AP United States History

## Learning Outcomes

- Explain why a conservative backlash developed in the late 1960s and 1970s
- Identify how race, gender, religion, taxes, and social disorder all fed the conservative resurgence
- Understand how Richard Nixon used law and order politics, the silent majority, and appeals to Southern white voters
- Recall major examples including George Wallace, the Equal Rights Amendment, Roe v. Wade, Bakke, and Proposition 13
- Distinguish between social conservatism and economic conservatism within the New Right
- Evaluate how far the rise of conservatism was a reaction to liberal reform versus a response to 1970s economic problems
- Use this topic in APUSH causation, continuity and change over time, and political realignment essays

## AP United States History Syllabus

For the AP United States History, you are expected to understand conservative backlash against liberalism in Period 8, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the conservative resurgence began before **1980** and grew out of late **1960s** and **1970s** conflicts
- Identify how backlash developed in response to civil rights, feminism, abortion rights, affirmative action, school busing, and expanded federal power
- Explain the importance of **Richard Nixon’s** appeals to the **silent majority** and **law and order**
- Understand how the **Southern Strategy** fit into the broader realignment of white Southern voters toward the Republican Party
- Know the significance of **George Wallace’s 1968 campaign**, **Phyllis Schlafly’s anti-ERA movement**, and the rise of the **religious right**
- Recognise the importance of **Roe v. Wade (1973)**, **Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971)**, and **Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)**
- Understand how **stagflation**, the **energy crises**, and **Proposition 13 (1978)** strengthened anti-tax and anti-government politics
- Explain how **Sunbelt** growth and suburbanisation helped build a new conservative electoral base

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. Why did many Americans react against liberal reforms in the late 1960s and 1970s?
2. What did Nixon mean by the “silent majority”?
3. How did the Equal Rights Amendment and Roe v. Wade help mobilise conservatives?
4. What was the significance of Proposition 13 in California?
5. How did Sunbelt growth help the conservative resurgence?

## Introduction

The conservative backlash against liberalism was one of the biggest political shifts of the late twentieth century. In APUSH, this topic matters because it helps explain why the liberal momentum of the **1960s** did not simply continue. Instead, civil rights reform, antiwar protest, feminism, changing sexual norms, court decisions, and government expansion produced a strong reaction from many voters.

This backlash was not caused by one issue alone. It brought together people worried about racial change, crime, taxes, school policies, abortion, religion in public life, and the cost of government. By the end of the **1970s**, these concerns had weakened the postwar liberal consensus and helped create the coalition that would carry conservatism into the **1980s**.

> **Key Term: conservative resurgence**
> The renewed growth of conservative politics in the late 1960s and 1970s, driven by opposition to liberal social reform, federal power, and cultural change.

### Why liberalism produced a backlash

Liberalism reached a high point in the **1960s**. The federal government expanded through Johnson’s **Great Society**, the Supreme Court protected civil liberties and rights more aggressively, and activists pushed for racial equality, women’s rights, and change in social values. For many Americans, especially on the left, this looked like overdue progress. For many others, it looked like disorder, moral decline, and too much federal interference.

That reaction had several layers.

First, civil rights reform changed everyday life. Many white Americans supported abstract equality more than concrete policies that affected their own schools, neighbourhoods, and jobs. It is one thing to support **Brown v. Board of Education** in principle. It is another to support busing, desegregation plans, or affirmative action when they alter local institutions directly.

> **Key Term: backlash**
> A strong negative reaction against political, social, or cultural change.

Second, urban unrest and protest frightened many voters. Televised scenes of riots, campus demonstrations, antiwar marches, and clashes with police made liberal activism look, to critics, less like reform and more like chaos. This is why phrases such as **law and order** had such political power. They did not just mean policing. They implied that liberal elites had lost control.

Third, social liberalisation went beyond race. The women’s movement, gay rights activism, changing sexual norms, and later abortion rights made many religious and culturally conservative Americans feel that traditional values were under attack.

Fourth, liberal government seemed expensive. The New Deal and Great Society had expanded Washington’s role, but the economic crises of the **1970s** made many voters doubt whether government could solve problems at all.

This is the key APUSH move: do not reduce the backlash only to race. Race was central, but it was linked to gender, religion, taxes, schools, crime, and distrust of government.

