Even though most African-Americans faced grave threats if they opted to support the Union Reform ticket, many sincerely refused to even consider a candidate other than a Republican. One African-American told white conservatives that "before the war you wouldn't let me join your party and now I don't choose to." It was virtually impossible for whites to convince African-American voters to vote for their candidates because Republican leaders repeatedly pointed out that whites only recognized black suffrage at the point of a bayonet.