Freedman's rights dominated state politics in Illinois during the Reconstruction years of 1865-70. Illinois was a racist society, and both Democrats and Republicans manipulated racial attitudes to their political advantage . The Democrats, linking the Negro with the Republican party, appealed negatively to white racist attitudes. The Republicans, seeking political dominance through the support of the black vote, used the rhetoric of the "Bloody Shirt," the preservation of the Union's hard-won victory in the Civil War, and the need to punish the South. On the issue of black rights, therefore, the Republican party avoided confronting racial equality, and implicitly substituted the issue of political dominance. By the close of the decade people tired of the black cause. Politicians, perceiving little political advantage in espousing the black cause, dropped the issue. The blacks in Illinois, nevertheless, emerged from the political maneuvering of this period with some political and civil rights they had not previously enjoyed.