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The 1896 Election and Congressional Modernization: An Appraisal of the Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Joel Budgor ,
Elizabeth A. Capell ,
David A. Flanders ,
Nelson W. Polsby ,
Mark C. Westlye  and
John Zaller
Joel Budgor
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Elizabeth A. Capell
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
David A. Flanders
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Nelson W. Polsby
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Mark C. Westlye
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
John Zaller
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Extract

This essay will explore the relationship between the modernization of Congress and one of the main forces that is alleged to have produced it, the critical election of 1896. This is the election in which William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska ran for President on the Democratic ticket on a platform urging currency reform and bimetallic coinage. He was opposed on the Republican side by William McKinley of Ohio.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Winter 1981 , pp. 53 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1981 

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Footnotes

Authors’ Note: We would like to acknowledge, with thanks, the help of Debra Zaller, Margaret Baker, Steven Rosenstone, Kathy Janes, John McCarthy, and the Institute for Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

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