By 1896, populist issues had become so important that the Democratic candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan, pledged to support them and went on to win most of the South and West. Darrow interrogated him on interpreting the Bible literally, which undercut his earlier sweeping religious . Department of State: Office of the Historian. 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. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. The nominations The presidential campaign of 1896 was one of the most exciting in American history. "I was a Democrat before the Convention and am a Democrat stillvery still. "[70], When order was restored after Bryan's speech, the convention passed the platform, voting down the minority report and a resolution in support of the Cleveland administration; it then recessed for a few hours until 8:00pm, when nominating speeches were to be made. It began as a simple courtesy, with a telegram that William Jennings Bryan sent. [147] This was evidenced in the tariff question: Bryan spent little time addressing it, stating that it was subsumed in the financial issue; Republican arguments that the protective tariff would benefit manufacturers appealed to urban workers and went unrebutted by the Democrats. The smell of victory seemed to hang in the air. By August, many firms had gone bankrupt, and a special session of Congress convened, called by Cleveland to repeal the silver purchase act. Senator Tillman, a fiery speaker who wore a pitchfork on his lapel, began the debate. 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]. The convention, by voice vote, seated the silver Nebraskans, who arrived in the convention hall a few minutes later, accompanied by a band. Soon afterwards, the delegates, bored, shouted for a speech from Bryan, but he was not to be found. We have submitted the issues to the American people and their will is law. 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. The DNC seated a rival, pro-gold Nebraska delegation, and recommended New York Senator David B. Hill as the convention's temporary chairman, each by a vote of 2723. [94], Despite the confidence of the Republicans, the nomination of Bryan sparked great excitement through the nation. [99], Even before their convention in late July, the Populists faced dissent in their ranks. [f] McKinley even won the urban vote in Nebraska. 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. [2][3], While attending law school from 1881 to 1883, Bryan was a clerk to former Illinois senator Lyman Trumbull, who influenced him in a dislike for wealth and business monopolies. The vice presidential squabble, Williams argues, worried voters who feared that instability would follow a Bryan victory, and drove them towards McKinley. [103] Populist leader Henry Demarest Lloyd described silver as the "cow-bird" of the Populist Party, which had pushed aside all other issues. In March 1898, two years into William McKinley's first term as president, he gave Spainwhich was in the midst of a brutal campaign of repression in . However, the President ruled this out; his Cabinet members also refused to run. Our delegation should not be too prominent in applause. The main candidates headquartered at the Palmer House, their rooms often crowded as they served free alcoholic drinks. [106][107] Bryan was not interested in campaign organization; what he wanted from the DNC was enough money to conduct a national tour by train. "[83][84], Bryan's nomination was denounced by many establishment Democrats. Perhaps a vote taken then would have given Bryan the election. 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). The leading candidates were former Missouri congressman Richard P. Bland and former Iowa governor Horace Boies. Book Description Mr. Bryan's unfinished memoirs, which close with an account of the Baltimore convention of 1912, make up less than half the . 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. Many seats were vacant before he concluded.[113][114]. He introduced several proposals for the direct election of senators and to eliminate tariff barriers in industries dominated by monopolies or trusts. In the book, Bryan made it clear that the first battle would not be the last, "If we are right, we shall yet triumph. Cross of Gold speech, classic of American political oratory delivered on July 8, 1896, by William Jennings Bryan in closing the debate on the party platform at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago during the campaign for the presidential election of 1896. [120], On September 11, 1896, Bryan departed on a train trip that continued until November 1, two days before the election. She became his wife, and was his principal assistant throughout his career. He promised to enforce the laws against the trusts, procure stricter ones from Congress, and if the Supreme Court struck them down, to seek a constitutional amendment. Roosevelt was extremely popular as president, and many thought he might reconsider and run as 1908 neared. Bryans pacifist stance put him increasingly at odds with the president, however, and he resigned in 1915 in protest after Wilson sent a second note to Germany demanding an end to submarine warfare after the sinking of the Lusitania, an action Bryan felt went too far toward violating American neutrality. William Jennings Bryan (D) Loading. In the speech, Bryan, who was from . However, the economy was booming under the leadership of McKinley. But the emergence of a brash, young politician, William Jennings Bryan, soon turned the. Bryan spent most of October there160 of his final 250 train stops were in the Midwest. The election of 1896 was just as much a partisan battle over the future of American economic policy as the 2012 election. Others dubbed Bryan a "Popocrat". [95], The Populist strategy for 1896 was to nominate the candidate most supportive of silver. Writers such as Edgar Lee Masters, Hamlin Garland and his fellow Nebraskan, Willa Cather, like Bryan came from the prairies; they wrote of their admiration for him and his first battle. McKinley won with 7.1 million votes to Bryan's 6.5 million, 51% to 47%. They read Bryan when they couldn't go off to listen to him. [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. Most cities that were financial or manufacturing centers voted for McKinley. His father, Silas Bryan, was a Jacksonian Democrat, judge, lawyer, and local party activist. Many of the silver men had not attended a national convention before, and were unfamiliar with its procedures. 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. [81][82] Amid talk that the Gold Democrats would form their own party, Senator Hill was asked if he remained a Democrat. Illinois Senator John M. Palmer was eager to be the presidential candidate, and the convention nominated him with Kentucky's Simon Bolivar Buckner as his running mate. 