Previous Artifacts - November 2008
1900 Political Cane
As far back as 1792, every four years the United States has held a presidential election. In modern elections, presidential candidates actively campaign to gather support from voters. Today, we often see people with banners, posters, T-shirts, and buttons to advertise their support of a candidate.
Since this November many are talking about the presidential election, we decided to highlight one of our unique presidential campaign items. This cane belonged to Senator R. F. Pettigrew, who left the Republican Party in 1896 to support the Democratic and Populist candidate, William Jennings Bryan from Nebraska. Bryan ran on a ticket that supported “free silver” and opposed imperialism. Bryan lost that election to Ohio’s Republican governor, McKinley.
Pettigrew continued to support Bryan in his run for president in 1900. In May 1900, Sioux Falls held the National Convention for the Populist Party (or the People’s Party) and delegates selected William Bryan as their candidate. Bryan’s running mate was former Vice President Adlai Stevenson I. According to our records, Pettigrew carried this cane in a Sioux Falls parade.
The cane is painted red, white and blue, decorated with American flags and has pictures of William Bryan and Adlai Stevenson I. Wrapped around the middle of the cane are red and blue coated strips of metal. Unfortunately the red and blue ribbons that used to stream around the cane have since fallen off.
In addition to the cane, we also have a brick of quartzite, with the image of William Jennings Bryan etched onto the surface and dated 1900, that is currently on display in the Pettigrew Home.
