Episode 4 of 4
Election Result and Realignment
- When
- November 3, 1896
- Where
- United States
McKinley defeated Bryan in the November 3, 1896 election, marking a political realignment that ended the Third Party System.
Presidential elections were held on November 3, 1896. McKinley emerged triumphant, defeating Bryan. Historians regard this victory as a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System, establishing a Republican-dominated era based on protective tariffs and the gold standard.
Sources
- 1896 United States presidential election Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
- William Jennings Bryan Wikipedia
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.