1896 United States presidential election, Results, Geography of results
This was the last election in which the Democrats won South Dakota until 1932, the last in which the Democrats won Utah and Washington until 1916, and the last in which the Democrats won Kansas and Wyoming until 1912. It was also the last time that South Dakota and Washington voted against the Republicans until they voted for the Progressive Party in 1912. This also constitutes the only election since their statehoods when a Republican won the presidency without winning Kansas, South Dakota, Utah, or Wyoming. Today these are solidly Republican states and have not backed a Democratic nominee since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide over Barry Goldwater.


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Southern votes
In the South, there were numerous Republican counties, notably in Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, northern Alabama and Virginia, representing a mix of white Southern Unionist counties along with majority black counties in areas where black disenfranchisement was not yet complete (such as North Carolina, where a Republican-Populist fusion ticket had captured the General Assembly in 1894). Even in Georgia, a state in the Deep South, there were counties returning Republican majorities.


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Southern votes
(a) Includes 222,583 votes as the People's nominee(b) Sewall was Bryan's Democratic running mate. (c) Watson was Bryan's People's running mate.


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Geography of results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory less than 1% (26 electoral votes; 20 won by Republicans; 6 by Democrats):


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory less than 5% (55 electoral votes; 42 won by Republicans; 13 by Democrats):


1896 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (66 electoral votes; 6 won by Republicans; 60 by Democrats):


1896 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1896 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Despite losing by more than a two-to-one margin, this would prove the last time a Republican won Colbert County until Richard Nixon in 1972.


1896 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1896 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Arkansas voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Arkansas
This election marks the establishment of one-party hegemony in every county in Arkansas except Unionist Ozark Newton and Searcy where Republicans would control local government permanently. The new secret ballot and an onerous poll tax had already severely reduced black and poor white voting at the time of this election, in the process largely eliminating opposition party challenges.


1896 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Three electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in California
The 1896 United States presidential election in California took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in California
California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, Ohio Governor William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former Nebraska representative William Jennings Bryan.


1896 United States presidential election in California
Eight of the state's electoral votes were awarded to McKinley, while one was awarded to Bryan. This was the third occasion in which California's electoral vote was split, rather than being awarded to a single candidate. The previous two occasions were in 1880 and 1892. Such a split would only subsequently occur in California one more time (in 1912).


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1896 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Colorado voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Background
In its early days as a state, Colorado had like the Plains States to its east been solidly Republican. However, with crises emerging in its agricultural sector from low wheat prices and a severe drought in 1888 and 1889, and the state’s underdevelopment leading to resentment of the Northeast, the new Populist Party was able to largely take over the state’s politics in the early 1890s.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Background
Aided by fusion with the minority Democratic Party and strong support for free silver in this state which produced over half of all American silver, the Populist Party under James B. Weaver in 1892 carried the state’s presidential electoral votes and won both its congressional seats.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Background
After the Republicans gained a 130-seat majority in the House of Representatives following the 1894 elections, five dissident Republicans from the Mountain States who supported free silver jointed together as the “Silver Republicans” They supported nominating Centennial State Senator Teller at first, but ultimately this was viewed as impractical and the Silver Republicans fused with Democrat/Populist William Jennings Bryan.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Background
Bryan’s support for free silver against the existing gold standard supported by Republican nominee William McKinley ensured he had virtually unanimous support from Colorado’s silver-dependent business elite.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Vote
Once a fusion between Democrats, Populists and Silver Republicans was fully finalised, there was no campaigning in Colorado as all polls showed Bryan would carry the state very easily. Bryan in the end carried Colorado by more than seventy percentage points, by over twenty percent the best performance by any presidential candidate in the history of the state. Bryan carried all but two of Colorado’s counties, and won nineteen with over ninety percent of the vote, with McKinley retaining significant support only on the eastern High Plains, where the power of the silver magnates was much less.


1896 United States presidential election in Colorado, Vote
Bryan would win Colorado against William McKinley again in 1900 and would later also win the state against William Howard Taft in 1908, making the state one of just two western states Bryan would carry in all three of his runs (the other being Nevada).


1896 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1896 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, former Governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a margin of 30.7%. This was the first time a Republican carried Connecticut in a presidential election since James A. Garfield did so 16 years earlier.


1896 United States presidential election in Connecticut
William Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but held little appeal in the Northeastern states like Connecticut.


1896 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1896 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1896 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Florida voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine.


1896 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1896 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the wider United States Presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
Following Reconstruction, Georgia would be the first former Confederate state to substantially disenfranchise its newly enfranchised freedmen and many poor whites, doing so in the early 1870s. This largely limited the Republican Party to a few North Georgia counties with substantial Civil War Unionist sentiment – chiefly Fannin but also to a lesser extent Pickens, Gilmer and Towns – and in presidential elections to a small number of counties elsewhere where blacks were not yet fully disenfranchised.


1896 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
The Democratic Party served as the guardian of white supremacy against a Republican Party historically associated with memories of Reconstruction, and the main competition became Democratic primaries, which were restricted to whites on the grounds of the Democratic Party being legally a private club. This restriction was done by local county laws, but combined with the highly efficacious cumulative poll tax introduced in 1877 meant that turnout declined steadily throughout the 1880s, unlike any other former Confederate state except South Carolina.


1896 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
However, politics after the first demobilization was always chaotic. Third-party movements, chiefly the Populist Party, gained support amongst the remaining poor white and black voters in opposition to the planter elite. Whereas the Republican Party had not contested a statewide election seriously since 1876, the Populists made significant runs for governor in 1892, 1894 and 1896, which would have been stronger but for large scale Black Belt electoral fraud. In the presidential race the state was hit by a dispute between state Populist leader Thomas E. Watson and Maine shipbuilder Arthur Sewall over the vice-presidential nomination, which led to Watson’s frustration and fury increasing and failed to gain either candidate local support.


1896 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
The Populist political manoeuvering, combined with past alliances of Republicans with the Populist movement, had the effect of increasing Georgia’s Republican vote to the highest level seen in any presidential election since 1872 at the height of Reconstruction. Nonetheless, McKinley never campaigned in Georgia, and Bryan still carried the state by over twenty-one points.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1896 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho, Background
Idaho, upon its organization as a territory was overwhelmingly Democratic, but had been increasingly dominated by the Republican Party in the years leading up to statehood, as ex-Southern and Mormon mining settlers were increasingly outweighed by those from the Midwest. The state Democratic Party would regroup and its pro-silver, anti-Mormon faction under Marshal Fred T. Dubois would bring the state into the Union in the late 1880s.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho, Background
Upon statehood, Idaho was shaken by a wave of strikes in the silver-mining regions and even deeper conflict whereby an idled ore concentrator was destroyed in Gem. This, alongside opposition to Republican Governor Norman Bushnell Willey’s declaration of martial law upon the miners, and against the absentee ownership of Idaho's land and water, would turn the state's electorate strongly towards the Populist leader James B. Weaver, who carried the state in 1892 in an election where Gold Democrat and former President Grover Cleveland was not even on the ballot.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho, Background
As the 1896 election approached, it was clear that silver politics would be the determining factor in Idaho's vote, and that the state would not vote for any candidate opposing free silver. Senator Fred T. Dubois, who had been a critical player in giving Idaho statehood, confirmed this in June. When William Jennings Bryan gained the Democratic nomination on a platform favouring the coinage of silver at 16:1 relative to gold, the Populist Party supported him throughout the country.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho, Vote
Idaho was won by the Democratic/Populist nominees, William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Bryan won every county, and only in three of twenty-one did McKinley crack a quarter of the vote. Despite half a century of overwhelming Republican dominance, no presidential nominee has equalled Bryan's performance in the state.


