United States Presidential Election, 1896 - Nominations - Democratic Party Nomination

Democratic Party Nomination

Democratic candidates:

• William Jennings Bryan, former U.S. representative (Nebraska)
• Richard P. Bland, former U.S. representative (Missouri)
• Robert E. Pattison, former U.S. governor (Pennsylvania)
• Joseph Clay Styles Blackburn, U.S. senator (Kentucky)
• Horace Boies, former U.S. governor (Iowa)
• John R. McLean, newspaper publisher, (Ohio)
• Claude Matthews, U.S. governor (Indiana)
• Sylvester Pennoyer, former U.S. governor (Oregon)

• Former Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska

• Former Representative Richard P. Bland of Missouri

• Former Governor Robert E. Pattison of Pennsylvania

• Senator Joseph Blackburn of Kentucky

• Governor Horace Boies of Iowa

• Newspaper Publisher John R. McLean of Ohio

• Governor Claude Matthews of Indiana

• Former Governor Sylvester Pennoyer of Oregon

One month after McKinley's nomination, the silverites took control of the Democratic convention held in Chicago on July 7–11. Most of the Southern and Western delegates were committed to implementing the free silver ideas of the Populist Party. The convention repudiated President Cleveland's gold standard policies and then repudiated Cleveland himself. This, however, left the convention wide open: there was no obvious successor to Cleveland. A two-thirds vote was required for the nomination and the silverites had it despite the extreme regional polarization of the delegates. In a test vote on an anti-silver measure: the Eastern states (from Maryland to Maine), with 28% of the delegates voted 96% in favor. The other delegates voted 91% against, so the silverites controlled 67% of the delegates,

An attorney, former congressman, and unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate named William Jennings Bryan filled the void. A superb orator, Bryan hailed from Nebraska and spoke for the farmers who were suffering from the economic depression following the Panic of 1893. At the Convention, Bryan delivered one of the greatest political speeches in American history, the "Cross of Gold" Speech. Bryan presented a passionate defense of farmers and factory workers struggling to survive the economic depression, and he attacked big-city business owners and leaders as the cause of much of the economic suffering. He called for reform of the monetary system and an end to the gold standard, and promised government relief efforts for farmers and others hurt by the economic depression. Bryan's speech was so dramatic that after he had finished many delegates carried him on their shoulders around the convention hall. The speech also united the convention delegates and earned Bryan their presidential nomination; he defeated his closest competitor, former Senator Richard "Silver Dick" Bland by a 3-to-1 margin. Arthur Sewall, a wealthy shipbuilder from Maine, was chosen as the vice- presidential nominee. It was felt that Sewall's wealth might encourage him to help pay some campaign expenses. At just 36 years of age, Bryan was only a year older than the minimum age required by the Constitution to be president. Bryan remains the youngest man ever nominated by a major party for president.