Election of 1896

Democratic National Committee:

Chairman, JAMES K. JONES, of Arkansas.
Secretary, CHARLES A. WALSH, of Iowa.

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.

Chicago, Ill., July 7, 1896.

Chairman pro tem., JOHN W. DANIEL,

of Virginia.

Chairman, STEPHEN M. WHITE,

of California.

NOMINATED

For President, William J. Bryan,

of Nebraska.

For Vice-President, Arthur Sewall,

of Maine.

There were 930 delegates present at this convention. A spirited contest took place for the temporary chairmanship

of the convention, which resulted as above stated. There was much discussion occasioned by the financial plank of the platform, and many motions to amend were made; but the platform was finally adopted as at first reported, by the vote of 628 to 301. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was nominated for President on the fifth ballot. This was accomplished by 78 delegates transferring their votes to Mr. Bryan after the roll-call was completed, but before the result was announced. The following is the vote in detail:

For Vice-President, Arthur Sewall, of Maine, was

nominated on the fifth ballot, as follows:

We, the Democrats of the United States, in national convention assembled, do reaffirm our allegiance to those great essential principles of justice and liberty upon which our institutions are founded, and which the Democratic party has advocated from Jefferson's time to our own-freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, the preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, and the faithful observance of constitutional limitations.

During all these years the Democratic party has resisted the tendency of selfish interests to the centralization of govern