[28] He continued to give speeches, and collected his traveling expenses, and most often a speaking fee, from those who had invited him. "[110][111][112] August 12 was an extremely hot day in New York, especially for the crowd jammed into the Garden; when Missouri Governor William J. [99], Even before their convention in late July, the Populists faced dissent in their ranks. See. On the fifth ballot, other states joined the Bryan bandwagon, making him the Democratic candidate for president.[76][77]. [85][86] Some of the Democratic political machines, such as New York's Tammany Hall, decided to ignore the national ticket and concentrate on electing local and congressional candidates. NAACP what organization used the court system to fight discrimination? Why was the 1896 election devastating for Populist movement? 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. The proposed platform was pro-silver; Senator Hill had offered an amendment backing the gold standard, which had been defeated by committee vote. This was not the case: the mining industry was seeing poor times, and had little money to donate to Bryan. Treat all candidates fairly. "[60] From the start, Bryan had his audience: when he finished a sentence, they would rise, shout and cheer, then quiet themselves to ready for the next words; the Nebraskan later described the convention as like a trained choir. William Jennings Bryan delivering a campaign speech in 1910. "Silver Dick" Bland was seen as the elder statesman of the silver movement; he had originated the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, while Boies' victories for governor in a normally Republican state made him attractive as a candidate who might compete with McKinley in the crucial Midwest. He was followed by Senator William Vilas of Wisconsin and former Massachusetts Governor William D. Russell. Only Bryan was left to speak, and no one at the convention had yet effectively championed the silver cause. "[123] After a brief interval for handshakes, the train would pull out again, to another town down the track.[123]. He spoke some 600 times, to an estimated 5,000,000 listeners. His speech, set as the only one besides Bryan's in favor of silver, portrayed silver as a sectional issue pitting the poorer folk of the South and West against gold-supporting New York and the rest of the Northeast. Although Bryan was successful in winning the non-binding popular vote, Republicans gained a majority in the legislature and elected John Thurston as senator.[11]. The 1900 United States presidential election was the 29th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1900.In a re-match of the 1896 race, incumbent Republican President William McKinley defeated his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan.McKinley's victory made him the first president to win a consecutive re-election since Ulysses S. Grant had accomplished the same . [46], Just before the convention, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made initial determinations of which delegations were to be seatedonce convened, delegates would make the final determination after the convention's Credentials Committee reported. [126] In what Williams describes as "a political campaign that became an American legend",[106] Bryan traveled to 27 of the 45 states, logging 18,000 miles (29,000km), and in his estimated 600 speeches reached some 5,000,000 listeners. The first report from the Credentials Committee, on the afternoon of July 8, recommended the seating of Bryan's delegation. He was young, had a respectable but not burdensome record, came from the West, and understood the arts of conciliation. 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. Rather than continue the free silver battle, he dedicated himself to opposing American imperialism, which he saw as immoral and undemocratic. 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. Although defeated in the election, Bryan's campaign made him a national figure, which he remained until his death in 1925. His father, Silas Bryan, was a Jacksonian Democrat, judge, lawyer, and local party activist. Historian James A. Barnes deemed the DNC's vote immaterial; once the convention met on July 7, it quickly elected a silver man, Virginia Senator John Daniel, as temporary chairman and appointed a committee to review credentials friendly to the silver cause. President Cleveland, stunned by the convention's repudiation of him and his policies, decided against open support for a bolt from the party, either by endorsing McKinley or by publicly backing a rival Democratic ticket. [138] Palmer received less than 1% of the vote, but his vote total in Kentucky was greater than McKinley's margin of victory there. Populism and the Election of 1896. On April 22, 1893, the amount of gold in the Treasury dropped below $100million for the first time since 1879, adding to the unease. why did william jennings bryan lose the election of 1896? The effect was deflationary. After the defense called Bryan himself as an expert on the Bible, Darrow subjected him to a brutal examination in the sweltering courtroom, revealing his lack of theological as well as scientific knowledge. In anticipation of a presidential campaign, he spent much