The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. Senator Tillman, a fiery speaker who wore a pitchfork on his lapel, began the debate. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. The billionaire businessman ran as a Republican and scored an upset victory over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 read more, John McCain first entered the public spotlight as a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. [48], As the committees met, the convention proceeded, though in considerable confusion. Many Republican leaders had gone on vacation for the summer, believing that the fight, on their terms, would take place in the fall. As the economic downturn continued, free silver advocates blamed its continuation on the repeal of the silver purchase act, and the issue of silver became more prominent. [104] The National Silver Party, mostly former Republicans, met at the same time as the Populists; both conventions were in St. Louis. Seward spent his early career as a lawyer before winning a seat in the New York State Senate in 1830. In 1986, he began his long tenure as the U.S. read more, William Seward (1801-1872) was a politician who served as governor of New York, as a U.S. senator and as secretary of state during the Civil War (1861-65). Bryan later asked the Platform Committee chairman, Arkansas Senator James K. Jones why he was given such a crucial role as closing the platform debate; Senator Jones responded that he had three reasons: Bryan's long service in the silver cause, the Nebraskan was the only major speaker not to have addressed the convention, and that Jones had a sore throat. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. [39] When Senator Teller walked out of the Republican convention in protest over the currency plank, he immediately became another possible candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. Author: William Jennings Bryan Publisher: Haskell House Pub Limited ISBN: Size: 56.95 MB Format: PDF, ePub, Docs View: 4174 Get Book Disclaimer: This site does not store any files on its server.We only index and link to content provided by other sites. [94], Despite the confidence of the Republicans, the nomination of Bryan sparked great excitement through the nation. The main candidates headquartered at the Palmer House, their rooms often crowded as they served free alcoholic drinks. Bryan, a former Democratic congressman from Nebraska, gained his party's presidential nomination in July of that year after electrifying the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech. Bryan was born on March 19, 1860 in the small town of Salem, Illinois. At a speech in Chicago on Labor Day, Bryan varied from the silver issue to urge regulation of corporations. Bryan, who was still in Congress, spoke eloquently against the repeal, but Cleveland forced it through. "[144] Williams believes that Bryan did better than any other Democrat would have, and comments, "The nominee of a divided and discredited party, he had come remarkably close to winning. [36] Historian James Barnes wrote of Bryan's preparations: The Nebraskan merely understood the political situation better than most of those who might have been his rivals, and he took advantage in a legitimate and thoroughly honorable manner of the existing conditions. [27], Through early 1896, Bryan quietly sought the nomination. "[75] On the first ballot, Bryan had 137 votes, mostly from Nebraska and four southern states, trailing Bland who had 235; Boies was fourth with 67 votes and was never a factor in the balloting. Hayes and Harrison both won in the electoral college but lost the popular vote, for example. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). "[72] Bryan had made no arrangements for formal nominating speeches given the short timeframe, and was surprised when word was brought to him at the Clifton House that he had been nominated by Henry Lewis of Georgia: the candidate had expected the Kansas delegation to name him. The effect was deflationary. The leading candidates were former Missouri congressman Richard P. Bland and former Iowa governor Horace Boies. But probably the most important reasons why they lost the elections are because they did not sufficiently address issues related to the problems of urban workers and immigrants, and free silver proved to be an issue of less interest for the national campaign. The Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress in the 1894 midterm elections, with a number of southern states, usually solid for the Democrats, electing Republican or Populist congressmen. He had accepted the nominal editorship of the Omaha World-Herald in August 1894. "1896 Presidential Election Results". His campaign focused on silver, an issue that failed to appeal to the urban voter, and he was defeated in what is generally seen as a realigning election. "[52], On the morning of July 9, 1896, thousands of people waited outside the Coliseum, hoping to hear the platform debate. Sherman's act required the government to pay out gold in exchange for silver and paper currency, and through the early months of 1893 gold flowed out of the Treasury. It began as a simple courtesy, with a telegram that William Jennings Bryan sent. Why was the 1896 election devastating for Populist movement? The book, composed of accounts of (fictitious) lectures on the silver issue given by an adolescent named Coin to Chicago audiences, became an immense bestseller. Party members in many states, including Nebraska, demanded inflation of the currency through issuance of paper or silver currency, allowing easier repayment of debt. Attending Illinois College beginning in 1877, Bryan devoted himself to winning the school prize for speaking. Palmer was a 79-year-old former Union general, Buckner a 73-year-old former Confederate of that rank; the ticket was the oldest in combined age in American history, and Palmer the second-oldest presidential candidate (behind Peter Cooper of the Greenback Party; Bryan was the youngest). The presidential election in 1896, a contest between the Republican candidate, William McKinley (1843-1901), and the Democrat candidate, William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), was contested over McKinley's pledge to maintain the gold standard for the nation's currency, in contrast to Bryan's promise to increase the supply of money by expanding the . Its leaders have used rhetoric that stirs up anger, floated conspiracy theories, pushed the distrust of read more, William McKinley served in the U.S. Congress and as governor of Ohio before running for the presidency in 1896. [148], One legacy of the campaign was the career of William Jennings Bryan. In 1925, high school biology teacher John Scopes went on trial in Tennessee as a test of the first state law banning the teaching of evolution. [118] Starved of money, the Democrats had fewer speakers and fewer publications to issue. This popular treatment of the currency issue was highly influential. "[123] After a brief interval for handshakes, the train would pull out again, to another town down the track.