The Election of 1896 and William McKinley

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The election of 1896 was between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. William McKinley was the republican candidate for president and William Jennings Bryan was the democratic candidate. Both candidates had different campaign styles and different supporters. Big businessmen supported McKinley and most common men supported Bryan. William McKinley’s campaign style was a front porch campaign while Bryan had a moving campaign. Mark Hanna played an important role as William McKinley’s campaign manager. In the end, William McKinley beat William Bryan in the presidential election.
William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio on January 29, 1843. He fought on the union army during the civil war and after the war he started studying law. He opened an office in 1867 and he later became a congressman in 1876. In 1890 a tariff with his name was passed and he got rejected for reelection because of rising consumer prices. He then returned to Ohio and won the governor spot by a close margin in 1891. In 1896 he won the Republican presidential nomination with Mark Hanna, his main supporter.
Marcus Alonzo Hanna was a wealthy Cleveland industrialist that showed support to the Republican Party. He was very involved in politics and is now considered a political genius but was most noticed when he was the campaign manager of William McKinley. He used as many ways as possible to make people vote for McKinley. For example, he promised the south patronage and the east support for a gold-standard currency. These examples made many people change their votes from Bryan to McKinley. He also was a skillful organizer for William McKinley, organizing events for Mckinley. Also, he was a great donor for William McKinley. Mark Hanna greatly helped out Willia...

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Works Cited

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Williams, R. Hall. "The Election of 1896." World War 1 and the Jazz Age. Woodbridge: n.p., 1999. N. pag. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

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