1896 United States Presidential Election (Brothers No More)

The United States Presidential Election of 1896, the 28th U.S. presidential election, took place on November 3, 1896. Democrat William Jennings Bryan came to a tie with the incumbent President William McKinley. Bryan was later elected by a one state margin in the House of Representatives, making this the indisputably closest presidential election in United States history.

Background
This election came in the midst of the second-worst economic depression in U.S. history, the Panic of 1893. The Panic was initially caused by President Carlisle's extreme tariffs against the South, along with numerous other factors in overseas markets. President William McKinley came into power just as the Panic struck, and over time he got most of the blame. The economy was finally starting to recover, as was McKinley's popularity, when a massive economic collapse in the Confederacy prolonged the recession. McKinley, through little fault of his own, went into this election with very low popularity.

Democratic Nomination
The 1896 Democratic National Convention was held from July 7-11. The Democratic Party had recently merged with the Populist Party that rose up in the 1892 election and added many populist policies to its platform. One of those ideas was free silver, which proposed putting the country on a silver-backed currency instead of a gold-backed currency. The main proponent of free silver was William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was very young for a presidential candidate (barely old enough to run, in fact), but his famous "Cross of Gold" Speech raised his profile and eventually won him the nomination. Arthur Sewall, a railroad director from Maine, was nominated as one of the few prominent silver supporters from the Northeast.

National American Nomination
The 1896 National American Party National Convention was held from June 28-July 3. President William McKinley came into the race during the lowest point of his presidency. The country was in economic shambles, and many Americans directly blamed the incumbent President. Because of this, McKinley faced several challengers from with in his own party, including Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed, Senator Matthew S. Quay, and former President Levi P. Morton. The President eventually won renomination on the 5th ballot. Vice President Morgan Bulkeley was renominated unanimously.

The Campaign
The Democrats knew that they had a solid hold on the West and border states, who would respond favorably to Bryan's populist ideas. They were much less confident about winning the Northeast, where businessmen and bankers were strongly opposed to those same policies. Due to the population dispersal of the United States, Bryan would have to win at least some states in the Northeast if he hoped to win the election. All of this led to a strategy of heavy campaigning in the Northeast and Midwest, especially in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Bryan spoke directly to common people from all walks of life, promising that he could be the one to get them out of the recession. Northern voters remained suspicious.

McKinley ran a much more traditional campaign, as he had in 1892. He tried to campaign on his own personality and a promise that things would get better if the country was willing to wait it out a little longer. He attempted to paint Bryan as an insane revolutionary who would upset the entire political balance of the US, disenfranchising workers in all parts of the country.

A more traditional candidate would probably have blown McKinley out of the water. Bryan, however, was so offensive to Northeastern voters that they would even vote for the hated McKinley over him. He spent the entire campaign trying to overcome that handicap.

Results and Aftermath
Bryan was able to win a clean sweep of the West and the border states, while McKinley won all of New England as well as New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The election came down to just 1,000 voters in Delaware- if they had swung to Bryan, he would have had enough electoral votes to win the election outright. Similarly, if a few thousand voters in Maryland, Ohio, or Michigan had swung to McKinley, he would have won. Instead, for the first time in U.S. history, the election was tied at 167 votes. This meant that the final decision would lie with the House of Representatives.

The House was controlled by the National Americans by a margin of 18 representatives, though the 11 representatives from the Populist Party were also guaranteed to vote for Bryan. This meant that the National Americans had a 7 representative advantage overall (the Democrats had won a large majority in the 1896 elections, but those representatives didn't take office until March.) In presidential contingency elections, the representatives vote by state, which still left the door open for the Democrats despite their numbers disadvantage. The final tally was as follows:

William Jennings Bryan: 18 states, including Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, and Delaware

William McKinley: 17 states, including California, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine

One state, New Jersey, had a Democratic majority but did not vote for Bryan due to his stance on silver. With this result, Bryan won the election and became the 23rd President of the United States. Arthur Sewall won election as vice president in the Senate, with a majority of the votes.

Citizens in the Northeast were initially outraged and terrified by this result. Small riots started in some major cities, including Boston and New York. People in the West, especially farmers, were overjoyed and believed that President Bryan would be their savior. The reality was more complicated than that. Both the Senate and House were controlled by Democrats, but many of those Democrats were conservative "Bourbon" Democrats who cared little for Bryan's proposals. So, while Bryan's bills often passed the House, they often died in the Senate. Bryan and the rest of the government soon earned the ire of citizens who didn't understand why nothing was being done despite the complete Democratic control of government. Protests broke out in some Western and Midwestern cities, demanding that President Bryan live up to his promises. Bryan was eventually able to get some relief legislation passed, though it was more limited than he had hoped for. Despite the legislative gridlock, the economic panic did finally begin to settle down for good in 1898. By 1900, the economy was back to a relatively normal state. Bryan was seen as a successful president by that point, and even won the support of the Northeastern Democrats that he previously terrified. By the time of the 1900 election, voters were eager to see what Bryan could do in a second term under normal circumstances.