How did the panic of 1893 affect the outcome of the election of 1896?

Answer 1

Many historians have argued that without the Panic of 1837, the Whigs are unlikely to have ever won a presidential election.

The Panic of 1837 allowed the nascent Whig party to win an overwhelming electoral victory in the presidential elections of 1840. The Party had formed early in the 1830s out of protest of Democrat President Jackson's war on the Second Bank of the United States.

Jackson's Bank Wars is considered by many historians to be the main catalyst of the Panic of 1837 - an economic crisis that saw over half of the country's banks shut down, the highest unemployment rates yet seen in the United States, and a depression that lasted until 1843.

Jackson had been succeeded to the presidency by his Vice-President Martin Van Buren in 1836, and Van Buren was inaugurated just 5 weeks before the outbreak of the Panic in May 1837. Van Buren and the Democrat party shouldered much of the blame for the crisis. Van Buren strongly believed that government intervention in monetary matters should be kept to a minimum, and so did little to alleviate the effects of the Panic. When the Panic worsened in 1839, he did take the step of pushing an Independent Treasury Bill through Congress, a legislative move that would to an extent decrease America's dependence on Britain for the state of her econonmy.

However, the two nation's economies were far more deeply intertwined, and the move had little effect on the crisis. As unemployment and poverty reached record levels, many grew disillusioned with Van Buren's approach. The Whig party were not regarded as a serious threat, and ven his own Democrat party were unenthusiastic about the incumbent President, and so the 1840 election was approached somewhat half-heartedly.

The Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, famously ran a "log-cabin" campaign - one that emphasised his nature as a hard-working, self-made man who knew the truths of poverty and the working life. Va Buren was portrayed as an effette, ineffective politican, out of touch and uninterested in the Panic.

Answer 2

The Panic of 1893 came as a result of the "Free Silver" policies of the Democrats, which had re-taken the Presidency with Grover Cleveland's second election victory in 1892. Although the Free Silverites hadn't achieved all their goals with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, this piece of legislation did force the Federal Government to increase its purchase of silver. By 1893, this had resulted in a severe depletion of federal gold reserves and ensuing run on banks, and commensurate economic depression.

Even though Grover Cleveland's domestic fiscal policies were more in line with the pro-gold standard conservatives, his political reputation suffered terribly. In the aftermath, he seemed to have no popularity either with the Republicans, nor with his own Democrat party.

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1896, the force of the Free Silver movement with Democrats became starkly obvious. Although silver policies weren't the main concern of Populists at that time, it was an issue they had in common with the Democrats. To avoid splitting the Free Silver vote and certainly lose to the fiscally conservative Republicans, the Populists merged with the Democrats and their Free Silver advocates carried the day by nominating William Jennings Bryan, a boisterous pro-silver Congressman from Nebraska, over their incumbent president.

So the election of 1896 brought an end to the Populist Party. But their sacrifice would be made in vain because Republican Bill McKinley, propelled by millionaire Mark Hanna's historically expensive political campaign, won the presidency in 1896.

Answer 3

The Panic of 1893 was serious and lasted some time. The president in office Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Not through his fault, but because of overspending in President Benjamin Harrison's administration, the treasury got busted. Harrison had the first billion dollar Congress and grossly misspent in giving Grand War of Republic veterans no matter how short service or even if committed foolish accidents, got huge pensions. Harrison, who had busted the Treasury, left office in 1893.

So the Panic of 1893 had one important point in the election in that the Democrats could not nominate a conservative like Cleveland. That got young William Jennings Bryan a member of House from Nebraska, who had at least some pretense of reform. The Republican Party of 1896 was not reformist. Therefore, if the Panic of 1893 had continued the presidential would have much closer, and Bryan might have even narrowly won. After all even with the economy improving, the 1896 presidential election was still relatively close. Also, consider farmers were a large voting bloc then, and in bad times the greater reformer Bryan would have been preferred over the business conservative Republican William McKinley. The farm support for Bryan could have possibly beaten McKinley if conditions had remained poor.

Answer 4

1896