 Elliott compared the situation of the Democrats to that of the Republicans during Reconstruction, how the splintering campaigns by the Independent Republicans in 1872 and 1874 caused the eventual downfall of the regular Republicans in 1876.He pointed out the rise of agrarian dissatisfaction in the state by the organization of a Greenback party as the beginning of the breakup of the Democratic party.Proponents of the state ticket wavered in their support upon hearing Elliott, and the issue was left with the executive committee of the party.