1896 United States presidential election in Idaho, Vote
Bryan would later defeat McKinley again in Idaho four year later but would later lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1896 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose 24 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1896 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose fifteen electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1896 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Iowa voters chose thirteen electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1896 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Kansas voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine.


1896 United States presidential election in Kansas
With his win in the state, Bryan became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state of Kansas. Bryan would later lose Kansas to Republican William McKinley four years later during their rematch and would later lose the state again to William Howard Taft in 1908. This is also the only election since Kansas statehood in which the Republican candidate won the presidency without Kansas. Until 2020, this is the last election in which the majority of Johnson County voted Democratic.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky
William McKinley won the state very narrowly, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to ever win Kentucky and the only to carry the state until Calvin Coolidge in 1924.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Background and vote
Ever since the Civil War, Kentucky had been shaped politically by divisions created by that war between secessionist, Democratic counties and Unionist, Republican ones, although the state as a whole leaned Democratic throughout this era and the GOP would never carry the state during the Third Party System. However, the Democratic Party in the state was heavily divided over free silver and the role of corporations in the middle 1890s, and it lost the governorship for the first time in forty years in 1895 due to Populist defections. For the 1896 election, the Democratic Party would aim to fuse with the Populists, and adopted the Populist free silver platform under former Nebraska Representative William Jennings Bryan.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Background and vote
In contrast to the majority of antebellum slave states, Kentucky was sufficiently close to the industrial Northeast that it had a significant urban working class in its Ohio River cities that opposed free silver because it would cause inflation. Similar views were held by workers in Kentucky’s developing coal mining industry. Polls late in October nonetheless showed Bryan carrying the state by a margin only slightly reduced from what discredited incumbent President Grover Cleveland had achieved in 1892.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Background and vote
A week later, however, polls had Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey carrying Kentucky by seventeen thousand votes. As it turned out, the state was exceedingly close, with McKinley becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to carry Kentucky, by a mere 277 votes, or 0.06352%. Owing to the direct election of presidential electors and the extreme closeness of the result, one Bryan elector and twelve McKinley electors were chosen.


1896 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Background and vote
McKinley’s victory is, by percentage margin, the seventh-closest popular results for presidential electors on record.


1896 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1896 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Four electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1896 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a margin of 38.69%.


1896 United States presidential election in Maine
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers, but had little appeal in the Northeastern states such as Maine.


1896 United States presidential election in Maine
With 67.90% of the popular vote, Maine would be McKinley's fifth strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Vermont, Massachusetts, neighboring New Hampshire and Rhode Island.


1896 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1896 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. States voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Maryland
This was the first time that a Republican presidential cadidate won Maryland since Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and the Democrats would not win the state's popular vote until 1912.


1896 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1896 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won Massachusetts by a margin of 43.15%.


1896 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
McKinley was able to win every county in the state of Massachusetts, including a rare Republican victory in Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston. Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had little appeal in the Northeastern states such as Massachusetts. Bryan would win Suffolk County during his rematch with McKinley in 1900 but would lose it again to William Howard Taft in 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With 69.47% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would be McKinley's second strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after neighboring Vermont.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1896 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 14 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Background
Ever since the formation of the Republican party, Michigan had been a Republican-leaning state due to the Lower Peninsula’s strong history of settlement by anti-slavery Yankees, who after the end of Reconstruction continued to see the need for solid Republican voting to oppose the solidly Democratic Confederate and Border States. During the Third Party System, heavily Catholic and immigrant-settled Southeast Michigan would lean towards the Democratic Party, which was opposed to the moralistic pietism of Yankee Republicans.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Background
In the 1892 election, aided by favorable demographic changes and a legislative change allocating electors by congressional district, the Democratic Party managed to carry five of Michigan’s fourteen electoral votes, and also elect a Governor and a majority to the state legislature. However, the Panic of 1893 turned expectations or hopes of Michigan becoming a swing state rudely on its head, especially when incumbent President Cleveland stood firm, sending in troops to break the Pullman Strike. In the 1894 elections, only one Democrat maintained a seat in the state legislature, a loss of seventy seats compared to the 1890 elections.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Background
In the wake of this decline, Cleveland decided not to run for a third term, and endorsed the National Democratic Party ticket of John M. Palmer. The Populist Party seized control of the Democratic Party and nominated former Nebraska Representative William Jennings Bryan.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Vote
During his campaign, Bryan travelled through Michigan in the latter stages of his October Midwestern tour. Polls late in that month, covering all but three of Michigan’s counties, showed Republican candidate William McKinley ahead of Bryan by almost three-to-one, which was an increase upon his margin in earlier polls. Another poll a little later was also certain Michigan would vote for McKinley.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Vote
Michigan ultimately voted for McKinley by a margin of 10.29 points, a much smaller margin that earlier polls, although a reduction was expected as some unpolled rural areas of the state had been believed to favour Bryan’s free silver policy. His margin was an increase of five points upon what Benjamin Harrison had achieved over the state as a whole in 1892, though there were large variations.


1896 United States presidential election in Michigan, Vote
In the traditionally Democratic German Catholic areas, there was a large shift to McKinley due to Archbishop Ireland’s opposition to free silver, In the heavily Methodist cabinet counties of Michiana, by contrast, Bryan gained subtantially and was the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Branch County, Calhoun County, Eaton County and Isabella County since Franklin Pierce in 1852.


1896 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1896 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Minnesota voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1896 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. With black disfranchisement virtually complete due to onerous poll taxes and literacy tests, Mississippi would begin seven decades as a one-party Democratic state, as the state completely lacked areas of upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.


1896 United States presidential election in Mississippi
No Republican would serve in the state legislature between 1902 and the 1960s, and only once until 1950 – when Herbert Hoover won riding on anti-Catholic and Prohibitionist sentiment the Pine Belt counties of Pearl River, Stone and George in 1928 – would the state Democratic nominee lose a Mississippi county in any Presidential election.