> **Test Tip:** In essays, avoid saying the conservative backlash was caused by “just one thing.” Strong answers show how several issues reinforced each other.

### Nixon, Wallace, and backlash politics in the late 1960s

The election of **1968** showed how powerful conservative reaction had become. The Democratic Party was split by Vietnam, urban unrest, and internal division. Into that climate stepped **Richard Nixon** and **George Wallace**.

Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, ran as a third-party candidate. His campaign mattered because it proved that backlash politics had a large audience. Wallace appealed to white voters angry about desegregation, federal intervention, protest movements, and what they saw as social breakdown. He drew support not only from the Deep South but also from some northern white working-class voters.

> **Key Term: law and order**
> A political appeal that stressed strong policing and public authority in response to crime, protest, riots, and social unrest.

Nixon was more careful in his language than Wallace. He did not openly defend segregation in the same style. Instead, he appealed to voters through terms like **law and order** and later the **silent majority**.

> **Key Term: silent majority**
> Nixon’s term for Americans who did not join protests or movements but supported order, patriotism, and more traditional values.

When Nixon spoke of the **silent majority** in **1969**, he was appealing to people who felt ignored by protesters, students, radicals, and media attention. The phrase suggested that the loudest people were not the majority. In APUSH terms, this was politically useful because it turned social resentment into electoral support.

Nixon also benefited from the broader **Southern Strategy**.

> **Key Term: Southern Strategy**
> Republican efforts to attract white Southern voters alienated by the Democratic Party’s support for civil rights.

Be careful here. The safest way to explain the Southern Strategy is not as a single official slogan, but as a pattern of appeals to white Southern voters through themes such as states’ rights, opposition to rapid desegregation, and law and order. This mattered because the old Democratic South was beginning to shift toward the Republican Party.

But Southern realignment was only part of the story. Backlash also grew in northern cities and suburbs, especially over busing and crime. That distinction matters. If you write as if conservatism only rose in the South, your explanation will be too narrow.

### Social issues in the 1970s: feminism, abortion, busing, and affirmative action

In the **1970s**, the backlash deepened because new flashpoints appeared. These turned conservative feeling into more organised political activism.

One major issue was school desegregation through busing. Even after legal segregation ended, housing patterns meant many schools remained effectively segregated. In **Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)**, the Supreme Court approved busing as a desegregation tool.

> **Key Term: busing**
> The transportation of students to different schools to achieve racial integration.

To many liberals, busing was a practical way to enforce desegregation. To many opponents, it felt like federal overreach into local communities. This issue produced backlash in both South and North, especially among white urban and suburban voters.

Another major issue was the women’s movement. The **Equal Rights Amendment**, passed by Congress in **1972**, aimed to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. Supporters saw it as a necessary extension of equality. Opponents, led most famously by **Phyllis Schlafly**, argued that it threatened traditional family roles.

Schlafly was highly effective because she turned anti-feminism into grassroots politics. She warned that the ERA could lead to women being drafted, weaken protections for housewives, and erode conventional gender roles. Whether or not these claims were accurate is less important for APUSH than their political effect: they persuaded many Americans and helped stop ratification.

Abortion became an even more powerful issue. In **Roe v. Wade (1973)**, the Supreme Court recognised a constitutional right to abortion in early pregnancy. For many liberals, this was a victory for privacy and women’s autonomy. For many conservatives, especially religious conservatives, it became a symbol of moral decline and judicial overreach.

> **Key Term: Roe v. Wade**
> The 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognised a constitutional right to abortion in early pregnancy.

Affirmative action also became controversial. In **Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)**, the Court rejected strict racial quotas but allowed race to remain one factor in admissions. This ruling reflected the complexity of the issue: affirmative action survived in limited form, but opposition grew.

> **Key Term: affirmative action**
> Policies designed to increase opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups, especially in education and employment.

Conservatives criticised affirmative action as reverse discrimination. This mattered politically because it showed that many voters accepted the end of formal segregation but resisted policies designed to correct inequality’s long-term effects.

> **Test Tip:** Know the difference between these cases. Swann = busing and desegregation. Roe = abortion rights. Bakke = affirmative action.

### Economic conservatism, tax revolt, and the New Right

Social issues alone do not explain the conservative resurgence. The economic collapse of confidence in the **1970s** mattered just as much.

The United States faced **stagflation**: high inflation combined with weak growth and unemployment. That was especially damaging because it challenged the idea that liberal economic management worked.

