1896
Democrats (William Jennings Bryan)
Republicans (William McKinley)
• Cross of Gold speech got him the nomination at age 36;
prominent newspapers endorsed Bryan prior to the nomination
• Bryan called for a return to the principles of Jefferson &
Jackson: Who should have power?
• favored a tariff for revenue only
• criticized Supreme Court for declaring the income tax
unconstitutional (see Wilson-Gorman Tariff)
• platform called for unlimited coinage of silver @ 16 oz of
silver = 1 oz of gold
• Bryan was strongly disliked by eastern businessmen (who
happened to own a lot of gold)
• wanted “immigration of pauper” workers stopped
• Populists refused to “fuse” with Democrats, but many still sided
with the Bryan ticket
• endorsed by Eugene Debs
• support came from the debt-ridden South & West; easterners
(even eastern Democrats) were leery of dropping the gold
standard
• favored retention of the “unwritten” 2-term tradition for
Presidents
• supported by big business & the affluent
• Ohio industrialist Hanna pushed McKinley's nomination, but
McKinley made Hanna aware that he was not his pawn
• Pullman Strike (1894) raised questions about law and order, and
the Republicans exploited what the public perceived as
weaknesses in the Democratic Party
• denounced the past 4-years of Democratic Party control
• Republicans won majorities in 1894 elections
• Supreme Court decisions (1895) upheld trusts, an injunction
against Eugene Debs, & abolished the income tax
• favored gold standard, but also discussed bimetallism (took
middle ground)
• platform favored restrictions on immigration, expansion of
women's rights, & admission of states
• favored American control of the Hawaiian Islands, &
construction of the Nicaraguan Canal
• emphatically condemned lynching, calling the practice
“uncivilized and preposterous [barbarous].” McKinley had
called out the Ohio militia to stop a lynching when he was
governor
• crop failures overseas pushed the price of American wheat
higher & this sent many voters into the Republican camp
PV = 6,492,559
EV = 176
PV = 7,102,246
EV = 271
55th Congress -> House = 113; Senate = 34
56th Congress -> House = 163; Senate = 26
55th Congress -> House = 204; Senate = 47
56th Congress -> House = 185; Senate = 53
Created and compiled by
© Steve Armstrong
McKinley
39.4%
60.6%
Electoral Vote
Bryan
4 6 . 7 % 51.5%
Popular Vote