page_title: 1896 United States presidential election
section_title: Democratic Party nomination
hierarchical_section_title: 1896 United States presidential election / Nominations / Democratic Party nomination
caption_attribution_description: English: Poster for the unsuccessful first presidential campaign of Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, in 1896.
context_page_description: 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 realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.
  Incumbent Democratic President Grover Cleveland did not seek election to a second consecutive term, leaving the Democratic nomination open. Bryan, an attorney and former Congressman, galvanized support with his Cross of Gold speech, which called for a reform of the monetary system and attacked business leaders as the cause of ongoing economic depression. The 1896 Democratic National Convention repudiated the Cleveland administration and nominated Bryan on the fifth presidential ballot. Bryan then won the nomination of the Populist Party, which had won several states in 1892 and shared many of Bryan's policies. In opposition to Bryan, some conservative Bourbon Democrats formed the National Democratic Party and nominated Senator John M. Palmer.
caption: Bryan's famous "cross of gold" speech gave him the presidential nomination and swung the party to the silver cause
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