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4 - REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY AND DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO RESPOND, 1896–1928

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Mark D. Brewer  and
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Mark D. Brewer
Affiliation:
University of Maine, Orono
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
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Summary

As the Democrats reflected on the results of the 1892 election cycle, they had reason to be relatively pleased with themselves. They had captured the presidency, and although Grover Cleveland's three percentage point margin in the popular vote is not large by historical standards, it was larger than average in presidential elections from 1876–1892. Cleveland's 133-vote margin in the Electoral College was also a healthy one for this period. In addition, the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress. Although the party did lose seventeen seats in the House because of the 1892 elections, it still had a comfortable ninety-one-seat edge over the Republicans. The Democrats recaptured the Senate for the first time since 1878, turning an eight-seat GOP advantage into a four-seat edge for themselves. All in all, Democratic Party leaders and officeholders likely were relatively pleased with their performance at the ballot box in 1892.

This satisfaction, however, was short-lived for the Democrats. Change was in the air, and a combination of events and decisions made by the Democratic Party was about to transform the relatively balanced partisan battle of post-Reconstruction nineteenth-century America into a prolonged era of Republican domination at the national level.

A TIME OF TROUBLE: THE DEMOCRATS IN 1893 AND 1894

When he was inaugurated for his second term as president in March 1893, Grover Cleveland was already being warned by some of his economic advisors and various business leaders that trouble was brewing in the nation's economy.

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Dynamics of American Political Parties , pp. 48 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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