The National Democratic Party, also known as Gold Democrats, was a short-lived

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Bourbon Democrat Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States in the later 19th century (1872–1904) to refer to members of the Democratic Party who were ideologically aligned with fiscal conservatism or classical liberalism, especially those who supp ...

s who opposed the regular party nominee

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President ...

in the

1896 presidential election The following elections occurred in 1896: {{TOC right North America Canada * 1896 Canadian federal election * December 1896 Edmonton municipal election * January 1896 Edmonton municipal election * 1896 Manitoba general election United States * ...

. The party was then a "liberal" party in the context of the times, which is more of a fiscal-conservative or classical-liberal in the political context of the United States today. Most members were admirers of

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

as they considered Bryan a dangerous man and charged that his " free silver" proposals would devastate the economy. They nominated the

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

politicians John M. Palmer, a former Republican governor of Illinois and Union general; and Simon Bolivar Buckner, a former

governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-el ...

and Confederate general, for president and vice president, respectively.David T. Beito, and Linda Royster Beito, 2000. They also ran a few candidates for Congress and other offices, including

William Campbell Preston Breckinridge William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (August 28, 1837 – November 18, 1904) was a lawyer and Democratic politician from Kentucky; a U.S. Representative from 1885 to 1895. He was a scion of the Breckinridge political family: grandson of Senato ...

in Kentucky.

Overview

The new party's founders were disenchanted Democrats who saw its organization as a means to preserve the ideals of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...

, and

. In its first official statement, the executive committee of the party accused the Democratic Party of forsaking this tradition by nominating Bryan. For more than a century, it declared, the Democrats had believed "in the ability of every individual, unassisted, if unfettered by law, to achieve his own happiness" and had upheld his "right and opportunity peaceably to pursue whatever course of conduct he would, provided such conduct deprived no other individual of the equal enjoyment of the same right and opportunity". They stood "for freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of trade, and freedom of contract, all of which are implied by the century-old battle-cry of the Democratic party, 'Individual Liberty.'" The party criticized both the

inflationist Inflationism is a heterodox economic, fiscal, or monetary policy, that predicts that a substantial level of inflation is harmless, desirable or even advantageous. Similarly, inflationist economists advocate for an inflationist policy. Mainstream ec ...

policies of the Democrats and the

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulation ...

of the Republicans. Almost a "who's who" of classical liberals gave the party their support. They included President Cleveland;

E. L. Godkin Edwin Lawrence Godkin (2 October 183121 May 1902) was an Irish-born American journalist and newspaper editor. He founded ''The Nation'' and was the editor-in-chief of the '' New York Evening Post'' from 1883 to 1899.Eric Fettman, "Godkin, E.L." ...

, the editor and publisher of '' The Nation''; Edward Atkinson, a Boston fire insurance executive, textile manufacturer and publicist for free market causes; Spencer Trask, a New York financier and philanthropist; Horace White, the editor of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' and later the '' New York Evening Post''; and Charles Francis Adams Jr., a leading political reformer and the grandson of President John Quincy Adams. Two other supporters of Palmer and Buckner became better known in the decades after 1896: Moorfield Storey, the first president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the journalist Oswald Garrison Villard, an anti-imperialist and civil libertarian. However, the two supporters of Palmer and Buckner who enjoyed the greatest fame in subsequent years were those bulwarks of

progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...

Louis Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to privacy" concept ...

and

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

. Most backers of the party's ideals ended up voting for Republican candidate William McKinley in the election, but the party won 137,000 votes, about 1.0% of the national total. After the election of McKinley, some Gold Democratic partisans tried to portray the election as a stunning victory for their party and confidently predicted that the defeat of the despised Bryan would open the door for Gold Democrats' recapture of the Democratic Party. In a post-election editorial, Henry Watterson claimed, "Palmer and Buckner have saved the country from shame and have saved the party from destruction." Although the Gold Democrats captured the 1904 nomination with Alton Parker, Bryan and his supporters would win the long-term control of the Democratic Party. Bryan would again be nominated by the Democrats in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), ...

and

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

, and modern liberals such as

and Franklin D. Roosevelt would enact many populist proposals into law. After disappointing results in the 1898 elections, the executive committee voted to disband the party in 1900. Most of its members eventually returned to the regular Democratic Party in 1900 because they opposed McKinley's imperialistic foreign policy.

Platform

The platform was adopted at the Convention of the National Democratic Party at Indianapolis, Indiana on September 3, 1896:

This convention was assembled to uphold the principles upon which depends the honor and welfare of the American people in order that Democrats throughout the Union may unite their patriotic efforts to avert disaster from their country and ruin from their party. The Democratic party is pledged to equal justice and exact justice in all men of every creed and condition; to the largest freedom of individual consistent with good government; to the preservation of the Federal Government in its constitutional vigor and support of the maintenance of the public faith and sound money; and it is opposed to paternalism and all class legislation. The declarations of the Chicago Convention attack individual freedom, the right of private contract, the independence of the judiciary, and the authority of the President to enforce Federal laws. They advocate a reckless attempt to increase the price of silver by legislation to the debasement of our monetary standard, and threaten unlimited issues of paper money by Government. They abandon for Republican allies the Democratic cause of tariff reform to court the favor of protectionists to the fiscal heresy. In view of these and other grave departures from Democratic principles, we cannot support the candidates of that convention, nor be bound by its acts. The Democratic party has survived a victory won in behalf of the doctrine and the policy proclaimed in its name at Chicago. The conditions, however, which make possible such utterances from a national convention are a result of class legislation by the Republican party. It still proclaims, as it has for many years, the power and duty of the Government to raise and maintain prices by law; and it proposes no remedy for existing evils except oppressive and unjust taxation.

Overview

Platform

See also

References

Further reading