the Midwest, including even Iowa,
Minnesota, and North Dakota; and the
Pacific Coast states of Oregon and California.
The sharp sectional division marked
the failure of the Populist effort to unite
northern and southern farmers and also the
triumph of the industrial part of the country
over the agricultural. Business and financial
interests voted solidly for the Republicans,
fearing that a Bryan victory would bring
economic chaos. When one Nebraska
landowner tried to float a mortgage during
the campaign, a loan company official
wrote to him: “If McKinley is elected, we
think we will be in the market, but we do
not care to make any investments while
there is an uncertainty as to what kind of
money a person will be paid back in.”
Other social and economic interests
were far from being united. Many thou-
sands of farmers voted for McKinley, as his
success in states such as North Dakota,
Iowa, and Minnesota proved. In the farm
areas north of the Ohio and east of the
Missouri Rivers, the agricultural depres-
sion was not severe, and farm radicalism
was almost nonexistent.
A preponderance of the labor vote
also went to the Republicans. In part this
resulted from the tremendous pressures
that many industrialists applied to their
workers. “Men,” one manufacturer
announced,“vote as you please, but if Bryan
is elected... the whistle will not blow
Wednesday morning.” Some companies
placed orders for materials subject to
cancellation if the Democrats won. Yet
coercion was not a major factor, for
McKinley was highly regarded in labor
circles. While governor of Ohio, he had
advocated the arbitration of industrial
disputes and backed a law fining
employers who refused to permit work-
ers to join unions. He had invariably
based his advocacy of high tariffs on the
argument that American wage levels
would be depressed if foreign goods
could enter the country untaxed. The
Republicans carried nearly all the large
cities, and in closely contested states
such as Illinois and Ohio this made the
difference between victory and defeat.
551Gulf of
MexicoCounty carried by the Populists more
than once between 1892 and 1898
Areas in which the true value of real estate
and improvements exceed $10 per acre
Westward limit of extensive cotton
cultivation C. 1890MEXICOLampasas
CountyTEXASGrandPrairieB
lackPrairiePopulism in Texas, 1892–1898Populism was strongest in the cotton-farming region of
Texas—east of the red-colored line. But the Populists carried few of the counties in the
fertile Grande and Black prairies. The poorer cotton-farming counties, such as Lampasas
(birthplace of the Knights of Reliance in 1877), were more likely to elect Populist candidates.Questions for
Discussion
■What is the relationship between
falling prices and sharecropping and farm tenancy?
How do the maps of Populism in Texas and the elec-
tion of 1896 confirm a correlation between agrarian
discontents and Populist support?Gulf of
MexicoATLANTIC
OCEANCANADALOUISIANAMICHIGANINDIANA
ILLINOISOHIOALABAMAMISS. GEORGIASOUTH
CAROLINANORTH
CAROLINAVIRGINIAWEST
VIRGINIA
KENTUCKY
TENNESSEENEW
YORK
PENNSYLVANIAN.J.CONN.MASS.VT.
N.H.MAINER.I.MD.DEL.States decisive to theoutcome of the election FLORIDA
McKinley, Republican
Bryan, Democrat
Territories not votingARKANSASKANSASNEBRASKAMISSOURIIOWAWISCONSINMINNESOTATEXASSOUTH
DAKOTANORTH
DAKOTANEW
MEXICO
TERRITORYINDIAN
TERR.OKLAHOMA
TERR.MONTANAWYOMINGCOLORADOARIZONA
TERRITORYUTAHNEVADAOREGONWASHINGTONCALIFORNIAIDAHOGulf of
MexicoElection of 1896
Electoral voteby state
Republican(McKinley)
Democrat(Bryan)
To t a l271
176
447Popular votescast
7,036,000
6,468,000
13,504,000
Bryan vs. McKinley, 1896Democrat/Populist Bryan carried much of the South and West, and
most of the farming regions of the plains. But he failed to win over enough industrial workers
to take states in the North.■In the 1896 election, where were Bryan’s strongest
sources of support? McKinley’s? What parts of Texas did
Bryan carry?