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. Attending Illinois College beginning in 1877, Bryan devoted himself to winning the school prize for speaking. Neither candidate had much money to spend on his campaign. When early-voting Maine and Vermont went strongly Republican in September, this meant that McKinley would most likely win the Northeast. He was young, had a respectable but not burdensome record, came from the West, and understood the arts of conciliation. "[130], In September, the Gold Democrats met in convention in Indianapolis. The majority felt exposed, crestfallen, and humiliated.[56]. 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. Populist leaders correctly believed the Republicans unlikely to nominate a silver man. He argued that children being taught the survival of the fittest would in time stop caring about the poor and otherwise needier members of the population. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of libertythe cause of humanity.[59]. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). 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. I will not aid them to press down upon the bleeding brow of labor this crown of thorns."[26]. The economy failed to improve, and when the President in 1894 sent federal troops to Illinois to break up the Pullman Strike, he outraged even more Democrats. [93] When Bryan was nominated on a silver platform, the Republicans were briefly gratified, believing that Bryan's selection would result in an easy victory for McKinley. Historian H. Wayne Morgan described Bryan: Robert La Follette remembered Bryan as "a tall, slender, handsome fellow who looked like a young divine". He knew that hard work could turn the discontent of the people into a revolt against the gold wing of the party, and no group of individuals ever labored more diligently to gain their political ends than did the silver men in the [Democratic Party] between 1893 and 1896. This advocacy brought him contributions from silver mine owners in his successful re-election bid in 1892. [138] Palmer received less than 1% of the vote, but his vote total in Kentucky was greater than McKinley's margin of victory there. Through 1895 and early 1896, Bryan sought to make himself as widely known as an advocate for silver as possible. Their enthusiasm at the unrehearsed rear platform appearances and in the formal speeches was spontaneous and contagious. [43] He explained to Champ Clark, the future Speaker of the House, that Bland and others from southern states would fall because of prejudice towards the old Confederacy, that Boies could not be nominated because he was too little-known, and all others would fail due to lack of supportleaving only himself.[44]. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Of course I support him. As a result, disillusioned farmers and others formed a new far-left party, which came to be known as the Populist Party. Why did William Jennings Bryan lose? The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. [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. 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. 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. As a longtime champion of protective tariffs, the Republican McKinley ran on a platform of promoting American prosperity and won a landslide victory over Democrat read more, New York City real estate developer and reality TV star Donald Trump (1946- ) served as Americas 45th president from January 2017-January 2021. [118] Starved of money, the Democrats had fewer speakers and fewer publications to issue. 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. Many Cleveland supporters decried Bryan as no true Democrat, but a fanatic and socialist, his nomination procured through demagoguery. Bryan campaigned heavily on a platform of free silver in 1896, and continued that trend into the election of 1900. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. In late 1894, pro-silver Democrats began to organize in the hope of taking control of the party from Cleveland and other Gold Democrats and nominating a silver candidate in 1896. Rather than continue the free silver battle, he dedicated himself to opposing American imperialism, which he saw as immoral and undemocratic. The Scopes monkey trial in Dayton, Tennessee, played out under the national spotlight, with journalists, religious leaders and onlookers crowding the courtroom. Party members in many states, including Nebraska, demanded inflation of the currency through issuance of paper or silver currency, allowing easier repayment of debt. He ran for president a second time in 1900 and a third time in 1908, each time losing. [121], During this tour, Bryan spoke almost exclusively on the silver question, and attempted to mold the speeches to reflect local issues and interests. But they had limited room to maneuver in a period of extremely tight competition. 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). Retrieved May 19, 2012. [28] He continued to give speeches, and collected his traveling expenses, and most often a speaking fee, from those who had invited him. [33] Bryan spoke at her funeral, quoting lines from Second Timothy: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. why did william jennings bryan lose the election of 1896? Bland maintained his lead on the second and third ballots, but on the fourth, with the convention in a huge uproar, Bryan took the lead. [62][64] He responded to an argument by Senator Vilas that from silver forces might arise a Robespierre. The election of 1896 is seen as the beginning of a new era in American politics, or a "realignment" election. He made 27speeches, including seven in Omaha, the last concluding a few minutes before midnight. "1896 Presidential Election Results". After running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1894, Bryan returned to Nebraska and became editor of the Omaha World-Herald. June 1894 marked the publication of William H. Harvey's Coin's Financial School. William Jennings Bryan on the Stand Calling Bryan to the stand was a shock for the court. [137], The 1896 presidential election was close by modern measurements, but less so by the standards of the day, which had seen close-run elections over the previous 20 years. 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. [139], In most areas, Bryan did better among rural voters than urban. 