1896 United States presidential election

The 1896 United States presidential election was the 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896. Former Representative William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic, Populist, and Silver candidate, defeated former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a political realignment that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.