Some historians have called the presidential election of 1896 "the nation's first ‘modern' election." Evaluate the validity of this statement by analyzing the issues, conflicts, and campaign tactics of that election

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. This was a modern campaign in that some of the elements that used to be important were not as dominant in this election – farmers did not carry the day, for instance.
2. It was also modern in the way it was waged. For example, the Democrat William Jennings Bryan was the first presidential candidate to campaign systematically, speaking hundreds of times to millions of voters.
3. On the Republican side, the McKinley campaign changed the emphasis from parades to information: they issued 250 million campaign documents in a dozen languages.
4. Another element that made the election a "modern" one was the wrangling over who was eligible to vote.
5. One important issue that did carry forward was that of overseas expansion, as McKinley emphasized in his campaign that the United States needed to look beyond its shores.