1896 U.S. Presidential Election

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The 1896 conventions would prove to be an era of new beginnings for the three parties.

Many had expected Calvin Brice, the Vice Presidential nominee, to be nominated without much contention. However, Senator George Hoar made a big splash when addressing the delegates, lambasting the Vance administration's Cuba policy. When the balloting was at hand, the lively Senator Hoar was nominated on the first ballot, exhibiting that the Union Party was moving toward a more 'progressive' stance on voting rights and immigration reform. Lyman Gage, Cleveland's former Treasury Secretary, was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee to give deference to Cleveland-style economics.

Some would be left to wonder whether Vance's second term had been more of an albatross for the Whig Party. James Weaver, a well-known activist, made a riveting speech and looked poised to upset Governor Thomas Watson, who was the establishment's favorite for the nomination. However, both options were bypassed entirely, and the convention voted to subsume themselves entirely into the People's Alliance.

The People's Alliance convention, held a month later, was not ready for the new influx of formerly-Whig activists. The result was a great deal of confusion, and the delegates scattering between various choices. Much like Zebulon Vance's Whig Party dissolved, Vice President Joseph Smith was rejected at the convention floor. With no clear choice and an even split, it eventually was the loudest delegates that prevailed: those for Senator Ignatius Donnelly of Dakota. The economist Henry George picked as part of a convention deal, and to provide for geographic balance, with respect to Donnelly's Dakota and George's New York.

Three days.