There was steady economic and social progress among some classes in Mississippi after the Reconstruction era, despite the low prices for cotton and reliance on agriculture. Politically the state was controlled by the conservative elite whites, known as "Bourbon Democrats" by their critics. The Bourbons represented the planters, landowners and merchants. They used violence, intimidation, and coercion to suppress black voting at the polls, but freedmen elected many representatives to local offices, such as sheriff and justice of the peace. The Bourbons controlled the Democratic Party conventions and state government.