful Charleston business community. The remarkable alliance grew and took sustenance from cooperation and compromise. Predictably, both Republican and Democratic partisans sought to topple the two leaders of the cooperation movement. As the election of 1876 approached, Republican malcontents, fired by dissatisfaction with the Governor's reform and economy measures, attempted to discredit Chamberlain. Democratic dissidents denounced Dawson's strategy and called for a “Straightout” Democratic effort in the upcoming elections. Their cause drew strength from the unhappy economic situation and from the recent example of Mississippi's "redemption." In July, 1876, the emotional rebellion against Dawson's program of cooperation climaxed at the village of Hamburg when several Negro militia men were murdered. Despite the editor's ardent championship of Chamberlain and his fervent pleas for the preservation of the alliance, Dawson's plans were swept away. The Democrats, staunchly supported by the realistic editor, went on to a "Straightout" victory with Wade Hampton. The end of the flirtation marked the beginning of South Carolina's membership in the "Solid South" of the Democracy. / Master of Arts