1896 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1896 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 17 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Four electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson. Unlike in the more easterly border states, Bryan’s “free silver” platform had very substantial appeal in the Unionist but highly populist Ozark “Bible Belt”. This was seen in that Missouri had in Richard P. Bland that earliest advocate of that monetary policy in Congress, and that only one vote had been cast in 1893 in Missouri against free silver, and that in St. Louis.


1896 United States presidential election in Missouri
Although all but one of Missouri’s pro-silver members had reversed course by the time of the presidential election, the state was still hit much more that the Old Northwest and upper Mississippi Valley by farmers’ debts from falling prices and crop failures since 1887. Despite opposition by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat to Bryan’s free silver policies, Bryan gained strongly via capture of James B. Weaver’s support base from the 1892 and 1880 elections in the strongly Baptist southwest, which was enough to counter Catholic defections from Grover Cleveland in St. Louis and surrounds.


1896 United States presidential election in Missouri
This is the only election where Douglas County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Bryan was also the first Democrat since James Buchanan in 1856 to carry Dade, Dallas, Jasper, Lawrence, Polk and Wright Counties.


1896 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1896 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan over the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 60.22 percentage points.


1896 United States presidential election in Montana
Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Montana was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as Vice-President and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.


1896 United States presidential election in Montana
Bryan would later beat McKinley in the state again four years later but would lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1896 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative and Nebraska native William Jennings Bryan and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Four electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in Nebraska
As a result of his win, Bryan became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Nebraska. Bryan would later lose the state to William McKinley in 1900 but would later win it again against William Howard Taft in 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1896 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine.


1896 United States presidential election in Nevada
Bryan would later defeat Republican William McKinley in the state four years later and would also later defeat William Howard Taft in the state in 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1896 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a margin of 42.78%.


1896 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
With 68.66% of the popular vote, New Hampshire would be McKinley's third strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after neighboring Vermont and Massachusetts. The state was also the best performance for National Democratic Party candidate John M. Palmer, who won 4.21% of the vote.


1896 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but held little-to-no appeal in the Northeastern states like New Hampshire.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 3, 1896. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a margin of 23.66%, making him the first Republican presidential candidate since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 to carry the state.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had little appeal in Northeastern states like New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
This was a realigning election for New Jersey, as it was for the nation. From 1852 to 1892, the Democrats had carried the state all but once– in Ulysses Grant's 1872 landslide– and only in 1860 had any other candidates won any electoral votes at all. New Jersey, as an industrial mid-atlantic state, was strongly in favor of the gold standard. Up until 1896, the Democrats had nominated candidates favorable to that notion, and to the state at large.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In the 11 elections between 1852 and 1892, the Democrats nominated a New Yorker in 6 of them (Horatio Seymour in 1868, Horace Greeley in 1872, Samuel Tilden in 1876, and Grover Cleveland in 1884, 1888, and 1892). In another three, a candidate from another mid-atlantic state was nominated by the Democrats: James Buchanan and Winfield Hancock of Pennsylvania in 1856 and 1880, and New Jersey's own George McClellan in 1864. Thus, in 9 of 11 elections, a mid-atlantic democrat acceptable to New Jersey was nominated.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Beginning in 1896, the Democratic party dramatically shifted away from supporting business interests to supporting the interests of farmers and miners of the south and west. As the issue of bimetallism– whether to allow silver to be used as currency in addition to gold– split the country along regional boundaries, New Jersey went with the pro-gold standard and pro-business Republicans. In the ensuing "system of '96" that lasted until the Great Depression realignment of 1932, Republicans won the state in all but one election: when New Jersey's own governor, Woodrow Wilson, was the Democratic nominee in 1912. Even then, Wilson was barely able to overcome New Jersey's republican lean, winning with a tiny plurality of 41.20% of the vote due to the Republican split between Progressive Teddy Roosevelt and Conservative William Howard Taft.


1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Beyond even the 4th party system, New Jersey retained the Republican bent it acquired in 1896 for the next century: in the 20th century, Democrats only won New Jersey nine times, while Republicans won it 16. On all but three of these occasions (the Democratic landslides of 1936, 1964, and 1996) the margin of victory was less than 10 points. Even Franklin Roosevelt only barely won the state in 1932, 1940, and 1944. Beginning with Bill Clinton's massive victory in 1996, the state would return to the Democratic fold with the rest of the northeast in modern elections.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
The 1896 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 36 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by the Republican nominees, former Governor William McKinley of Ohio and his running mate corporate lawyer Garret Hobart of New Jersey. McKinley and Hobart defeated the Democratic nominees, former Congressman William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate industrialist Arthur Sewall of Maine. Bryan also ran and received votes on the Populist Party line, with running mate Congressman Thomas E. Watson of Georgia.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
Also in the running was the National Democratic Party (Gold Democrat) candidate, John M. Palmer of Illinois, who ran with former Governor of Kentucky Simon Bolivar Buckner on a platform advocating for the gold standard.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
McKinley carried New York State with 57.58% of the vote to Bryan’s 38.72%, a victory margin of 18.85%. Palmer came in a distant third, with 1.33%.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
New York weighed in for this election as about fourteen percent more Republican than the national average.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had little appeal in Northeastern states like New York. Consequently, he performed especially weakly for a Democrat in New York, losing every county in the state except for Schoharie County upstate. This included New York City, where McKinley outpolled Bryan by about 60,000 votes. McKinley would lose New York City to Bryan in their 1900 rematch four years later and Bryan would later win the city again against William Howard Taft in 1908. New York City would not vote Republican again until Warren Harding won it in 1920.


1896 United States presidential election in New York
This election would begin the Fourth Party System, which would last from 1896 to 1928 and where New York would become a reliably Republican state in nearly all of the presidential elections during that era barring 1912.


1896 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1896 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 11 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. 5 electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson, who was nominated as Bryan's running mate under the Populist Party banner in a form of fusion, at the same time as the Populists were engaging in fusion with the North Carolina Republicans at the state level (both fusion efforts being orchestrated by Marion Butler.)


1896 United States presidential election in North Carolina
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion Northampton County has voted for a Republican presidential candidate, which stands as the second-longest Democratic streak in the nation. While Northampton County had been majority Black and a Republican bastion since the Civil War, the 1899 disenfranchisement of Black voters by North Carolina Democrats following their White Supremacy campaign of 1898 prevented Republicans from winning the county until long after political realignment had occurred.


1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota
The 1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota
Although the state had been carried by a fusion ticket under the “Populist” label in 1892, unlike the other Mountain and Plains states, North Dakota was largely Catholic or Lutheran and opposed Populist and Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan’s evangelistic Protestantism.


1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota
In spite of the fact that this predominantly wheat-growing state was severely hit by drought, high interest rates and problems of poor transportation, hostility to Bryan’s fundamentalism amongst the Russian-Germans of the southern part of the state was intense, while the Catholic Church under the influence of John Ireland also condemned Bryan’s free silver policy at the same time as Bryan toured North Dakota in October. There was also fear that if Bryan were elected the nation would split as severely as it had in 1861 after the election of Abraham Lincoln, and Archbishop Ireland pointed out that Bryan’s election might create class war.


