Populism and the Election of 1896

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Slide 23

Coxey’s Army, 1894

Jacob Coxey & his “Army of the Commonweal of Christ.”

March on Washington  “hayseed socialists!”

Slide 24

Result of Election Returns

Populist vote increased by 40% in the bi-election year, 1894.

Democratic party losses in the West were catastrophic!

But, Republicans won control of the House.

Slide 25

The 1896 Election

Slide 26

Gold / Silver Bug Campaign Pins

Slide 27

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)

The “Great Commoner”

Slide 28

William Jennings Bryan

Prairie avenger, mountain lion,

Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,

Gigantic troubadour, speaking like a siege gun,

Smashing Plymouth Rock with his boulders from the West.

Revivalist style of oratory.

Slide 29

Bryant’s “Cross of Gold” Speech

You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!

Slide 30

Bryan: The Farmers Friend (The Mint Ratio)

18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”

Slide 31

Democratic Party Taken Over by the Agrarian Left

Platform  tariff reductions; income tax; stricter control of the trusts (esp. RRs); free silver.

Slide 32

Mark Hanna: The “Front-Porch” Campaign

Slide 33

Slide 34

William McKinley (1843-1901)

Slide 35

Mark Hanna to Candidate McKinley

Slide 36

“A Giant Straddle”: Suggestion for a McKinley Political Poster

Slide 37

The Seasoned Politician

vs.

The “Young” Newcomer

Slide 38

Joshua A. Levering: Prohibition Party