The 1896 United States elections elected the 55th United States Congress. Republicans won control of the presidency and maintained control of both houses of Congress. The election marked the end of the Third Party System and the start of the Fourth Party System, as Republicans would generally dominate politics until the 1930 elections. Political scientists such as V.O. Key, Jr. argue that this election was a realigning election, while James Reichley argues against this idea on the basis that the Republican victory in this election merely continued the party's post-Civil War dominance.[3] The election took place in the aftermath of the Panic of 1893, and featured a fierce debate between advocates of bimetallism ("free silver") and supporters of the gold standard.[4]
| ← 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 → Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 3 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | Grover Cleveland (Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 55th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Republican gain |
| Popular vote margin | Republican +4.3% |
| Electoral vote | |
| William McKinley (R) | 271 |
| William Jennings Bryan (D) | 176 |
 | |
| 1896 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by McKinley, blue denotes states won by Bryan. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | 30 of 90 seats[1] |
| Net seat change | Republican +2[2] |
 | |
| Results of the elections: Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold Silver hold Populist gain Populist hold Silver Republican gain Silver Republican hold Legislature failed to elect | |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | All 357 voting members |
| Net seat change | Democratic +31[2] |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 32 |
| Net seat change | Populist +3 |
 | |
| 1896 gubernatorial election results
Democratic gain Democratic hold | |
In the presidential election, Republican former Governor William McKinley of Ohio defeated Democratic former Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska.[5] McKinley took the Republican nomination on the first ballot, while Bryan took the Democratic nomination on the fifth ballot (at age 36, he became youngest presidential nominee of a major party), defeating former Missouri Representative Richard P. Bland and several other candidates. Bryan's Cross of Gold speech, in which he advocated for "free silver," helped deliver him the Democratic nomination, and also attracted the support of the Populist Party and the Silver Republican Party. Though Bryan carried most of the South and the West, McKinley won a comfortable margin in both the electoral college and the popular vote by carrying the Northeast and the Great Lakes region.
Democrats won major gains in the House, but Republicans continued to command a large majority in the chamber. The Populists also won several seats, holding more seats in the House than any third party since the Civil War.[6]
In the Senate, the Republicans maintained their plurality, keeping control of the same number of seats. The Democrats lost several seats, while the Silver Republicans established themselves for the first time with five seats.[7] Republican William P. Frye won election as President pro tempore.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Not counting special elections.
- ^ a b Congressional seat gain figures only reflect the results of the regularly-scheduled elections, and do not take special elections into account.
- ^ Reichley, A. James (2000). The Life of the Parties (Paperback ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 8–12.
- ^ "Presidential elections". History.com. History Channel. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ^ "1896 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present". United States Senate. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
Further reading
edit- Barnes, James A. (1947). "Myths of the Bryan Campaign". Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 34 (3): 367–404. doi:10.2307/1898096. JSTOR 1898096.
- Beito, David T., and Linda Royster Beito. "Gold Democrats and the decline of classical liberalism, 1896–1900." The Independent Review 4.4 (2000): 555–575.
- Bensel, Richard Franklin (2008). Passion and Preferences: William Jennings Bryan and the 1896 Democratic National Convention. Cambridge U.P. ISBN 9780521717625.
- Bernstein, Irving. "Samuel Gompers and Free Silver, 1896." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 29.3 (1942): 394–400. online
- Budgor, Joel, et al. "The 1896 election and congressional modernization: An appraisal of the evidence." Social Science History 5.1 (1981): 53–90.
- Bullough, William A. "The steam beer handicap: Chris Buckley and the San Francisco municipal election of 1896." California Historical Quarterly 54.3 (1975): 245–262. online
- Crow, Jeffrey J. "" Fusion, Confusion, and Negroism": Schisms among Negro Republicans in the North Carolina Election of 1896." North Carolina Historical Review 53.4 (1976): 364-384. online
- Diamond, William, "Urban and Rural Voting in 1896," American Historical Review, (1941) 46#2 pp. 281–305 in JSTOR
- Edelman, Susan Scheiber. "A Red Hot Suffrage Campaign: The Woman Suffrage Cause in California, 1896." California Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook 2 (1995): 49+.
