1900 United States presidential election in Tennessee explained

See main article: 1900 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1900 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Country:Tennessee
Flag Year:1897
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1896 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Previous Year:1896
Next Election:1904 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Next Year:1904
Election Date:November 6, 1900
Image1:WilliamJBryan1902 3x4.jpg
Nominee1:William Jennings Bryan
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:Nebraska
Running Mate1:Adlai Stevenson I
Electoral Vote1:12
Popular Vote1:145,240
Percentage1:53.03%
Nominee2:William McKinley
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Ohio
Running Mate2:Theodore Roosevelt
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:123,108
Percentage2:44.95%
Map Size:350px
President
Before Election:William McKinley
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:William McKinley
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1900 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1900. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1900 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee’s white population 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[1] voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they associated the Democratic Party with secessonism.[2] Conversely, 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.[3] After the state’s white landowning class re-established its rule in the early 1870s, blacks and Unionist whites combined to give a competitive political system for two decades,[4] although in this era the Republicans could only capture statewide offices when the Democratic Party was divided on the issue of payment of state debt.[4]

White Democrats in West Tennessee consistently sought to eliminate Black political influence, committing election fraud in the mid-1880s, instituting poll taxes statewide, and, in counties with significant black populations, implementing a secret ballot that prevented illiterates voting,[5] all of which cut turnout by at least a third in the 1890s.[6] Although the poll tax was supposedly relaxed or paid by party officials in Unionist Republican areas,[6] turnout would continue to decline seriously in later years, although overall presidential partisan percentages did not change substantially as the GOP attempted to attract Democrats who would benefit from tariffs.[7]

On election day, Tennessee was won by the Democratic ticket, former U.S. Representative and 1896 Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan and his running mate, former Vice President Adlai Stevenson I. They defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent President William McKinley of Ohio and his running mate Theodore Roosevelt of New York. Bryan won the state by a margin of 8.08%, an increase of 2.32 percent on his 1896 margin over McKinley, a small change but a substantial one given the extremely deep partisan loyalties of white Tennesseeans. His increased margin reflected more complete black disenfranchisement and reduced suspicion of his free-silver policies in the major urban areas, which saw him carry normally Republican Knox County. McKinley is the only Republican to win two terms in the White House without carrying Tennessee either time.Neither McKinley nor Bryan campaigned in Tennessee, and by the fourth week of October it became clear that the state would once again go to the Democrats.[8]

Bryan would later win the state again against William Howard Taft in 1908.

Results

1900 United States presidential election in Tennessee[9]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
DemocraticWilliam Jennings Bryan145,24053.03%12
RepublicanWilliam McKinley (incumbent) 123,10844.95%0
ProhibitionJohn G. Woolley3,8441.40%0
PopulistWharton Barker1,3220.48%0
Social DemocraticEugene V. Debs3460.13%0
Totals273,860100.00%12
Voter turnout

