People's Party (United States) and Related Topics

William Jennings Bryan

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American lawyer, orator and politician.

Attorney Mary Baird Bryan, the wife of William Jennings Bryan

"UNITED SNAKES OF AMERICA" "IN BRYAN WE TRUST" political satire token of 1896, known as "Bryan Money"

Bryan campaigning for president, October 1896

The United States and its colonial possessions after the Spanish–American War

Conservatives in 1900 ridiculed Bryan's eclectic platform.

William J Bryan in 1906 as Moses with new 10 commandments; Puck 19 sept 1906 by Joseph Keppler. Tablet reads: l-Thou shalt have no other leaders before me. II—Thou shalt not make unto thyself any high Protective Tariff. Ill—Eight hours, and no more, shalt thou labor and do all thy work. IV—Thou shalt not graft. V—Thou shalt not elect thy Senators save by Popular Vote. VI—Thou shalt not grant rebates unto thy neighbor. VII—Thou shalt not make combinations in restraint of trade. VIII—Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's income, but shall make him pay a tax upon it. IX—There shall be no more government by injunction. X—Remember Election Day to vote it early. P.S.— When in doubt, ask Me.

Bryan speaking at the 1908 Democratic National Convention

Bryan attending the 1912 Democratic National Convention

Bryan served as Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson

Cartoon of Secretary of State Bryan reading war news in 1914

Villa Serena, Bryan's home built in 1913 at Miami, Florida

At the Scopes Trial, William Jennings Bryan (seated, left) being questioned by Clarence Darrow (standing, right).

Statue of Bryan on the lawn of the Rhea County courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee

Subsequently, Bryan was also nominated for president by the left-wing Populist Party, and many Populists would eventually follow Bryan into the Democratic Party.

1896 United States presidential election

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The 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896.

Bryan's famous "cross of gold" speech gave him the presidential nomination and swung the party to the silver cause

The National "Gold" Democratic Convention

Conservatives said that Bryan (the Populist snake) was taking over (swallowing) the Democratic Party (the mule). Cartoon from "Judge" magazine, 1896.

Bryan's imposing voice and height made a deep impression on many who thronged to hear him.

Bryan traveled 18,000 miles in 3 months, concentrating on the critical states of the Midwest.

The National "Gold" Democratic Party undercut Bryan by dividing the Democratic vote and denouncing his platform.

Map of presidential election results by county

Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

Map of Republican presidential election results by county

Map of Democratic presidential election results by county

Map of "other" presidential election results by county

Cartogram of presidential election results by county

Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county

Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county

Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county

Bryan then won the nomination of the Populist Party, which had won several states in 1892 and shared many of Bryan's policies.

James B. Weaver

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Member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States.

Weaver's home, built in 1867 in Bloomfield

Weaver as a candidate for Congress, 1878

Thomas Nast depicts Weaver as an ungainly donkey who is finally recognized by Speaker Samuel J. Randall.

An 1880 cartoon in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper ridicules the Greenback party as a collection of disparate radicals.

Weaver supported white settlers' right to homesteads in the Unassigned Lands.

Weaver supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896.

As the Greenback Party fell apart, a new anti-big business third party, the People's Party ("Populists"), arose.

1892 United States presidential election

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The 27th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1892.

National Prohibition Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1892.

Map of Populist presidential election results by county

Cartogram of Populist presidential election results by county

Groups from The Grange and the Knights of Labor joined together to form a new party called the Populist Party.

Grover Cleveland

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American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.

Caldwell Presbyterian parsonage, birthplace of Grover Cleveland in Caldwell, New Jersey

An early, undated photograph of Grover Cleveland

Statue of Grover Cleveland outside City Hall in Buffalo, New York

Gubernatorial portrait of Grover Cleveland

An anti-Blaine cartoon presents him as the "tattooed man", with many indelible scandals.

An anti-Cleveland cartoon highlights the Halpin scandal.

Cleveland portrayed as a tariff reformer

Henry L. Dawes wrote the Dawes Act, which Cleveland signed into law.

Cleveland's first Cabinet.
Front row, left to right: Thomas F. Bayard, Cleveland, Daniel Manning, Lucius Q. C. Lamar
Back row, left to right: William F. Vilas, William C. Whitney, William C. Endicott, Augustus H. Garland

Poster President Cleveland and Vice-President of the United States, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio (1888).

Cleveland's humiliation by Gorman and the sugar trust

John T. Morgan, Senator from Alabama, opposed Cleveland on Free Silver, the tariff, and the Hawaii treaty, saying of Cleveland that "I hate the ground that man walks on."

His Little Hawaiian Game Checkmated, 1894

Official portrait of President Cleveland by Eastman Johnson, c. 1891

Cleveland's last Cabinet.
Front row, left to right: Daniel S. Lamont, Richard Olney, Cleveland, John G. Carlisle, Judson Harmon
Back row, left to right: David R. Francis, William Lyne Wilson, Hilary A. Herbert, Julius S. Morton

Cleveland in 1903 at age 66 by Frederick Gutekunst

Outgoing President Grover Cleveland, at right, stands nearby as William McKinley is sworn in as president by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.

$1000 Gold Certificate (1934) depicting Grover Cleveland

Many Westerners (traditionally Republican voters), defected to James Weaver, the candidate of the new Populist Party.

Thomas E. Watson

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American politician, attorney, newspaper editor and writer from Georgia.

Watson's visage on a 1904 People's Party campaign poster.

In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover Cleveland, and the Democratic Party.

A $5 United States Note of the series of 1862 popularly known as a "greenback". owing to the color of ink used on the reverse

Greenback Party

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American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889.

Salmon P. Chase, Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, was a leading exponent of so-called "greenback" currency during the American Civil War

Contemporary news illustration of a run on the 4th National Bank of New York during the Panic of 1873

Peter Cooper of New York, presidential candidate of the Greenback Party.

James B. Weaver, presidential nominee of the Greenback Labor Party, was later a prominent figure in the Populist movement.

Representative Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts was the Greenback nominee for president in 1884

The organization faded into oblivion in the second half of the 1880s, with its basic program reborn shortly under the aegis of the People's Party, commonly known as the "Populists."