THE CAPITAL AREA 213 deepened the dependence on slavery. Rail transportation nearly doubled the amount of cotton being shipped, and further convinced farmers, planters, and yeoman alike that protecting and extending the reach of slavery was critical to their economic success. As a result, voters in the Capital Area threw most of their support to John Jones Pettus during the gubernatorial election of 1859. Pettus had a lot in common with Brown who was serving alongside Jefferson Davis in the United States Senate by 1859. Branded a “fire-eater,” Pettus’s warnings about slave rebellions and abolitionist designs and the threat they posed to the economic success struck a chord with Capital Area residents and hardened their attitudes about slavery. However, despite Pettus’s success in 1859, not everyone in the Capital Area supported secession. The presidential election in 1860 that brought Abraham Lincoln into office exposed ideological fissures among Southerners. Hinds, Madison, and Yazoo counties cast their votes for John Bell, the Constitutional Union Party candidate. Rankin, Simpson, and Copiah counties voted for Vice President John C. Breckenridge, the Southern Democratic candidate. Bell championed union over secession and supported compromise as way to resolve the differences between free and slave states. Breckenridge, on the other hand, was an outspoken THE CLARION-LEDGER The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s statewide newspaper, began a series of articles on education reform after many advocacy activities caught their attention. They covered town hall meetings and provided data on education in Mississippi. The Clarion-Ledger published fifty-one news articles, twenty-seven staff editorials, and an eight-part investigation into public schools in the state. They also reported on all legislative committee and floor votes on all sections of the education reform bill. The Clarion-Ledger’s extensive reporting led to the newspaper receiving a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1983. Journalists who received this award were: Cliff Treyens, Nancy Weaver, Dave Hardin, Lee Cearnal, Charles Overby, and Fred Anklam. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CLARION-LEDGER, 1983 Rail transportation nearly doubled the amount of cotton being shipped, and further convinced farmers, planters, and yeoman alike that protecting and extending the reach of slavery was critical to their economic success. member of the states’ rights faction within the Democratic Party and disavowed any compromise on the slavery issue. Breckenridge carried Mississippi, but his mixed showing in the Capital Area reflected the competing class interests the six counties held. The wealthiest planters who held the most real and slave property, tended to vote for Bell, while smaller planters, farmers, and non- slaveholders tended to support Breckenridge. Elite leaders in the Capital Area, like their sister counties along the Mississippi River, preferred Bell’s moderate approach to the fiery rhetoric used by Breckenridge. Lincoln’s election, however, moved even the Bell supporters toward secession. Hinds and Madison counties, both Bell strongholds, called for local secession conventions immediately following the Republican victory. Governor Pettus called Mississippi’s congressional delegation to Jackson to discuss separation. Elections for delegates to a secession convention were held, and secessionist candidates across the state prevailed by a two-to-one margin. When the convention began at the state capitol on January 7, 1861, every county in the Capital Area, with the exception of Rankin, had delegates who favored immediate, individual secession. Rankin County’s two representatives, William Denson and John T. Thornton, split their votes, with Denson voting as a