Results by county

1900 United States presidential election in Tennessee by county[10]
CountyWilliam Jennings Bryan
Democratic
William McKinley
Republican
John Granville Woolley
Prohibition
Wharton Barker
Populist
Eugene Victor Debs
Social Democratic
MarginTotal votes cast
data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %
Anderson73226.73%1,99772.91%100.37%00.00%00.00%-1,265-46.18%2,739
Bedford2,17660.70%1,35737.85%421.17%100.28%00.00%81922.85%3,585
Benton1,38563.77%72033.15%251.15%421.93%00.00%66530.62%2,172
Bledsoe49840.32%73459.43%30.24%00.00%00.00%-236-19.11%1,235
Blount82526.74%2,20171.35%591.91%00.00%00.00%-1,376-44.60%3,085
Bradley90935.51%1,57961.68%722.81%00.00%00.00%-670-26.17%2,560
Campbell47917.54%2,18980.15%421.54%00.00%210.77%-1,710-62.61%2,731
Cannon1,21360.95%77538.94%20.10%00.00%00.00%43822.01%1,990
Carroll1,93141.64%2,51654.26%551.19%1352.91%00.00%-585-12.62%4,637
Carter40812.72%2,76386.13%371.15%00.00%00.00%-2,355-73.41%3,208
Cheatham1,19071.82%44026.55%241.45%30.18%00.00%75045.26%1,657
Chester89453.21%70241.79%80.48%764.52%00.00%19211.43%1,680
Claiborne77043.68%98755.98%60.34%00.00%00.00%-217-12.31%1,763
Clay83061.25%49836.75%120.89%110.81%40.30%33224.50%1,355
Cocke1,00129.69%2,36070.01%100.30%00.00%00.00%-1,359-40.31%3,371
Coffee1,66070.34%62426.44%451.91%20.08%291.23%1,03643.90%2,360
Crockett1,42856.62%1,05041.63%411.63%00.00%30.12%37814.99%2,522
Cumberland40534.67%75064.21%131.11%00.00%00.00%-345-29.54%1,168
Davidson6,86970.81%2,50125.78%2322.39%310.32%670.69%4,36845.03%9,700
DeKalb1,52850.43%1,44247.59%601.98%00.00%00.00%862.84%3,030
Decatur90950.53%89049.47%00.00%00.00%00.00%191.06%1,799
Dickson1,69162.47%96435.61%391.44%100.37%30.11%72726.86%2,707
Dyer1,97571.87%72826.49%451.64%00.00%00.00%1,24745.38%2,748
Fayette2,28271.31%88527.66%200.63%120.38%10.03%1,39743.66%3,200
Fentress32029.01%78270.90%10.09%00.00%00.00%-462-41.89%1,103
Franklin2,19676.49%61321.35%622.16%00.00%00.00%1,58355.14%2,871
Gibson3,37664.97%1,50929.04%2574.95%541.04%00.00%1,86735.93%5,196
Giles2,79061.43%1,70337.49%260.57%230.51%00.00%1,08723.93%4,542
Grainger96034.68%1,80265.10%60.22%00.00%00.00%-842-30.42%2,768
Greene2,86847.89%3,09151.61%300.50%00.00%00.00%-223-3.72%5,989
Grundy85269.72%35729.21%131.06%00.00%00.00%49540.51%1,222
Hamblen95941.52%1,32257.23%291.26%00.00%00.00%-363-15.71%2,310
Hamilton3,18842.57%3,94352.66%2573.43%390.52%610.81%-755-10.08%7,488
Hancock38221.09%1,42978.91%00.00%00.00%00.00%-1,047-57.81%1,811
Hardeman1,97459.42%1,33640.22%30.09%90.27%00.00%63819.21%3,322
Hardin1,15945.88%1,36754.12%00.00%00.00%00.00%-208-8.23%2,526
Hawkins1,86742.38%2,51557.09%220.50%10.02%00.00%-648-14.71%4,405
Haywood1,45285.87%21412.66%160.95%40.24%50.30%1,23873.21%1,691
Henderson1,30839.87%1,92558.67%421.28%60.18%00.00%-617-18.81%3,281
Henry2,60570.92%92925.29%1032.80%260.71%100.27%1,67645.63%3,673
Hickman1,29258.22%89440.29%90.41%241.08%00.00%39817.94%2,219
Houston73866.85%34130.89%252.26%00.00%00.00%39735.96%1,104
Humphreys1,56169.78%61427.45%542.41%40.18%40.18%94742.33%2,237
Jackson1,47961.12%93538.64%00.00%60.25%00.00%54422.48%2,420
James28332.01%59867.65%30.34%00.00%00.00%-315-35.63%884
Jefferson81625.67%2,34773.83%160.50%00.00%00.00%-1,531-48.16%3,179
Johnson18910.42%1,61889.20%70.39%00.00%00.00%-1,429-78.78%1,814
Knox4,38951.08%3,98246.35%1201.40%470.55%540.63%4074.74%8,592
Lake55873.52%20126.48%00.00%00.00%00.00%35747.04%759
Lauderdale1,80778.46%43718.98%241.04%351.52%00.00%1,37059.49%2,303
Lawrence1,48052.73%1,32747.27%00.00%00.00%00.00%1535.45%2,807
Lewis40066.23%20233.44%20.33%00.00%00.00%19832.78%604
Lincoln2,46372.19%72821.34%1684.92%531.55%00.00%1,73550.85%3,412
Loudon51231.28%1,11668.17%70.43%20.12%00.00%-604-36.90%1,637
