America: Home of the Brave

Election of 1896

Populist Party

William Jennings Bryan



Unitarian Party

Benjamin Harrison



Republican Party

William McKinley



Democratic Party

Garret Hobart



Bryan: 190

Harrison: 174

McKinley: 54

Hobart: 103



The Election of 1896 was perhaps one of the most turbulent elections in the history of the United States. The Peace vs. War movement marred the United States, giving the Democratic and Republican parties a much needed breath of life and gave them an honest chance within the election. These two right-wing parties gained huge ground within the Midwest and Great Plains, despite the left-wing Populist Party being founded by farmers in the area.

The left-wing seemed to be torn between two very popular parties: the older Unitarian Party and the younger Populist Party. The Unitarian Party did quite well in metropolitan areas such as California, Illinois, and the East Coast, but the Populist Party claimed victory through its gains in the poorer and more rural areas of the South and East Coast (Washington state being the exception).

The Republican Party has been utterly humiliated with the last few election cycles; last place in the most recent election, and no candidate in the last two cycles left the party dazed. They had no major and/or vocal voices in the Congress, and had seemed to be forgotten by the public. Were there any places left for them? They hoped so. Perhaps they could start working on electing some Congressmen from more battleground states.

The Democratic Party wishes to regain their footing by taking in more states for Elections than the usual ones they seemed to carry, such as Louisiana, North Dakota, and Michigan. They were tempted to rethink their appeal to voters in the previous election against Ulysses S. Grant, but with the Populist Party gaining more popularity, they may consider merging with the Republican Party to create a larger, right-wing party to fend off against the major Populist and Unitarians. Of course, these are all ideas, but they are possible.

The Peace vs. War campaign seemed to be coming to an end. A bill was recently proposed to recall the Canadian Requisition Act, and has come down to the very last vote in Congress. The bill has yet to be decided though, and will be either sent to the President's desk or forgotten by the vote of Congressman John Milkwright, the son of former Democratic Congressman Donovan Milkwright of Oregon.

Should the Democratic Party or Republican Party have won the election, the bill may have been sent back to the Congress for a debate and would have needed to gain enough support to overcome a presidential veto. With the victory of the Populist Party, should the bill pass, then it would be signed. This is seen as a vital moment for both the Peace and War campaigns.​

The Pullman Strike



The Pullman Company built a town for its workers near the south side of Chicago with the name of Pullman. The city was known for having a diverse landscape for normal companies and towns of the time; the CEO, George Pullman, hired African-Americans and single women to work certain jobs along with white men, which built the Pullman cars.

This town didn't come without its issues, though. The city of Pullman did not have a democracy, the workers were under a rigid, paternalistic control, there were excessive water and gasoline rates, and the workers were not allowed to buy and own their own forms. In response to this, the workers of Pullman organized a strike to protest their conditions. These workers did not create a union, though.

Seeing an opportunity, an ambitious leader of the American Railway Union, Eugene V. Debs brought in many ARU organizers and signed up many of the protesting workers. The Pullman Company, in response, refused to recognize the ARU and its negotiators. Because of this reaction, Debs and the ARU called for a strike, but it did not appear to be successful. Debs was determined, though, and thought of a way to succeed. Eugene V. Debs stopped the movement of Pullman cars on railroads.

Debs's motion didn't just impact the city of Pullman; the ARU called for a massive boycott against all trains that used a Pullman car. This boycott affected most rails to the west of Detroit and involved 250,000 workers in 27 states. Many organizations and other unions opposed Debs's controversial move, such as the Railroad brotherhoods, the American Federation of Labor, and the General Managers Association.

President Bryan, despite seeing the reason for their protest, was forced to act by these organizations to call for a disband of the strike and boycott. President Bryan ordered in the U.S. Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the mail trains. The strikers refused to quit, and violence broke out. This did end up ending the boycott, dissolving the ARU, and getting Eugene V. Debs arrested, but President Bryan called for a pardon of Debs.

The pardoning of Debs was very controversial on Bryan's part, but in the end most Americans saw his reason for ending his sentence. Debs is now working on advancing a career in politics in the state of Indiana currently.



Debs speaking to a crowd in Indiana​

The Merging of the Parties



The Populist Party is quickly falling out of public favor ever since the rise of the Right in American politics and the pardoning of Debs on the act of President Bryan. Many political cartoonists are depicting Populist politicians as greedy and lazy people who are taking working votes for granted.







To escape the tide of unpopularity, the Populist Party met behind closed doors with the Unitarian Party to strike a deal in merging. The Populist Party will be dissolved into the Unitarian Party, but the adoption of a silver standard and extreme pro-labor laws would not be accepted on the basis of staying more moderate.



The Unitarian Party thus absolved the Populist Congressmen and their voters.



However it was not just the Populist Party dissolving, but the right-wing Democratic and Republican Parties as well. Seeing a unified Left, the two parties deemed it necessary to become a unified Right. The Democratic Party and Republican Party met behind closed doors to strike a deal with one another as well.



The Democratic-Republican Party, for the Right, is formed. The two parties each gave some things up from their individual goals to create a union with the other; the Democrats gave up slavery and the Republicans overly large tariffs.



The union between the two parties was mostly led by following the leadership of two freshman Senators whom both the Democratic and Republican Parties have come to admire, Lockie Jon of Massachusetts, and Harrison Goulding of Arkansas.



The newly formed Democratic-Republican Party will be represented by Red on the parties map, should any Congressmen choose to join it.​

President Bryan Speaks Out



"I, President William Jennings Bryan, have come here today to speak to you about the possibility of my impeachment. I would like to tell the members of the Congress that I have done nothing wrong, and that I hope that the people of these beautiful United States would stand by me. The pardoning of Eugene V. Debs was controversial, yes, but just because you do not agree with the action that does not give you the right to try to send me behind bars.

Debs was an innocent man and never made any of the members of his Union commit violence. It was the act of other members of the Union, yet Debs was arrested on false charges. I hereby stand behind my actions and remain steadfast a beacon of democracy in these trials and tribulations.

Should the impeachment proceed and any criminal wrongdoing on my part be found, then I will step down as President of these United States."​