- Eichengreen, Barry, et al. "Populists at the polls: Economic factors in the 1896 presidential election." No. w23932. National Bureau of Economic Research (2017). online
- Ellis, Elmer. "The Silver Republicans in the Election of 1896." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 18.4 (1932): 519–534. online
- Ettinger, Brian Gary. "John Fitzpatrick and the limits of working-class politics in New Orleans, 1892-1896." Louisiana History (1985): 341–367. online
- Fite, Gilbert C. (2001). "The Election of 1896". In Arthur Schlesinger (ed.). History of American Presidential Elections. vol. 2.
- Fite, Gilbert C. (1960). "Republican Strategy and the Farm Vote in the Presidential Campaign of 1896". American Historical Review. 65 (4): 787–806. doi:10.2307/1849404. JSTOR 1849404.
- Glad, Paul W. (1964). McKinley, Bryan, and the People. ISBN 0-397-47048-7.
- Harpine, William D. From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign (2006) focus on the speeches and rhetoric online
- Jeansonne, Glen (1988). "Goldbugs, Silverites, and Satirists: Caricature and Humor in the Presidential Election of 1896". Journal of American Culture. 11 (2): 1–8. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1988.1102_1.x.
- Jeansonne, Glen (1988). "Goldbugs, Silverites, and Satirists: Caricature and Humor in the Presidential Election of 1896". Journal of American Culture. 11 (2): 1–8. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1988.1102_1.x.
- Jensen, Richard J. (1971). The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict 1888–1896. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-39825-0. online
- Jones, Stanley L. (1964). The Presidential Election of 1896. ISBN 0-299-03094-6.
- Kazin, Michael. A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (2006).
- Kelly, Patrick J. (2003). "The Election of 1896 and the Restructuring of Civil War Memory". Civil War History. 49 (3): 254. doi:10.1353/cwh.2003.0058.
- Kelly, Patrick J. (2003). "The Election of 1896 and the Restructuring of Civil War Memory". Civil War History. 49 (3): 254. doi:10.1353/cwh.2003.0058. S2CID 144576062.
- Kleppner, Paul. The cross of culture : a social analysis of midwestern politics, 1850-1900 (1970) online
- Kunze, Joel. "Shameful Venality: The Pierce-Wallace Controversy and the election of 1896." The Palimpsest 71.1 (1990): 2–11. fraud in Iowa online
- McCormick, Richard L. "Walter Dean Burnham and “The System of 1896”." Social Science History 10.3 (1986): 245-262.
- Niswonger, Richard L. "Arkansas and the Election of 1896." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 34.1 (1975): 41–78. online
- Nussbaum, Raymond O. "'The Ring Is Smashed!': The New Orleans Municipal Election of 1896." Louisiana History 17.3 (1976): 283–297. online
- Rogin, Michael. "California Populism and the" System of 1896"." Western Political Quarterly 22.1 (1969): 179-196. online
- Stevens, S. K. "The election of 1896 in Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania History 4.2 (1937): 65–87. online
- Stonecash, Jeffrey M.; Silina, Everita. "The 1896 Realignment," American Politics Research, (Jan 2005) 33#1 pp. 3–32.
- Uzee, Philip D. "The Republican Party in the Louisiana Election of 1896." Louisiana History 2.3 (1961): 332–344. online
- Wanat, John and Karen Burke, "Estimating the Degree of Mobilization and Conversion in the 1890s: An Inquiry into the Nature of Electoral Change," American Political Science Review, (1982) 76#2 pp. 360–70 in JSTOR
- Williams, R. Hal (1978). Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s.
- Williams, R. Hal. (2010) Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896 (UP of Kansas) 250 pp
- Wish, Harvey. "John Peter Altgeld and the Election of 1896." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1937) 30#3: 353–384. online
Primary sources
edit- Bryan, William Jennings. The First Battle: A Story of the Campaign of 1896 (1897), speeches from 1896 campaign.
- National Democratic Committee (1896). Campaign Text-book of the National Democratic Party. National Democratic committee.
Democratic campaign text Book.
- This is the handbook of the Gold Democrats and strongly opposed Bryan.
- Chandler, William E. (August 1896). "Issues and Prospects of the Campaign". North American Review. 163 (2): 171–82.