1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota
For these reasons, Bryan was able to carry only the rural Scandinavian-American counties in the Red River Valley and the north of the state adjacent to Minnesota and Canada. In the predominantly German remainder of the state, Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey established a Republican dominance of the state’s presidential politics that would prove permanent except during the Prohibition and New Deal era.


1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota
McKinley won North Dakota by a margin of 11.92 percentage points, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state. He repeated this much more decisively four years later, and Bryan would prove the only Democrat to carry any of North Dakota’s counties until Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and the only one to obtain a majority in a North Dakota county until Wilson in 1916. This is the only election ever where North Dakota and Kansas didn't choose the same candidate.


1896 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1896 United States presidential election in Ohio was held on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose 23 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Ohio
Since the Civil War, Ohio politics had been controlled by a conflict between the anti-Civil War Appalachian southeast and German-American counties of the northwest, opposed both to the heavily Yankee and New Englander northeast and to the Ohio Company counties of the southeast. There was also an area of the Virginia Military District in the southwest that was historically the state’s Whig stronghold and later voted Republican. The GOP had consistently controlled the state during this era, if largely due to the prevalence of Ohio natives on the ticket, losing only one electoral vote to Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892.


1896 United States presidential election in Ohio
In 1896, the Democratic Party moved away from its urban northeastern Irish-American base to attempt to forge an alliance of the developing Jim Crow “Solid South” with the Populist West. The Midwest had seen the nation‘s worst labor strife in the years between the 1892 and 1896 elections, and the Republican Party saw Bryan as attempting to ferment class war. Although Ohio had been affected severely by the farm crisis of the early 1890s, its strong coverage by rail transport made this much less of a problem than it was in the more remote Plains States.


1896 United States presidential election in Ohio
Consequently, Ohio was narrowly won by the Republican Party candidate and native son, William McKinley, with 51.86% of the popular vote. The Democratic Party candidate, William Jennings Bryan, garnered 47.08% of the popular vote.


1896 United States presidential election in Oregon
The 1896 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Oregon
Oregon was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1896 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 32 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, former Governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won Pennsylvania by a landslide margin of 24.71%.


1896 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1896 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a wide margin of 41.94%.


1896 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had little appeal in Northeastern states like Rhode Island.


1896 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
With 68.33% of the popular vote, Rhode Island would be McKinley's fourth strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Vermont, neighboring Massachusetts and New Hampshire.


1896 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1896 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 3, 1896. Voters chose 9 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in South Carolina
South Carolina overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan, over the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 71.79%.


1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota
The 1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota
South Dakota was won by the Populist nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Two electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Bryan won the state by a very narrow margin of 0.22 percentage points, becoming the first national Democratic presidential candidate to win the state. Bryan would later lose the state to Republican incumbent president William McKinley four years later and would later lose the state again to William Howard Taft in 1908. As of the 2020 United States presidential election, this is the only time that a Republican candidate has won the presidency without carrying South Dakota.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Background
For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee’s white citizenry was divided according to partisan loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the “war party” who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Background
Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state’s secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction. After the state’s white landowning class re-established its rule in the early 1870s, black and Unionist white combined to forge adequate support for the GOP to produce a competitive political system for two decades, although during this era the Republicans could only capture statewide offices when the Democratic Party was divided on this issue of payment of state debt.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Background
White Democrats in West Tennessee were always aiming to eliminate black political influence, which they first attempted to do by election fraud in the middle 1880s and did so much more successfully at the end of that decade by instituting in counties with significant black populations a secret ballot that prevented illiterates voting, and a poll tax throughout the state, which cut turnout by at least a third in the 1890s. This poll tax was supposedly relaxed or paid by party officials in Unionist Republican areas, where whites were much poorer than in secessionist areas.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Background
The mid-1890s Populist movement did not affect Tennessee so much as other southern states, with the party never cracking 12 percent in any biennial gubernatorial election.


1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Vote
Although the state’s poll tax had already reduced the Republican black and poor white electorate, Democratic managers were unsure about carrying Tennessee in late October, because it was felt that urban businessmen would desert the party in sufficient numbers for McKinley to come close to carrying the state. Polls the day before the election suggested Tennessee would be exceedingly close, but as it turned out Bryan would carry the state relatively easily by around six points, which was still a decline upon recent Democratic performances despite a quantitatively reduced Republican electorate.


1896 United States presidential election in Texas
The 1896 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose 15 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Texas
Texas was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Four electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in Texas
Bryan would later win Texas again in both 1900 and 1908.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah
The 1896 United States presidential election in Utah was held on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah
This was the first time Utah participated in a presidential election, having been admitted as the 45th state on January 4 of that year. It is also the only time a Republican candidate has won the presidency without carrying Utah.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah, Background
Utah had been established as a territory within five years of the earliest settlement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but opposition by the Republican Party – dominant from 1860 – to Mormon polygamy meant that Utah was consistently refused statehood. Consequently, Utah territorial politics until 1891 was dominated by the Mormon-hierarchy-controlled "People's Party" and the anti-Mormon "Liberal Party". Those Mormons who did affiliate with national parties generally were Democrats, who lacked moral qualms associated with polygamy and slavery – although the Liberal Party did have allies within the GOP. In order to achieve statehood, however, the LDS Church disbanded the "People's Party" in 1891 and most LDS members moved towards the Democratic Party.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah, Background
The 1896 election in Utah was dominated by the influence of silver mine owners, who overwhelmingly supported Democrat/Populist William Jennings Bryan because he advocated coinage of free silver at a ratio of 16 to 1 with gold.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah, Background
As a consequence, Utah voted overwhelmingly for Bryan, who won the state by 65.43 percentage points. Even with overwhelming Republican dominance of Utah since the late 1960s, this margin has not been approached by any party or candidate since. Apart from Kane County in the far south – and even here Bryan's performance remains the second-best ever by a Democrat behind Woodrow Wilson's narrow 1916 victory – Bryan exceeded sixty-five percent of the vote in every county, and exceeded seventy percent in all but two.


1896 United States presidential election in Utah, Electoral vote
Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Utah was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as Vice-President and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.


1896 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1896 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, former Governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. With 80.08% of the popular vote, Vermont would be McKinley's strongest victory in the 1896 presidential election in terms of percentage in the popular vote as well as the best performance of any presidential candidate in the Green Mountain State to date. McKinley won Vermont by a landslide margin of 63.42%, which is the second-best performance by the Republican Party in any presidential election behind only Barry Goldwater in Mississippi in 1964 – ironically the first election when the Green Mountain State deserted the GOP.