> **Key Term: stagflation**
> A period of economic stagnation combined with high inflation.

The oil shocks of **1973** and **1979** drove up energy prices and worsened public frustration. For many Americans, the message seemed clear: government was large, costly, and ineffective.

This economic anger fed an anti-tax movement. The clearest symbol was **California Proposition 13 (1978)**, which cut property taxes and restricted future increases.

> **Key Term: Proposition 13**
> A 1978 California ballot measure that sharply cut property taxes and became a national symbol of anti-tax revolt.

Why did Proposition 13 matter so much? Because it showed that anti-tax politics could mobilise ordinary voters, not just business elites. Rising property values had pushed up tax bills, and many middle-class homeowners felt squeezed. Proposition 13 turned that frustration into a powerful model for national conservatives.

At the same time, a broader coalition was taking shape.

> **Key Term: New Right**
> A late twentieth-century conservative coalition that combined anti-tax politics, limited government, strong anticommunism, and social conservatism.

The New Right linked business conservatives, suburban voters, white Southerners, anti-tax activists, and social conservatives. These groups did not agree on every issue, but they shared a belief that liberalism had gone too far.

Religion gave this coalition new energy. Evangelical leaders such as **Jerry Falwell** helped organise conservative Christians more directly into politics. In **1979**, Falwell founded the **Moral Majority**, which mobilised voters around abortion, school prayer, family values, and opposition to feminism.

The demographic base of conservatism also shifted. The **Sunbelt**—the South and West—grew rapidly in population and influence. These regions often had expanding suburbs, pro-business politics, weaker unions, and a strong defence sector.

> **Key Term: Sunbelt**
> The rapidly growing South and West, which became an important base for suburban and conservative politics.

That matters for APUSH because it shows that conservatism was not only ideological. It was also rooted in population change. As political power moved toward the Sunbelt, the national electorate became more receptive to low taxes, deregulation, strong defence, and conservative social values.

### How to use this topic in APUSH essays

This subtopic is ideal for causation and continuity/change questions.

If the prompt asks why conservatism rose, build a multi-causal answer:

- backlash to civil rights and desegregation
- reaction to feminism and abortion rights
- fear of disorder, protest, and crime
- opposition to affirmative action and busing
- anger at taxes, inflation, and government spending
- evangelical political mobilisation
- Sunbelt and suburban growth

If the prompt asks whether the resurgence was mainly social or economic, argue that the two reinforced each other. Economic crisis made voters more open to anti-government arguments, while social conflict made them more open to conservative cultural messages.

For continuity and change over time, link **Barry Goldwater in 1964** to **Nixon in 1968** and **Reagan in 1980**. Goldwater helped define modern conservatism but lost badly. Nixon translated backlash into broader national politics. Reagan later consolidated the coalition.

A strong APUSH thesis might sound like this: conservative politics grew in the late 1960s and 1970s because many Americans reacted against civil rights enforcement, feminism, and liberal court decisions, while stagflation and tax revolt undermined faith in government and strengthened the New Right.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The conservative backlash began in the late 1960s, not only with Reagan in 1980
- It developed as a reaction to liberal reform, cultural change, and expanded federal power
- Race was central, but the backlash also involved gender, religion, taxes, crime, and schools
- Nixon used law and order and the silent majority to appeal to voters upset by protest and unrest
- George Wallace’s 1968 campaign showed the political strength of backlash politics
- The Southern Strategy helped Republicans attract white Southern voters alienated by civil rights reform
- Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg made busing a major backlash issue
- Phyllis Schlafly helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment by mobilising anti-feminist grassroots opposition
- Roe v. Wade became a major rallying point for social conservatives
- Bakke reflected backlash against affirmative action and fears of reverse discrimination
- Stagflation and the oil crises weakened faith in liberal economic management
- Proposition 13 symbolised anti-tax revolt and distrust of big government
- The New Right united social conservatives, economic conservatives, Sunbelt voters, and evangelicals
- The Moral Majority helped turn religious conservatism into organised political power

## Key Terms and Concepts

- conservative resurgence
- backlash
- law and order
- silent majority
- Southern Strategy
- busing
- Roe v. Wade
- affirmative action
- stagflation
- Proposition 13
- New Right
- Sunbelt


Society in Transition - Conservative backlash against liberalism