The Decline of the Democratic Party

Abstract

By the adoption the Chicago platform I896 the Democratic party not only took up the fight for the free coinage silver but also declared itself the party protest upon economic questions, which arose out deeper sources discontent. It repudiated the administration Grover Cleveland, its only president since Buchanan, and by its rebirth it came within Burke's definition of a body men united for promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. The platform inadequately expressed the intense feeling those who adopted it, for no campaign document could mirror their belief that they were engaged in a fight for freedom. There were declarations in favor an income tax and a stricter control monopoly. They continued to advocate a non-protective tariff. They denounced government by injunction, censured the judiciary, and threatened its independence. Yet the adoption the entire program the Populist party, had this occurred, would have been unimportant compared with a simple declaration a determination to free the hewers wood and the drawers water from an economic bondage to a money oligarchy. Except for the advocacy free silver, which was the paramount issue, remedies and methods were to wait upon that time when the masses had taken control their government.