of 1895 and early 1896 making speeches across the United States; his compelling oratory increased his popularity in his party. [55] The New York Times described the setting: There never was such a propitious moment for such an orator than that which fell to Bryan. "[63] He continued: Upon which side will the Democratic Party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses"? [68] Delegates were shouting to begin the vote and nominate Bryan immediately, which he refused to consider, feeling that if his appeal could not last overnight, it would not last until November. Bryan was well rested. "[42] Bryan's strategy was simple: maintain a low profile as a candidate until the last possible moment, then give a speech that rallied the silver forces behind him and bring about his nomination. A devout Protestant, his populist rhetoric and policies earned him the nickname the Great Commoner. In his later years, Bryan campaigned against the teaching of evolution in public schools, culminating with his leading role in the Scopes Trial. The biggest announcement in the run-up to the 1908 presidential election came in 1904 when, on the evening of his election, Pres. [148], One legacy of the campaign was the career of William Jennings Bryan. There is no legal or constitutional requirement that the loser of a U.S. presidential election must concede. He knew personally more delegates than did any other candidate and he was on the ground to supervise his strategy. The shortness of the speech did not dismay the crowds, who knew his arguments well: they were there to see and hear William Jennings Bryanone listener told him that he had read every one of his speeches, and had ridden 50 miles (80km) to hear him, "And, by gum, if I wasn't a Republican, I'd vote for you. [69] In the midst of the crazed crowd, Altgeld, a Bland supporter, commented to his friend, lawyer Clarence Darrow, "That is the greatest speech I ever listened to. Bryan was strongly affected by the emerging Social Gospel movement that called on Protestant activists to seek to cure social problems such as poverty. I will add for the encouragement of those who still believe that money is not necessary to secure a Presidential nomination that my entire expenses while in attendance upon the convention were less than $100. Much of the blizzard of paper the Republican campaign was able to pay for concentrated on this area/ By September, this had its effect as silver sentiment began to fade. [146] The election of 1896 marked a transition as the concerns of the rural population became secondary to those of the urban; according to Stanley Jones, "the Democratic Party reacted with less sensitivity than the Republicans to the hopes and fears of the new voters which the new age was producing". [22][23] In the 17months between his departure from Congress and the Democratic National Convention in July 1896, Bryan travelled widely through the South and West, speaking on silver. The economic Panic of 1893 had left the nation in a deep recession, which still persisted in early 1896. The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. No delegation must be permitted to violate instructions given by a state convention. United States presidential election of 1900, American presidential election held on November 6, 1900, in which Republican incumbent Pres. Though he continued to publicly oppose U.S. involvement in World War I after his resignation, Bryan changed course after the nation entered the conflict in 1917 due to extensive popular support for the war effort. We come to speak of this broader class of business men.[62][63]. "[141], On November 5, Bryan sent a telegram of congratulations to McKinley, becoming the first losing presidential candidate to do so, "Senator Jones has just informed me that the returns indicate your election, and I hasten to extend my congratulations. There was little advantage to the Democratic Party in nominating a candidate from Nebraska, a state small in population that had never voted for a Democrat. A streak of the moralist preacher raised his political chances among a people attuned to the biblical phrase and Shakespearan [sic] stance. "[131], The South and most of the West were deemed certain to vote for Bryan. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and the 1908 elections. Speakers for both parties found eager audiences. He then lowered his arms, and began the journey back to his seat in the silence. "[79] He left the choice of a running mate to the convention; delegates selected Maine shipbuilder Arthur Sewall. [9] Bryan did not support Cleveland, making it clear he preferred the Populist candidate, James B. Weaver, though he indicated that as a loyal Democrat, he would vote the party ticket. [31] Most state conventions did not bind, or "instruct", their delegates to vote for a specific candidate for the nomination; this course was strongly supported by Bryan. [95], The Populist strategy for 1896 was to nominate the candidate most supportive of silver. 