[123]. "[145], The consequences of defeat, however, were severe for the Democratic Party. I don't know but its effect will be to nominate him. The election of 1896 was just as much a partisan battle over the future of American economic policy as the 2012 election. Bryan always regarded that argument as the speech's most powerful part, despite the fame its conclusion would gain. After Bryan helped rally support behind Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 presidential election, Wilson chose the now-elder Democratic statesman as his secretary of state. Why did the populist party support william jennings Bryan for president in the presidential election of 1896? Chicago banker Charles G. Dawes, a McKinley advisor who had known Bryan when both lived in Lincoln, had predicted to McKinley and his friend and campaign manager, Mark Hanna, that if Bryan had the chance to speak to the convention, he would be its choice. [122] He did not campaign on Sundays, but on most other days spoke between 20 and 30 times. According to historian Stanley Jones in his account of the 1896 election, "it seemed in retrospect a curious logic that gave a capitalist from Maine a leading role in a campaign intended to have a strong appeal to the masses of the South and West". "[145] Bryan's own explanation was brief: "I have borne the sins of Grover Cleveland. Looking upon the loud Boies and Bland supporters, Bryan commented, "These people don't know it, but they will be cheering for me just this way tomorrow night. Confusion over ballots in Minnesota resulted in 15,000voided votes and may have thrown that state to the Republicans. McKinley did well in the border states of Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky. According to Stanley Jones, The period of this tour, in the return from New York to Lincoln, was the high point of the Bryan campaign. The smell of victory seemed to hang in the air. Only Bryan was left to speak, and no one at the convention had yet effectively championed the silver cause. His widow accompanied his body in a special train car to Washington, where he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. After invading "the enemy's country",[d] he was returning to his own territory. The presidents of this eraRutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrisonare often remembered as colorless and ineffective. Although not a landslide shift comparable to election swings in the twentieth century, McKinley's victory ended the pattern of close popular margins that had characterized elections since the Civil War. United States presidential election of 1896, American presidential election held on November 3, 1896, in which Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat - Populist William Jennings Bryan. Treat all candidates fairly. His father, Silas, was a dedicated Jacksonian Democrat and a successful lawyer who served in various local elected positions and passed on his politics to his son. On July 26, 1925, five days after the verdict was issued, Bryan died in his sleep after suffering a stroke. They quickly endorsed Bryan and Sewall, urging all silver forces to unite behind that ticket. [95], The Populist strategy for 1896 was to nominate the candidate most supportive of silver. According to Stanley Jones, "the only conclusion to be reached was that the Bryan campaign, with its emphasis on the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1, had not appealed to the urban working classes. They also lost the next 2 elections, in spite of their strong backing in the popular classes. The Coliseum was located in a "dry" district of Chicago but the hotels were not. The book included (as foils to the title character) many of Chicago's most prominent men of business; some, such as banker and future Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage, issued denials that they had participated in any such lectures. Speakers for both parties found eager audiences. The train bearing The Idler pulled in after a short journey from the last stop, and after he was greeted by local dignitaries, Bryan would give a brief speech addressing silver and the need for the people to retake the government. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! William jennings Bryan supported the cause of what in the 1896 presidential election? "[79] He left the choice of a running mate to the convention; delegates selected Maine shipbuilder Arthur Sewall. Stone, chair of the notification committee, essayed a lengthy speech, he was drowned out by the crowd, which wanted to hear "the Boy Orator of the Platte". Each made their cases for gold, and likely changed few votes. Bryan's biographer, Paolo Coletta, suggests that Bryan may have played a part in inciting the silver men's departure; he was in close contact with Silver Republicans such as Teller and South Dakota Senator Richard Pettigrew. He was not yet done with campaigning, however; on November 2, he undertook a train journey across Nebraska in support of Democratic congressional candidates. June 1894 marked the publication of William H. Harvey's Coin's Financial School. Writer Edgar Lee Masters, who witnessed Bryan's speech, remembered, "Suddenly I saw a man spring up from his seat among the delegates and with the agility and swiftness of an eager boxer hurry to the speaker's rostrum. He slept much of the evening of election day, to be wakened by his wife with telegrams showing the election was most likely lost. In 1896 it was kept as a forum, and by day and night men and womenmet there to talk about the Crime of '73, the fallacies of the gold standard, bimetallism and international consent, the evils of the tariff, the moneybags of Mark Hanna, the front porch campaign of McKinley. voting restrictions what political restrictions did southern states place on african americans? "[100] Populist Kansas Congressman Jerry Simpson wrote, "I care not for party names. 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William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan, winning 292 electoral votes to Bryan's 155. [13] Bryan, who had been elected after the passage of the latter enactment, initially had little to say on the subject. The Scopes monkey trial in Dayton, Tennessee, played out under the national spotlight, with journalists, religious leaders and onlookers crowding the courtroom. [103] Populist leader Henry Demarest Lloyd described silver as the "cow-bird" of the Populist Party, which had pushed aside all other issues. [32] Once delegates were selected, Bryan wrote to party officials and obtained a list; he sent copies of his speeches, clippings from the World-Herald, and his photograph to each delegate.[28]. Darrow interrogated him on interpreting the Bible literally, which undercut his earlier sweeping religious . 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