 The Democrats were opposed to the Negro Republicans, which represented the majority of eligible voters in some states.In 1866, "The Old Guard" magazine accused the Democrats of using force and fraud to gain and retain power, and representing "but a despised faction of the American people".Many years later, the New Orleans "The Times-Picayune" was hostile to the organization in Louisiana, publishing editorials in the 1890s in favor of disenfranchisement of Negroes on the basis that they were "unfit to vote, ignorant, shiftless, depraved and criminal-minded", and would be controlled by a "ring" of white politicians.