1896 United States elections

1896 United States elections

← 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      Republican gain      Republican hold      Populist gain      Populist hold

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]

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.

• 1896 United States presidential election
• 1896 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1896–97 United States Senate elections
• 1896 United States gubernatorial elections

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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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
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• 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

• 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.