1896 United States presidential election in Vermont
Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had practically no appeal in the Northeastern state of Vermont. In fact, with only 16.66% of the popular vote Bryan's performance in Vermont was the second weakest of any Democratic presidential candidate to date only after John W. Davis' 15.67% in 1924.


1896 United States presidential election in Virginia
The 1896 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia voted for the Democratic and Populist candidate, former U.S. Representative William J. Bryan over the Republican candidate, Ohio Governor William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a margin of 6.56%.


1896 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
The 1896 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
Washington was won by the Democratic nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Two electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson.


1896 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
As a result of his win in the state, Bryan would become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Washington state. He would later lose the state against McKinley in 1900 and then against William Howard Taft in 1908. Bryan would also be the only one to do so until Woodrow Wilson won it in 1916.


1896 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
This is the last time the loser won a majority of Clallam County votes.


1896 United States presidential election in West Virginia
The 1896 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in West Virginia
West Virginia was won by the Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
The 1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
Wisconsin during the Third Party System was a Republican-leaning but competitive state whereby historically anti-Civil War German Catholic counties stood opposed to highly pro-war and firmly Republican Yankee areas. The German Catholics’ Democratic loyalties were related to their opposition to Republican pietism and to the fact that during the Civil War they had been extremely hostile to Abraham Lincoln’s wartime draft policies which often singled them out.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
Four year prior had seen, aided by favorable demographic shifts, opposition to the notorious “Bennett Law” requiring attendance at public schools, and a shift of some GOP voters to Prohibition Party nominee John Bidwell, Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland carry the state for the first time since before the Republican Party was formed. However, expectations that demographic shifts would favour the Democrats were rudely crushed in 1894, when the Republicans took every Congressional seat in the state. President Cleveland became extremely unpopular and the Democratic Party turned towards the Populist movement active in the West in order to revive its fortunes.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
Whilst the Populist movement would gain almost universal acceptance in the silver mining West, its inflationary monetary policies were opposed by almost all urban classes and viewed as dangerously radical by rural German Catholics, with free silver being condemned by the Church hierarchy.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Vote
Early polls always had Wisconsin strong for Republican nominee William McKinley, with his supporters saying it would be one of the most Republican states despite voting Democratic in 1892. During his fall tour of the Midwest, Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan made fifteen speeches, but was disturbed by a member of McKinley’s club, who attempted to mob Bryan in Janesville.


1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Vote
As it turned out, McKinley would carry Wisconsin handsomely by over one hundred thousand votes and almost twenty-three percentage points. Wisconsin would be McKinley’s strongest state outside the Northeast.


1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming
The 1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming
Wyoming was won by representative William Jennings Bryan (D–Nebraska), running with shipbuilder, railroad president and director, bank president Arthur Sewall, with 51.49 percent of the popular vote, against the 39th Governor of Ohio William McKinley (R–Ohio), running with New Jersey State Senator, Garret Hobart, with 47.75 percent of the popular vote.


1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming
As of the 2020 United States presidential election, this is the first, last, and only presidential election where Wyoming voted for a losing Democratic presidential candidate.


1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming, Electoral vote
Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Wyoming was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as vice president and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.


1896 United States presidential election in Wyoming, Electoral vote
Bryan would later lose Wyoming to William McKinley four year later and would later lose the state again to William Howard Taft in 1908. This is also the only election where the Republican candidate won the election without Wyoming.


1896 University of Utah football team
The 1896 University of Utah football team was an American football team that represented the University of Utah during the 1896 college football season as an independent. Head coach C. B. Ferris led the team to a 3–2 record.


1896 Utah Agricultural Aggies football team
The 1896 Utah Agricultural Aggies football team was an American football team that represented Utah Agricultural College (later renamed Utah State University) during the 1896 college football season. In their second season of intercollegiate football (following a hiatus during the 1893, 1894, and 1895 seasons), the Aggies compiled a 0–1 record.


1896 Utah Agricultural Aggies football team
On Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1896, the Aggies played the team from Brigham Young College in the second intercollegiate game in Utah Agricultural history. Brigham Young won by a 6-0 score. The Aggies' lineup against Brigham Young was as follows: Evans at left end; Preston Peterson at left tackle; Nelson at left guard; Webster at center; Martineau at right guard; Bunot at right tackle; Sutton at right end; Walter McLaughlin at quarterback; Willard Langton at left halfback; Ralph at right halfback; and John Bankhead at fullback.


1896 VFA season
The 1896 Victorian Football Association season was the 20th season of the Australian rules football competition. It was the final season in which the Association was the highest level of senior football competition in Victoria, with eight of its strongest members leaving the league and establishing the rival Victorian Football League from 1897.


1896 VFA season
The season was opened on 2 May, and concluded on 3 October with a playoff match for the premiership between the top two teams, in which Collingwood defeated South Melbourne by one goal. It was Collingwood's first VFA premiership.


1896 VFA season, Premiership season
In 1896, the VFA competition consisted of thirteen teams of 20 on-the-field players each. Because there was an odd number of teams, at least one team had a bye each week; the idle club often travelled to Ballarat to play one of the local senior clubs in a non-premiership match.


1896 VFA season, Premiership season
When reporting match scores in 1896, the number of goals and behinds scored by each team is given; however, only the number of goals scored is considered when determining the result of a match. This was the final VFA season before the introduction of the modern system of scoring, in which six points is awarded for a goal and one point is awarded for a behind.


1896 VFA season, Ladder
The Association had no formal tie-breakers in cases where clubs were equal on premiership points.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
Collingwood and South Melbourne finished level on 58 premiership points at the conclusion of the premiership matches, meaning a playoff match for the premiership was required between them.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
It is often said that this playoff match was required because, in addition to having equal win-loss records, Collingwood and South Melbourne had finished with an equal record of goals scored and goals conceded and therefore could not be split on a tie-breaker; while this version of events is given in several modern references, contemporary sources reveal this to be a myth.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
Association Rule 19, which specifically covered the event of a playoff, did not consider goals scored or conceded as a means of tie-breaker for the premiership, and newspaper match previews leading into Round 19 made clear that win-loss record was the only consideration for determining whether or not there would be a playoff. Additionally, the clubs' for-and-against records were not quite identical: Collingwood had scored one goal more than South Melbourne for the season, but the fact that the tallies were so close helped to perpetuate the myth.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
It was the second time in VFA history that a playoff match was staged for the premiership, the first having occurred in 1878, but it was the first time that a playoff had been required since the formal introduction of the premiership ladder in 1888: the 1878 playoff was required to resolve a dispute between Melbourne and Geelong.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
The fact that a playoff would be required between Collingwood and South Melbourne was known after Round 19: both Collingwood and South Melbourne had a bye in Round 20 with third-placed Essendon six premiership points adrift, leaving them with no chance of tying for or finishing first.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
As a result, the two clubs organised to stage their playoff match on Saturday 26 September, the same day as the other Round 20 matches, at the neutral East Melbourne Cricket Ground; arrangements were made and advertisements were published. However, on the Tuesday, delegates from all Association clubs voted 11–8 in favour of postponing the playoff match to Saturday 3 October, the following weekend.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
Arguments in favour of postponing the match centred mostly around the fact that a playoff match would detract from interest, attendances and gate takings at the rostered Round 20 matches, while arguments in favour of staging the playoff during Round 20 were to remove the need for the clubs to train for an extra week, and that public desire for the match to be held on 26 September was strong.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
A second meeting was held on the Wednesday night after Collingwood and South Melbourne objected to the postponement, but the Association delegates again voted in favour of postponing the match, albeit by a reduced majority of 10–9.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
While Collingwood and South Melbourne initially discussed playing the match on 26 September anyway, in spite of the Association's decision, this proved to be unworkable as the Association declined to provide an umpire.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
Subsequently, Collingwood arranged to play Bendigo Football League premiers Eaglehawk at Victoria Park during Round 20, winning 6.7 – 3.6, while South Melbourne used the week as a bye.