3). Although Bryan claimed that many employers had intimidated their workers into voting Republican, Williams points out that the Democrats benefited from the disenfranchisement of southern African Americans. A free silver policy would inflate the currency, as the silver in a dollar coin was worth just over half the face value. William Jennings Bryan, The First Battle: A Story of the Campaign of 1896[78], At the Clifton House, Bryan's rooms were overwhelmed with those wishing to congratulate him, despite the efforts of police to keep the crowds at bay. The 1896 presidential race is generally considered a realigning election, when there is a major shift in voting patterns, upsetting the political balance. He was admitted to the Illinois bar and began practicing law in Jacksonville, marrying Mary Elizabeth Baird in 1884; the couple went on to have three children. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System. Bryan, with this declaration, set the theme of his argument, and as it would prove, his campaign: that the welfare of humanity was at stake with the silver issue. [30] As state conventions met to nominate delegates to the July national convention, for the most part, they supported silver, and sent silver men to Chicago. "[101] Many Populists saw the election of Bryan, whose positions on many issues were not far from theirs, as the quickest path to the reforms they sought; a majority of delegates to the convention in St. Louis favored him. In the book, Bryan made it clear that the first battle would not be the last, "If we are right, we shall yet triumph. He had accepted the nominal editorship of the Omaha World-Herald in August 1894. He supported many Populist policies. Bryan served as Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915, resigning as Wilson moved the nation closer to intervention in World War I. Bryan campaigned heavily on a platform of free silver in 1896, and continued that trend into the election of 1900. Populists claim to speak for ordinary people, taking an "us versus them" stance. Eugene V. Debs Why did most southern states pass laws to disenfranchise black voters in the 1890s To eliminate the possibility of future political alliances between poor whites and blacks Which reform did the Populists call for on their party platform of 1892 Public ownership of railroads and telegraphs The left-wing Populist Party (which had hoped to nominate the only silver-supporting candidate) endorsed Bryan for president, but found Sewall unacceptable, substituting Thomas E. Watson of Georgia. "[145] Bryan's own explanation was brief: "I have borne the sins of Grover Cleveland. [117] McKinley's chosen strategy was a front porch campaign; he would remain at home, giving carefully scripted speeches to visiting delegations, much to the gratification of Canton's hot dog vendors and souvenir salesmen, who expanded facilities to meet the demand. [65], Bryan concluded the address, seizing a place in American history:[66], Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. Gold Democrats had success in the Northeast, and little elsewhere. To that end, it was important that the Populists not nominate a rival silver candidate, and he took pains to cultivate good relations with Populist leaders. The New York World reported, "The floor of the convention seemed to heave up. Book Description Mr. Bryan's unfinished memoirs, which close with an account of the Baltimore convention of 1912, make up less than half the . As Bryan had called New York in an ill-considered statement to the press before leaving Lincoln. "[52], On the morning of July 9, 1896, thousands of people waited outside the Coliseum, hoping to hear the platform debate. William Jennings Bryan was born in rural Salem, Illinois, in 1860. In 1890, he agreed to run for Congress against William James Connell, a Republican, who had won the local congressional seat in 1888. Retrieved May 19, 2012. The 1896 race is generally seen as a realigning election. In August 1893, Bryan earned admiration from free silverites with his three-hour speech in Congress decrying President Grover Clevelands (ultimately successful) effort to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and again tie U.S. currency to the gold standard. The only areas of the nation where Bryan took a greater percentage of the urban than the rural vote were New England and the Rocky Mountain states; in neither case did this affect the outcome, as Bryan took only 27% of New England's vote overall, while taking 88% of the Rocky Mountain city vote to 81% of the vote there outside the cities. Senator Jones felt compelled to spend five minutes (granted by the gold side), stating that the silver issue crossed sectional lines. 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. McKinley and Hanna gently mocked Dawes, telling him that Bland would be the nominee. 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. [87] Large numbers of traditionally Democratic newspapers refused to support Bryan, including the New York World, whose circulation of 800,000 was the nation's largest, and major dailies in cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, and Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Hanna raised millions from business men to pay for speakers on the currency question and to flood the nation with hundreds of millions of pamphlets. Bryan was present when it was announced that his delegation would not be initially seated; reports state he acted "somewhat surprised" at the outcome. At every stop, he made contacts that he later cultivated. [115], Bryan's plan for victory was to undertake a strenuous train tour, bringing his message to the people. Abandoned by many gold-supporting party leaders and newspapers after the Chicago convention, Bryan undertook an extensive tour by rail to bring his campaign to the people. [135], William and Mary Bryan returned to Lincoln on November 1, two days before the election. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis; the merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, who begins in spring and toils all summer, and who by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world. [67], Bryan described the stillness as "really painful"; his anxieties that he might have failed were soon broken by pandemonium. [140] The Democratic Party preserved control in the eastern cities through machine politics and the continued loyalty of the Irish-American voter; Bryan's loss over the silver issue of many German-American voters, previously solidly Democratic, helped ensure his defeat in the Midwest. Despite his defeat, Bryan's campaign inspired many of his contemporaries. Those that served principally as agricultural centers or had been founded along the railroad favored Bryan. Poor Grover Cleveland a hard-money, laissez-faire Democrat was blamed for the panic of 1893, and many leading Cleveland Democrats lost their gubernatorial and senatorial posts in the 1894 elections. "[34] He also attended, as a correspondent for the World-Herald, the Republican convention that month in St. Louis. Southern newspapers stayed with Bryan; they were unwilling to endorse McKinley, the choice of most African Americans, though few of them could vote in the South. [40] President Cleveland spent the week of the convention fishing, and had no comment about the events there; political scientist Richard Bensel attributes Cleveland's political inaction to the President's loss of influence in his party. This popular treatment of the currency issue was highly influential. The day after his Cross of Gold speech, Bryan won the Democratic presidential nomination; he also won the support of the Populist and National Silver parties. June 1894 marked the publication of William H. Harvey's Coin's Financial School. Why did William Jennings Bryan lose the 1896 election? "[143], Michael Kazin, Bryan's biographer, notes the many handicaps he faced in his 1896 campaign: "A severe economic downturn that occurred with Democrats in power, a party deserted by its men of wealth and national prominence, the vehement opposition of most prominent publishers and academics and ministers, and hostility from the nation's largest employers". The presidents of this eraRutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrisonare often remembered as colorless and ineffective. The Democrats nominated Arthur Sewall, a wealthy Maine banker and shipbuilder, for vice president. His final years were marked with controversy, such as his involvement in the Scopes Monkey Trial in the final weeks of his life,[147][149] but according to Kazin, "Bryan's sincerity, warmth, and passion for a better world won the hearts of people who cared for no other public figure in his day".[150]. Carrying some 200 people, the train bore signs on each of its five cars, such as "The W.J. This advocacy brought him contributions from silver mine owners in his successful re-election bid in 1892. 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 . That evening, Bryan dined with his wife and with friends. He was a fine actor, with a justly famous voice, but was not a charlatan. A Missourian, Ezra Peters, wrote to Illinois Senator John M. Palmer, "Coins [sic] Financial School is raising h in this neck of the woods. After several days in upstate New York, during which he had a dinner with Senator Hill[c] at which the subject of politics was carefully avoided, Bryan began a circuitous journey back to Lincoln by train. The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. He also argued in support of a graduated income tax, antitrust laws and other government regulation of business, womens suffrage and the prohibition of alcohol. However, many delegates disliked Sewall because of his wealth and ownership of a large business, and believed that nominating someone else would keep Populist issues alive in the campaign. [151] The poet Vachel Lindsay, 16years old in 1896, passionately followed Bryan's first campaign, and wrote of him many years later: Where is that boy, that Heaven-born Bryan,That Homer Bryan, who sang from the West?Gone to join the shadows with Altgeld the Eagle,Where the kings and the slaves and the troubadours rest.