Macon87139.66%1,32560.34%00.00%00.00%00.00%-454-20.67%2,196
Madison2,37964.84%1,14731.26%150.41%1233.35%50.14%1,23233.58%3,669
Marion1,23443.73%1,58556.17%30.11%00.00%00.00%-351-12.44%2,822
Marshall2,18469.27%76324.20%953.01%1113.52%00.00%1,42145.07%3,153
Maury3,32556.42%2,49142.27%530.90%240.41%00.00%83414.15%5,893
McMinn1,28937.90%2,05760.48%521.53%30.09%00.00%-768-22.58%3,401
McNairy1,44348.37%1,49850.22%70.23%351.17%00.00%-55-1.84%2,983
Meigs70152.83%61946.65%20.15%50.38%00.00%826.18%1,327
Monroe1,63447.40%1,74350.57%692.00%10.03%00.00%-109-3.16%3,447
Montgomery2,24851.30%1,81541.42%3187.26%10.02%00.00%4339.88%4,382
Moore83891.09%667.17%161.74%00.00%00.00%77283.91%920
Morgan42128.45%1,05371.15%60.41%00.00%00.00%-632-42.70%1,480
Obion2,72274.78%77121.18%1273.49%200.55%00.00%1,95153.60%3,640
Overton1,44365.38%76434.62%00.00%00.00%00.00%67930.77%2,207
Perry85157.89%60841.36%00.00%110.75%00.00%24316.53%1,470
Pickett34540.16%51459.84%00.00%00.00%00.00%-169-19.67%859
Polk73744.83%90655.11%00.00%10.06%00.00%-169-10.28%1,644
Putnam1,45257.76%1,05842.08%40.16%00.00%00.00%39415.67%2,514
Rhea79847.93%83249.97%331.98%10.06%10.06%-34-2.04%1,665
Roane74022.06%2,42972.42%1484.41%140.42%230.69%-1,689-50.36%3,354
Robertson2,56468.10%1,12829.96%671.78%60.16%00.00%1,43638.14%3,765
Rutherford2,51762.29%1,42935.36%130.32%822.03%00.00%1,08826.92%4,041
Scott17110.23%1,49889.59%30.18%00.00%00.00%-1,327-79.37%1,672
Sequatchie37562.71%21636.12%71.17%00.00%00.00%15926.59%598
Sevier38212.81%2,59586.99%60.20%00.00%00.00%-2,213-74.19%2,983
Shelby5,14362.50%2,96135.98%420.51%320.39%510.62%2,18226.52%8,229
Smith1,94061.16%1,11835.25%802.52%341.07%00.00%82225.91%3,172
Stewart1,57765.93%79333.15%200.84%20.08%00.00%78432.78%2,392
Sullivan2,42157.42%1,73941.25%551.30%10.02%00.00%68216.18%4,216
Sumner2,58975.68%77622.68%260.76%260.76%40.12%1,81353.00%3,421
Tipton1,88758.55%1,30840.58%80.25%200.62%00.00%57917.96%3,223
Trousdale67572.82%22223.95%30.32%272.91%00.00%45348.87%927
Unicoi768.29%82289.64%192.07%00.00%00.00%-746-81.35%917
Union56627.22%1,50172.20%120.58%00.00%00.00%-935-44.97%2,079
Van Buren42573.40%15326.42%10.17%00.00%00.00%27246.98%579
Warren1,92674.13%67225.87%00.00%00.00%00.00%1,25448.27%2,598
Washington1,49636.98%2,48861.51%601.48%10.02%00.00%-992-24.52%4,045
Wayne57628.94%1,40570.60%80.40%10.05%00.00%-829-41.66%1,990
Weakley3,60962.74%1,99034.60%1232.14%300.52%00.00%1,61928.15%5,752
White1,65870.92%65628.06%241.03%00.00%00.00%1,00242.86%2,338
Williamson2,13672.98%70424.05%491.67%381.30%00.00%1,43248.92%2,927
Wilson2,67470.20%1,06127.86%661.73%80.21%00.00%1,61342.35%3,809
Totals145,24953.04%123,10844.95%3,8441.40%1,3230.48%3460.13%22,1418.08%273,870

See also

Notes and References

  1. Wright, John K.; ‘Voting Habits in the United States: A Note on Two Maps’; Geographical Review, vol. 22, no. 4 (October 1932), pp. 666-672
  2. [Valdimer Orlando Key|Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando]
  3. Lyons, William; Scheb (II), John M. and Stair Billy; Government and Politics in Tennessee, pp. 183-184
  4. Kousser, J. Morgan; The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910, p. 104
  5. Kousser; The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 110
  6. Kousser, The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 118
  7. Kousser; The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 104
  8. ‘Summary of the States Generally Conceded to McKinley or Bryan by Impartial Observers’; The Boston Globe, October 21, 1900, p. 33
  9. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Tennessee
  10. Web site: Géoelections. Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1900. (.xlsx file for €30)