1896 VFA season, Playoff match
The playoff match itself was played at a high standard in front of 12,000 spectators at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. Two late goals in the first quarter allowed Collingwood to open up a 4–2 lead at quarter time, but Collingwood went goalless through the second and third quarters as South Melbourne dominated the game and regained the lead at 5–4. Collingwood tied the game early in the final quarter, then kicked the winning goal inside the final ten minutes to win 6–5.


1896 VFA season, Charity Cup
On the Saturday between Rounds 5 and 6, a Charity Cup event was held, the gate takings from which were donated to charity. The event consisted of four clubs – Collingwood, Essendon, Port Melbourne and South Melbourne – contesting a knock-out tournament of shortened matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a single afternoon, a format which has since become known as a lightning premiership. Each match was played over two periods of twenty minutes each. The competition was won by Essendon.


1896 VFA season, Charity Cup
The Charity Cup was used to trial two new rules in the VFA:


1896 VFA season, Charity Cup
Both of these rule changes were soon adopted into all levels of the game.


1896 VMI Keydets football team
The 1896 VMI Keydets football team represented the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in their sixth season of organized football. The Keydets had a 3–4 record, marking the first losing season in program history.


1896 VPI football team
The 1896 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1896 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Arlie C. Jones and finished with a record of four wins, three losses, and one tie (5–2–1).


1896 VPI football team, Season summary, St. Albans game cancelled
A game against St. Albans Lutheran Boys School was scheduled to be played on October 17, 1896 in Radford, Virginia. However, the game was not played after a dispute between both teams regarding the amateur eligibility of players on both sides.


1896 VPI football team, Players
The following players were members of the 1896 football team according to the roster published in the 1897 and 1903 editions of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.


1896 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
The 1896 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1896 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team's head coach was R. G. Acton, who was in his first year at Vanderbilt and went on to coach two more. This was the first meeting of Vanderbilt and Kentucky.


1896 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 1896 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on September 1, 1896. Incumbent Republican Urban A. Woodbury, per the "Mountain Rule", did not run for re-election to a second term as Governor of Vermont. Republican candidate Josiah Grout defeated Democratic candidate J. Henry Jackson to succeed him.


1896 Villanova Wildcats football team
The 1896 Villanova Wildcats football team represented Villanova University during the 1896 college football season. The Wildcats team captain was James McDonald.


1896 Virginia Cavaliers football team
The 1896 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia in the 1896 college football season. Led by first-year coach Martin V. Bergen, the team went 7–2–2 and claims a Southern championship.


1896 Virginia Cavaliers football team, Season summary, Week 5: at Princeton
The Princeton Tigers defeated Virginia 48 to 0, "the game was too one-sided to be interesting."


1896 Washington & Jefferson football team
The 1896 Washington & Jefferson football team was an American football team that represented Washington & Jefferson College as an independent during the 1896 college football season. Led by first-year head coach Clinton Woods, the team compiled a record of 8–0–1 and did not allow their opponents to score all season.


1896 Washington Agricultural football team
The 1896 Washington Agricultural football team was an American football team that represented Washington Agricultural College during the 1896 college football season. The team competed as an independent under head coach David A. Brodie and compiled a record of 2–0–1.


1896 Washington Senators season
The 1896 Washington Senators baseball team finished the season with a 58–73 record, ninth place in the National League.


1896 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1896 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1896 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1896 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1896 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1896 Washington football team
The 1896 Washington football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1896 college football season. In its second season under coach Ralph Nichols, the team compiled a 2–3 record and was outscored by its opponents by a combined total of 40 to 20. Jack Lindsay was the team captain.


1896 Washington gubernatorial election
The 1896 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1896.


1896 Washington gubernatorial election
Populist nominee John Rankin Rogers defeated Republican nominee Charley Sullivan, with 55.55% of the vote.


1896 Waverley colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Waverley on 20 February 1896 because of the death of Angus Cameron (Free Trade). This was the final election contested by Sir Henry Parkes.


1896 Wellington City mayoral election
The 1896 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.


1896 Wellington City mayoral election, Background
In 1896 incumbent Mayor George Fisher was defeated by former Mayor Francis Bell. Bell had served as Mayor from 1891 to 1893.


1896 Welsh Cup Final
The 1896 Welsh Cup Final, the 19th in the competition, was contested by Bangor and Wrexham at the Council Field, Llandudno. Bangor won 3–1.


1896 Welsh Cup Final, Route to the final, Bangor
Bangor's route to the final took seven games, with their first against Llandudno Swifts being forced into extra time. Bangor travelled to the venue of that year's final to face the 'Swifts', where  drawing the game 2–2 after 90 minutes, Bangor won 3–2 in extra time.


1896 Welsh Cup Final, Route to the final, Bangor
In the second round, Bangor received a bye into the third, due to no teams being close enough to travel to, and there they welcomed Westminster Rovers to their Maes y Dre field. Another draw, 1–1, after 90 minutes the game was replayed at Westminster, where Bangor won 3–1.


1896 Welsh Cup Final, Route to the final, Bangor
In the Fourth Round, Bangor once again draw 1–1, this time against Wellington St George. The game was replayed, once again at Maes y Dre.


1896 Welsh Cup Final, Route to the final, Bangor
Now only one game from the Bangor's second final, they faced last years winners Newtown. Taking the game to another 1–1 draw, Bangor went on to win 3–0 in the replay. Both games were played at the home of the final opponents, the Racecourse Ground.


1896 Welsh Cup Final, Route to the final, Wrexham
As runners-up in the previous years Welsh Cup, Wrexham joined the 1896 competition in the fourth round.


1896 West Virginia Mountaineers football team
The 1896 West Virginia Mountaineers football team was an American football team that represented West Virginia University during the 1896 college football season. In its first and only season under head coach Thomas Trenchard, the team compiled a 3–7–2 record and was outscored by a combined total of 101 to 14. Three of the team's losses were to the  Lafayette team that has been recognized as the co-national champion for 1896. George Krebs was the team captain.


