The Election
of 1896
DEMOCRATS
1. President Cleveland was in office:
a. Was successful in having the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act repealed in 1893
b. Democratic party becomes split on free silver
issue.
c. Cleveland
fails to be re-nominated.
d. Silver is a central issue in the election of
1896.
2. So the Democrats nominate
William Jennings Bryan
a. Congressman from Nebraska
b. He gives the “Cross of
Gold” speech- in
support of silverbacked currency
c. Populists join with
Democrats and hope
for victory. This ended
the 3rd party in 1896.
REPUBLICANS
A.
B.
William McKinley
(Rep. Nom)
Platform: Would
maintain gold
standard and end
depression
President William McKinley
Republican
1897-1901
Garret A. Hobart
(1897-1899),
none (1899-1901),
Theodore Roosevelt
(1901)
Political Aspects
(1) The Election of 1896…
 Republican Candidate: William
McKinley
 Democratic Candidate: William
Jennings Bryan
 Issues: Tariff; Gold or Silver
Standard
McKinley and Bryan
(1 cont) McKinley won by the largest majority
of popular votes since 1872!
Electoral Map of 1896
(Teal = Bryan, Green = McKinley)
Notice the # of states that vote for
Bryan…yet he still lost! Why?
Economic Aspects



When McKinley became President, the depression of
1893 had just about died out, as well as the big fuss
over silver.
Dingley Tariff Act, 1897 –Redeemed the Republican
promises to restore the high protective tariff and
provided for an average rate of 49%
(12) Gold Standard Act, 1900 – under its terms, the
United States formally placed its money on the gold
standard. All currency was fully backed by gold. Its
price was fixed at $20.67 an ounce.

Social Aspects
A minority faction of
Republicans supported
national prohibition, as did
some Populists (mostly in the
West rather than the South).
Since 1869, the strongest
supporters of anti-liquor had
banded together in the
Prohibition Party.
 Temperance
Restraint in the use
of or abstinence
from alcoholic
liquors

Women’s Christian
Temperance Union
(WCTU) – founded in
1874, but became very
popular in the 1890s
Race Relations:
 He appointed 30 African Americans to "positions
of consequence" (mainly jobs in diplomatic and
records offices), much less than what black
Repubs. had wanted.
 During the Spanish-American War, he overruled
orders preventing the recruitment and service of
black soldiers.
 This did not do much to halt the continued
mistreatment of blacks in American society.

(2) The
Grandfather
Clause was passed
in 1898 in Louisiana
And soon 7 other states by 1910, the Grandfather Clause stated that all
men or lineal descendants of men who were voters before 1867 did not
have to meet the educational, property, or tax requirements for voting
then in existence. This effectively allowed all white males to
vote while denying the franchise to black men and other
men of color. The Grandfather Clause, with its voting denial, became
the centerpiece of a much larger system of discrimination and racial
segregation.
(11) Election of 1900- same candidates…
Republican Candidate: William McKinley
 Republican VP Candidate: Theodore
Roosevelt
 Democratic Candidate: William Jennings
Bryan
 Issues: Currency issue dead! Focus turns to
imperialistic views due to the SpanishAmerican War of 1898

Electoral Map of 1900
(Blue = Bryan, Green = McKinley)
McKinley defeated Bryan by even larger
margins!
(13) Assassination
of McKinley
September 6, 1901, in
Buffalo, NY
 28-year-old Leon
Czolgosz, an anarchist,
had fired a hidden
revolver into the
President’s chest.

Czolgosz claimed to have shot the president
because
he was the "enemy
of the people, the
good working
people." The
assassin expressed
no remorse for his
actions and died in
the electric chair on October 29, 1901.

First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley lost two infant
daughters as well as her mother within three years of
her marriage to McKinley. She then developed
epilepsy and became
an invalid.
 McKinley gave her his full
attention, breaking White
House protocol in seating
her by his side at State
dinners. When shot by an
assassin in 1901, McKinley
said to his secretary, "My wife,
be careful… how you tell her -- oh, be careful."
