In the election of 1896 Republican William Mckinley was pit against Democrat William Jennings Bryan. This election proved to reshape the way American politics was organized and is considered to be a major turning point. Three political parties battled to win this campaign. Silver was the central issue in the 1896 election because although President Grover Cleveland saved the gold standard, it did not end the debate on the money supply. When chosen by the republicans, Mckinley adopted a conservative view that upheld the gold standard. President Cleveland was not chosen to run again by the democrats, instead they chose William Jennings Bryan. The Populist party saw that if they elected their own free-silver candidate, the vote would be split and the republican could easily come in and win. Because of this, they supported Bryan because the free-silver platform that was adopted by the Democrats as well (Boyer). Mckinley forged a coalition that represented professions, businessmen, skilled factory workers, and prosperous farmers. From this, he gained an immense amount of support Northeast, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Coast (“The 1896 Presidential Election”). The republicans promised a strong and prosperous nation for the American people …show more content…
Due to this big gap, the Populists were shocked that free-silver was proven to be too weak of an issue to base a national campaign off of (Boyer). It showed that the immigrants and urban workers gained little from the democratic campaign, therefore, they voted for Mckinley. Now that Mckinley had won the election, there were improvements in farmers’ economic conditions, and the power of the Populist Party was brought to an end. The platform of the Populist Party did leave fundamentals for future reform (Boyer). The win of the Republicans marked an era of Republican domination of the presidency and in both houses in Congress (“Turning Point in American