1896 West Virginia gubernatorial election
The 1896 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1896, to elect the governor of West Virginia.


1896 Western Conference football season
The 1896 Western Conference football season was the first season of college football played by the member schools of the Western Conference (later known as the Big Ten Conference) and was a part of the 1896 college football season.


1896 Western Conference football season
In September 1896, the members of the Western Conference, seven of the most prominent teams in the Midwest, arranged their schedules so as to "compete for the championship of the West."


1896 Western Conference football season
The 1896 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coach Philip King, won the first Western Conference championship with a 7–1–1 record (2–0–1 against conference opponents). Wisconsin's sole loss was to the Carlisle Indians in a night game played indoors and under the lights at the Chicago Coliseum before a crowd of 16,000 persons.


1896 Western Conference football season
Michigan, led by head coach William Ward, compiled a 9–1 record and led the conference in both scoring offense (26.2 points per game) and scoring defense (1.1 points per game). Michigan started the season with nine consecutive wins in which the Wolverines outscored their opponents by a combined score of 256 to 4. In the final game of the season, Michigan lost to Chicago by a score of 7–6. The 1896 Chicago–Michigan football rivalry game was the first college football game played indoors, and the last portion of the game was also played under electric lights.


1896 Western Conference football season
Northwestern finished in third place with a 6–1–2 record, its only loss coming against Chicago by an 18–6 score.


1896 Western Conference football season
In their fifth season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Chicago Maroons compiled a 15–2–1 record, finished in fourth place in the conference with a 3–2 record against conference opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 368 to 82.


1896 Western Conference football season, Season overview, Results and team statistics
PPG = Average of points scored per gamePAG = Average of points allowed per game


1896 Western Conference football season, Season overview, Regular season
Only 12 conference games were played during the 1896 Western Conference season. The results were as follows:


1896 Western Conference football season, Season overview, Regular season
Notable non-conference games during the 1896 season included the following:


1896 Western Conference football season, Awards and honors, All-Western players
In the Chicago Inter Ocean, a sports writer known as "The Man Up a Tree" published the following selections for an All-Western football team:


1896 Western Conference football season, Awards and honors, All-Americans
No Western Conference players were selected for the 1896 College Football All-America Team.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team
The 1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team was an American football team that represented the Western University of Pennsylvania (now known as the University of Pittsburgh) as an independent during the 1896 college football season.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Season recap
On June 15, 1896 the Western University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees elected George W. Hoskins to the chair of physical culture. Hoskins was previously the head coach at Pennsylvania State College from 1892 to 1895 and compiled a 17-4-4 record. His unique style of coaching introduced after practice critiquing sessions with blackboard chalk talks and giving quizzes about the new rule changes for the upcoming season. There were a host of applicants for team positions, and practice was mandatory unless the coach received a legitimate excuse. In its first and only season under head coach George W. Hoskins, the team compiled a 2-7 record and was outscored by a total of 69 to 42.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Pittsburgh Athletic Club
The George Hoskins led WUP opened the season on Saturday, September 26 against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) on the East End Grounds. The first half was scoreless with both teams struggling to sustain their offense. Coach Hoskins played center and did a lot of punting. Weakley, Donaldson and Shaler did the bulk of the ball carrying for the WUP. At the end of the half Atherton of PAC tried a 40 yard field goal but it sailed wide.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Pittsburgh Athletic Club
Five minutes into the second half the PAC offense methodically advanced the ball down the field and Bushman carried it over the goal line for the first touchdown of the game. Atherton kicked the goal after and PAC led 6-0. The WUP offense then moved down the field to the PAC five yard line and Hoskins tried an onside kick but Aull of PAC recovered. The WUP defense held PAC from scoring again and finally got the ball back with a minute left. The WUPs were able to move the ball to the 25 yard line and Hoskins tried another onside kick from there. Weakley of WUP recovered it in the end zone for the touchdown. Kirkpatrick missed the goal after and the final score was 6-4 in favor of PAC.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Pittsburgh Athletic Club
The WUP starting lineup for the P.A.C. game was Al Marshall (left end), Williams (left tackle), Charles Burheim (left guard), George Hoskins (center), Smith (right guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (right halfback) and Kirkpatrick (fullback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Penn State
On October 3 the WUP eleven made their second trip to Beaver Stadium to take on State College. The WUP defense played an excellent game but J. A. Dunsmore of State College was able to scamper twenty yards around the end for a touchdown near the end of the first half. Clarence Thompson, State's kicker, missed the goal after and the score stood 4-0 at halftime. The second half was shortened to fifteen minutes. State received the ball first and the WUP defense held.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Penn State
State College punted and the WUP defense blocked the kick and left end Al Marshall recovered the ball in the end zone for a WUP touchdown. Quarterback William Shaler missed the goal after. The Staties then sustained a fifty yard drive culminating with another touchdown by Dunsmore. Ensminger's try for goal after was successful. The WUP offense proceeded to move the ball into State territory and tried an unsuccessful late field goal. The final score was 10-4 in favor of State College.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Penn State
The WUP starting lineup for the Penn State game was Al Marshall (left end), Williams (left tackle), Charles Burheim (left guard), George Hoskins (center), Smith (right guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (right halfback) and Kirkpatrick (fullback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Latrobe Athletic Association
The next game on the schedule was against the Latrobe Athletic Association in Latrobe, Pa. on October 10. Early in the first half the referee called a play by Latrobe illegal and a squabble ensued for close to an hour. Finally, the WUP team decided to play ball and the first half ended scoreless. After halftime Latrobe's offense controlled the game, but the stingy WUP defense held them to one touchdown. The WUP offense was unable to generate much rushing yardage and they lost the game 4-0.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Latrobe Athletic Association
The WUP starting lineup for the Latrobe game was Al Marshall (right end), Williams (right tackle), Charles Burheim (right guard), George Hoskins (center), Smith (left guard), Edgar Guilford (left tackle), Jay Henry (left end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (right halfback), Weakley (left halfback) and Kirkpatrick (fullback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Washington & Jefferson (cancelled)
On October 16 Chancellor William Jacob Holland wrote a letter to coach Hoskins with his concern about the number of injured WUP players. He prohibited the team from competing until they were fully healed. Coach Hoskins had to cancel the Washington & Jefferson game scheduled for the 17th, but he felt that the team would be ready for the D.C. & A.C. game on the 24th. The letter from the Chancellor stated:


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Washington & Jefferson (cancelled)
"I am informed that a large number of the gentlemen composing the football team of the university have recently in games in which they have played sustained serious injury, which incapacitate them from playing. I have had no opportunity to consult you, but my information is such as to convince me that it would be very prejudicial to the health and perhaps perilous to some of these young men in their present condition to undertake to play a match game.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Washington & Jefferson (cancelled)
My jurisdiction authorizes me, as the custodian of the physical as well as the intellectual interests of the young men in the institution, therefore, to decide that it is improper that these men should enter for the present into any contest which is likely to result in further and possibly permanent injury. Acting, therefore, with the advice and consent of my colleagues of the faculty, I desire to notify you that the football team will notbe allowed to play any game until the gentlemen who compose that team are restored to health.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Washington & Jefferson (cancelled)
I further desire to notify you that it is the sense of the faculty of this institution that the so-called "scrub" teams of this university shall be pitted only against "scrub" teams of other institutions. We do not think it is just to our young men that beginners should be brought into competition with veterans in this sort of sport. The percentage of injuries which is likely to result from such an unequal mating of the contending forces on the football team is sufficient , in my judgement, to warrant our faculty in prohibiting contests of this sort."


