| Summary |
The purpose of this study is to analyze the development of the free silver movement from 1889 through 1896 in Virginia and its effect on the Virginia Democratic party. The economic crisis of the early 1890's subjected the Democratic party in Virginia to strong popular pressure for change and created a split within Democratic ranks that would have great significance for Virginia politics after 1896. The struggle over the currency issue provided the battleground for an intense power struggle within the Democratic party that culminated in the accession of a new party leadership group. However, the popular obsession with the panacea of free silver allowed the Virginia Democracy to avoid more fundamental reform issues, including business regulation, constitutional and election reforms and improved state services. In 1889 the Virginia farmer began organizing in an attempt to produce a solution to his worsening economic plight. Currency inflation through the free coinage of silver became the major, though not the only, "reform" demanded by dissidents in the state. The panic of 1893 was the final economic blow that set the farmer and his labor allies on the road to political militancy in their demand for economic relief. The popular agitation for free silver became an increasingly important political issue in the early 1890's, as the Populist party produced a rising threat to Democratic supremacy in the state. At first, the conservative Virginia Democratic leadership attempted to ignore the currency issue. In their 1892 state convention, the Virginia Democrats endorsed Grover Cleveland for President and refused to adopt a proposed platform plank advocating free silver. However, the Virginia Democracy contained a large silver wing led by United States Senator John W. Daniel. These Democratic silverites, having failed in 1892, dedicated themselves to gaining control of the party in 1896. At the 1896 state convention in Staunton, the silverites were finally successful in capturing the party. Following the Democratic national convention in Chicago and the nomination of William Jennings Bryan, the Virginia Democracy split over the currency issue, with the old Cleveland cconservativesrefusing to support the party nominee. The party schism of 1896 was the result of an intense power struggle within the Virginia Democracy and a new leadership group advanced, containing both some genuine reformers and many essentially conservative politicians advancing their own political fortunes. The free silver movement in Virginia temporarily sidetracked what could have been a budding reform movement. Nonetheless, there was abundant evidence of a profound popular discontent with the status quo, and the Virginia Democracy had in 1896 only delayed consideration of reform issues it would eventually have to face. |
