What Prevented Planter Elites from Exercising Complete Political Dominance Over

What prevented planter elites from exercising complete political dominance over the Cotton South in the 1830s and 1840s?

A) They lived in a republican society with democratic institutions that elicited input from all white men.
B) The Cotton Revolution increased resentment on the part of poor whites toward planters' power and position.
C) Plantation management required so much of their time that many planters had to refrain from political service.
D) The emergence of a new class of wealthy industrial elites in the South checked their power.