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 . [74], The balloting for the presidential nomination was held on July 10, the day after the speech; a two-thirds majority was needed to nominate. He spoke some 600 times, to an estimated 5,000,000 listeners. After a candidate backed by the nascent Populists withdrew, Bryan defeated Connell for the seat by 6,700 votes (nearly doubling Connell's 1888 margin), receiving support from the Populists and Prohibitionists. He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley. The central issue was the country's money supply. A friend of mine is a student of American religious history with a particular interest in William Jennings Bryan and the Populists. [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. As Bryan had called New York in an ill-considered statement to the press before leaving Lincoln. Wherever his train went people, who had travelled from nearby farms and villages, waved and shouted encouragement. The song was "Sift Sand, Sal", the source does not explain the relevance of this to Bryan. The answer was simple, Bryan told Abbothe had prepared a speech that would stampede the convention. The nation was regionally split, with the industrial East and Midwest for McKinley, and with Bryan carrying the Solid South and the silver strongholds of the Rocky Mountain states. [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. William jennings Bryan supported the cause of what in the 1896 presidential election? [37], In the run up to the Democratic National Convention, set to begin at the Chicago Coliseum on July 7, 1896, no candidate was seen as an overwhelming favorite for the presidential nomination. At home, he took a short rest, and was visited by Senator Jones to discuss plans for the campaign. To this day, countless theater festivals around the world honor his work, students read more. After graduating from Illinois College, Bryan earned a law degree from the Union College of Law in Chicago in 1883. Hayes and Harrison both won in the electoral college but lost the popular vote, for example. He had accepted the nominal editorship of the Omaha World-Herald in August 1894. [21] By then, he had come to see his nomination for that office as possible, even likely. His campaign was low-key, without excessive publicity: Bryan did not want to attract the attention of more prominent candidates. In the 1892 presidential election, former Democratic president Grover Cleveland defeated the Republican incumbent, Benjamin Harrison, to regain his office. Although defeated in the election, Bryan's campaign made him a national figure, which he remained until his death in 1925. 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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The campaign, as it proved, was badly organized: This was Jones' first national campaign, and the party structure in many states was either only newly in the control of silver forces, or in gold states wanted no part of the national ticket. 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. [12] Advocates believed these proposals would lead to prosperity, while opponents warned that varying from the gold standard (which the United States had, effectively, used since 1873) would cause problems in international trade. On September 27, The New York Times published a letter by an "eminent alienist" who, based on an analysis of the candidate's speeches, concluded that Bryan was mad. At that time, Nebraska was suffering hard times as many farmers had difficulties making ends meet due to low grain prices, and many Americans were discontented with the existing two major political parties. If the USA had been on a bimetallic standard between 1875 and 1890, the economy could have expanded far more than it did, restricted as it was in its monetary straight jacket. [24][25] Several times, in his addresses, Bryan repeated variations on lines he had spoken in Congress in December 1894, decrying the gold standard, "I will not help to crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. Bryan was present when it was announced that his delegation would not be initially seated; reports state he acted "somewhat surprised" at the outcome. [132] Early Republican polls had shown Bryan ahead in crucial Midwestern states, including McKinley's Ohio. No delegation must be permitted to violate instructions given by a state convention. "[66], As he spoke his final sentence, he brought his hands to his head, fingers extended in imitation of thorns; amid dead silence in the Coliseum, he extended his arms, recalling with words and posture the Crucifixion of Jesus, and held that position for several seconds. overcoming discrimination to become a self made millionaire why is madame CJ walker remembered? They hoped the Democrats either would not endorse silver in their platform or if they did, that the Democratic candidate would be someone who could be painted as weak on silver. [51], Once seated, Bryan went to the Platform Committee meeting at the Palmer House, displacing the Nebraska gold delegate on the committee. 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. Men and women threw their hats into the air, not caring where they might come down. The proposed platform was pro-silver; Senator Hill had offered an amendment backing the gold standard, which had been defeated by committee vote. A large banner outside the Clifton House proclaimed the presence of Nebraska's delegation headquarters, but did not mention Bryan's campaign, which was run from Nebraska's rooms. [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. The jury predictably found Scopes guilty, but Bryans performance in the trial, and his thrashing in the national press, marked a less than stellar end to his long career as a public figure. While speaking in McKinley's hometown of Canton, Ohio, Bryan yielded to impulse and called upon his rival at his home with Congressman Bland; the Republican candidate and his wife, somewhat startled, received the two men hospitably in a scene Williams calls, "surely bizarre. 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. Bryan affirmed that the people could be counted on to prevent the rise of a tyrant, and noted, "What we need is an Andrew Jackson to stand, as Jackson stood, against the encroachments of organized wealth. NAACP what organization used the court system to fight discrimination? His widow accompanied his body in a special train car to Washington, where he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. "[123] After a brief interval for handshakes, the train would pull out again, to another town down the track.[123]. 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. However, he was deemed unlikely to succeed, as many Democrats feared that if elected, he might fill some patronage jobs with Republicans. "[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.
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