1896 Presidential Election Gold Standard

The gold standard brought out the same kind of emotions as gun control abortion or immigration today.

1896 presidential election gold standard. A satirical medal from the 1896 presidential campaign renders bryan as a duck wearing a donkey s head with pop on his body as an abbreviation for the populist party which also selected bryan. In the election of 1896 unlimited silver coinage vs. The 1896 united states presidential election was the 28th quadrennial presidential election held on tuesday november 3 1896 former governor william mckinley the republican candidate defeated democrat william jennings bryan the 1896 campaign which took place during an economic depression known as the panic of 1893 was a political realignment that ended the old third party system and.

First presidential concession in 1896 started tradition. Some americans supported a gold standard. The presidential campaign of 1896 was one of the most exciting in american history.

Sat dec 12 2020. The central issue was the country s money supply an economic depression had begun in 1893 and public opinion and even the democratic party was split between those who favoured the gold standard and those who favoured free silver a type of currency inflation to help alleviate the. Republican charles evans hughes waited nearly two weeks to concede to woodrow wilson during tight 1916 election.

This question became the main issue in the presidential election of eighteen ninety six. It came down to a question of money. Under grover cleveland president 1884 88 92 96 both the democratic and republican parties supported the gold standard while only the populist party 1890 96 supported the bimetallic standard.

Even so in 1900 congress passed the gold standard act formally placing the united states on that standard. However in 1896 william jennings bryan s cross of gold speech at the democratic convention in chicago captivated the delegates and gave him the. The question became the chief issue in the presidential election of eighteen ninety six.

The big issue became whether adhering to the gold standard to keep a stable economy was best or whether implementing bimetalism to include silver would benefit more ordinary americans. Although bryan ran again on a silver platform in the 1900 presidential election the issue failed to produce the same resonance with the voters. The debate wasn t far off from today s class warfare arguments between republicans and democrats over who is protecting working americans.