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
On October 24 at Exposition Park the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club (D.C. & A.C.) football team easily defeated the eleven from the Western University 26-0 in front of one thousand spectators. The WUP starting lineup had three new members – Burtt, McConkey and Riley. Halfback Ed Brown of the D.C. & A.C. notched an eight yard touchdown run on the A.C.'s first offensive possession. Young kicked the goal after and the score was 6-0 after three minutes. The WUP offense failed to move the ball. D.C. & A.C. halfback Ed Brown raced thirty-five yards for his second score.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
Later in the half Young of the D.C. & A.C. plunged into the end zone from the six inch line and the score at halftime read 14-0 in favor of D.C. & A.C. The second half started like the first as right tackle Johnson of D.C. & A.C. raced forty-five yards for a touchdown on their opening possession. On their next possession halfback Lowrey sped sixty yards for the final score of the game.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
The revised WUP starting lineup for the D.C. & A.C. game was Walter Burtt (left end), Williams (left tackle), Charles Burheim (right guard), George Hoskins (center), McConkey (left guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (fullback) and Riley (right halfback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, Western Theological Seminary
The October 30th game with the Western Theological Seminary (also known as Allegheny Athletic Club) was summed up best by the reporter for The Pittsburgh Press:


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, Western Theological Seminary
"The W.U.P. - Allegheny Athletic club football game at Exposition park yesterday afternoon ended by W.U.P. leaving the field after a heated wrangle over the ruling of the officials, who by the way did not agree, but both claimed the authority to rule on the play. The trouble arose in the first half, 22 minutes after play had begun. W.U.P. had worked the ball to within seven yards of the Theologians goal. Here a quarterback kick was worked. The ball bounded over the goal line and WUP end Henry dropped on it for a touchdown.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, Western Theological Seminary
Referee O. D. Thompson promptly ruled Henry guilty of being off-side on the play and refused to allow the touchdown. Umpire S. M. Kintner decided that Henry was not guilty, and the wrangle began. Mr. Thompson firmly refused to allow the touchdown. Coach Hoskins called the players together and they left the field, forfeiting the game to the Theological students – 6-0."


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, Western Theological Seminary
The Pitt media guide lists this game as a 4-0 win.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, Western Theological Seminary
The WUP starting lineup for the game with Allegheny A.C. was Walter Burtt (left end), Williams (left tackle), Charles Burheim (right guard), George Hoskins (center), McConkey (left guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (right  halfback) and Kier (fullback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Geneva
On November 14 the W.U.P. eleven's propensity to stir up trouble resumed at Beaver Falls against Geneva College. The Pittsburg Press on November 6 reported that coach Hoskins would be the new coach of the Pittsburgh Athletic Club team. Then on  November 11 coach Hoskins played for the P.A.C. against the Allegheny Athletic Association. So, when the WUP team took the field in Geneva and coach Hoskins was in his usual position at center the Genevans refused to play. They felt he was now a professional and no longer eligible to compete on the intercollegiate level. The referee ordered the teams to line up and play. Geneva did not touch the pigskin. The allotted time ran out and WUP was named the winner by forfeit.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Geneva
The WUP lineup for the game with Geneva was Al Marshall (left end), Williams (left tackle), Charles Burheim (left guard), George Hoskins (center), McConkey (right guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (fullback) and Johnston (right halfback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Sewickley Athletic Association
On November 21 the game with the Sewickley Athletic Association was free from controversy. However, the eleven from Sewickley, Pennsylvania played a better game than the spectators anticipated. The WUP team outweighed Sewickley by 25 pounds per man and subsequently proved to be the better team. Weakley, Donaldson, Burheim and Marshall all scored touchdowns for the WUP and Guilford was good on one goal after to make the final score 18-0.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Sewickley Athletic Association
The WUP lineup for the game against Sewickley A. C. was Al Marshall (left end), Williams (left tackle), Jesse Kaufman (left guard), Charles Burheim (center), McConkey (right guard), Edgar Guilford (right tackle), Jay Henry (right end), William Shaler (quarterback), Donaldson (left halfback), Weakley (right halfback) and Kirkpatrick (fullback).


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Wheeling Tigers
Controversy reappeared for the November 26th Thanksgiving day tussle between the Western University and the Wheeling Tigers in Wheeling, West Virginia on the Island baseball fields. The Pittsburgh Daily Post summarized the argument - “The game of football between the Western University of Pennsylvania and the Wheeling Tigers, which was witnessed by 1,500 people, was one continuous wrangle, and the game was not finished until after dark. Both sides claim the victory. Touchdown and goal of the Tigers in the second half are in dispute.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Wheeling Tigers
The trouble was due to a misunderstanding between the umpire and the referee regarding their respective privileges and duties, and their evident desire to favor their own teams. W.U.P. quit once, but this action brought forth general hissing and expressions of indignation and they finished the game.”  The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer gave a  detailed account of the proceedings. In the first half both teams played well on defense and ball possession changed back and forth. The Tigers recovered an onside kick and their offense moved the ball close to the WUP goal.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Wheeling Tigers
The WUP defense stiffened and Tiger captain Robert Edwards drop-kicked a goal and the Tigers led 5-0. A punting duel ensued. WUP halfback Donaldson was injured and time was called. Then the Tiger offense started to advance the pigskin and Robert Edwards scampered around the end but fumbled into the hands of WUP end Marshall, who raced down the sideline seventy yards for the touchdown. Guilford's goal after was successful and the score read 6-5 in favor of the Western University. The Tigers were able to again move the ball near the WUP goal before halftime.


1896 Western University of Pennsylvania football team, Game summaries, at Wheeling Tigers
The second half started with the usual back and forth possessions until Guilford of WUP was penalized for a tackle below the knee. The WUP team was not happy with the umpire, Mr. Charles Williams, and words were exchanged. When play resumed Robert Edwards was literally pushed over the goal with a mighty effort that left him injured. Sweeney kicked the goal after and the final score was 11-6 in favor of the Tigers.