[152]. Many of the silver men had not attended a national convention before, and were unfamiliar with its procedures. However, the business man argument was new, though he had hinted at it in an interview he gave at the Republican convention. [61] He dismissed arguments that the business men of the East favored the gold standard: We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application. These Truths: A History of the United States. The Coliseum was located in a "dry" district of Chicago but the hotels were not. The dark horse is in his stall, feasting on the oats of hope and political straws. [96][97] According to Stanley Jones, "the Democratic endorsement of silver and Bryan at Chicago precipitated the disintegration" of the Populist Party;[98] it was never again a force in national politics after 1896. Former Populist governor of Colorado Davis H. Waite wrote to former congressman Ignatius Donnelly that the Democrats had returned to their roots and "nominated a good & true man on the platform. Bryan's endorsement, soon after Chicago, by the Populists, his statement that he would undertake a nationwide tour on an unprecedented scale, and word from local activists of the strong silver sentiment in areas Republicans had to win to take the election, jarred McKinley's party from its complacency. Attending Illinois College beginning in 1877, Bryan devoted himself to winning the school prize for speaking. The 1896 Democratic National Convention repudiated the Cleveland administration and nominated Bryan on the fifth presidential ballot. The majority felt exposed, crestfallen, and humiliated.[56]. Thanks in advance if you have any recommendations! William Jennings Bryan, (born March 19, 1860, Salem, Illinois, U.S.died July 26, 1925, Dayton, Tennessee), Democratic and Populist leader and a magnetic orator who ran unsuccessfully three times for the U.S. presidency (1896, 1900, and 1908). He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley . Crowds assembled hours or days ahead of Bryan's arrival. [1] As a judge's son, the younger Bryan had ample opportunity to observe the art of speechmaking in courtrooms, political rallies, and at church and revival meetings. He campaigned relentlessly, traveling around the country and giving hundreds of speeches to millions of people, while his Republican opponent, Ohio Governor William McKinley, stayed home and gave speeches from his porch. Both had openly declared their candidacies, and were the only Democrats to have organizations seeking to obtain pledged delegates. The Republican William Howard Taft worked as a judge in Ohio Superior Court and in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals before accepting a post as the first civilian governor of the Philippines in 1900. [129] Republican newspapers and spokesmen claimed that Bryan's campaign was expensively financed by the silver interests. The main candidates headquartered at the Palmer House, their rooms often crowded as they served free alcoholic drinks. Retrieved May 19, 2012. I don't know but its effect will be to nominate him. 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. [49] Bryan had been widely supported as a candidate for permanent chairman by the silver men, but some western delegates on the Committee on Permanent Organization objected, stating that they wanted the chance to support Bryan for the nomination (the permanent chairman was customarily ruled out as a candidate). Bryans inability to differentiate between social Darwinism and the scientific theory of evolution galvanized his more fundamentalist, religious supporters but earned him the disdain of many others who shared his progressive politics. 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. An ardent read more, A native of Tennessee, Al Gore served as vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton from 1992 to 2000, after a long tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. In 1896, Bryan captivated the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a passionate oration urging his countrymen to stand up for the common man against big business interests and support free silver. After the fourth ballot, the Illinois delegation caucused and Altgeld was one of only two remaining Bland supporters, thus giving Bryan all of the state's 48 votes and bringing him near the two-thirds mark and the nomination. "[142] By the end of 1896, Bryan had published his account of the campaign, The First Battle. As Hill was determined to take the platform fight to the full convention, the committee discussed who should speak in the debate, and allocated 75minutes to each side. He won the prize in his junior year, and also secured the affection of Mary Baird, a student at a nearby women's academy. The Democrats did gain some financing from the mine owners, although it is uncertain how much. In 2007, Gore won a Nobel read more, Considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and known as Englands national poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright. "[57] The Nebraska delegation waved red handkerchiefs as Bryan progressed to the podium;[56] he wore an alpaca sack suit more typical of Lincoln and the West than of Chicago. With its procedures, Even before their convention in late July, the Republican candidate, former Ohio William... Of hope and political straws convention that month in St. Louis only Democrats to have organizations seeking to obtain delegates. Lowered his arms, and were the only Democrats to have organizations to!, one legacy of the time until 1932 shipbuilder Arthur Sewall had offered an amendment backing the standard. Legal or constitutional requirement that the loser of a running mate to the press before Lincoln... 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