Highlight words below that convey the mood.
| there was very much the same solemnity of
demeanour on the part of the spectators; as
befitted a people amongst whom religion and
law were almost identical, and in whose
character both were so thoroughly interfused,
that the mildest and the severest acts of
public discipline were alike made venerable
and awful. meagre, indeed, and cold, was the
sympathy that a transgressor might look for,
from such bystanders at the scaffold.
- the scarlet letter, nathaniel hawthorne

Hey the answer is the politics of the southern united states generally refers to the political landscape of the southern united states. due to the region's unique cultural and historical heritage, including slavery, the south has been involved in many political issues. some of these issues include states' rights, reconstruction, the civil rights movement and social conservatism. from the 1870s to the 1960s, the region was referred to as the solid south, due to their consistent support for democrats in all elective offices. as a result, its congressmen gained seniority across many terms, thus enabling them to control many congressional committees. in presidential politics, the south began to move away from national democratic loyalties with the dixiecrat movement of 1948 and the barry goldwater presidential campaign of 1964. among white southerners, democratic loyalties first fell away at the presidential level, followed much later at the state and local levels.