Existing comment:
William Jennings Bryan, 1860-1925
The contentious presidential election of 1900 reflected in this campaign poster pitted William Jennings Bryan, running as a populist and Democrat, against Republican incumbent William McKinley, who had beaten Bryan in 1896. The poster used slogans immediately recognizable to the voters. "No crown of thorns"/"no cross of gold" referred to Bryan's electrifying 1896 convention speech, which called for abolishing the gold standard and inflating the currency to relieve debtors, especially farmers. Bryan's three unsuccessful runs for the presidency (1896, 1900, and 1908)-in which he campaigned for such changes as the national regulation of corporations, tariff reductions, a national income tax, the direct election of senators, and an end to "imperialism"-were both a cause and a result of a major realignment in American politics that, with one exception, gave Republicans the presidency and national majorities until the early 1930s.
Strobridge Lithography Company, 1900 |