The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Municipal Ownership League under whose colors Hearst had run for

Mayor of New York In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

in 1905. After its second-place finish in a race for

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

, the party set its sights on the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

, and held a national convention to nominate a ticket in 1908. The party garnered only 83,000 votes nationally in the 1908 election and immediately dissolved as a national force. The Independence League of New York continued to nominate candidates for office in

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

until the state election of 1914.

Establishment

In 1905, millionaire newspaper publisher

made a high-profile run for

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...

under the banner of the Municipal Ownership League. Hearst ran on a

reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

ticket in opposition to incumbent

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

Democrat George B. McClellan, Jr. and Republican William Mills Ivins, Sr. Hearst narrowly missed election, losing to the Democrat by fewer than 3,500 votes out of nearly 600,000 cast between the three candidates, with the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

ultimately deciding the matter in favor of Tammany Hall on June 30 amidst charges of electoral fraud. In the wake of its defeat, the Municipal Ownership League was replaced by a new political organization with a less socialistically oriented name: the Independence League of New York. In

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, Hearst again ran for political office, this time being defeated in the race for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

on a Democratic–Independence League fusion ticket. Despite his own loss, other members of the fusion slate were elected, including Lewis S. Chanler as

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, John S. Whalen as Secretary of State, Martin H. Glynn as

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

, Julius Hauser as

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

, William S. Jackson as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, and Frederick Skene as state engineer. Parallel Independence Leagues were active at the same time in several other states, including California and Massachusetts. In the latter, state party nominee Thomas L. Hisgen garnered a substantial number of votes in the 1907 election for governor, topping the candidate of the Democratic Party for second place. Prospects seemed bright for a new national political organization to replace the Democrats as the chief opposition party in the United States.

1908 Presidential convention

Buoyed by the promising results for Thomas Hisgen in Massachusetts, the Independence League moved to establish a national presence as the Independence Party ahead of the election of 1908 at a convention held in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The gathering was convened on July 27, 1908, in a hall bedecked with patriotic red-white-and-blue bunting and streamers.Darcy Richardson, ''Others: Third Parties During the Populist Period.'' Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2007; pg. 421. Although Hisgen was regarded as a favorite to win nomination prior to convocation, the nominating convention's decision was not unanimous nor the nomination process without acrimony, requiring three ballots of the assembled delegates to reach an ultimate decision. The first person nominated was former Congressman Milford W. Howard of

Fort Payne, Alabama Fort Payne is a city in and county seat of DeKalb County, in northeastern Alabama, United States. It is near Lookout Mountain. At the 2020 census, the population was 14,877. This city developed around a fort of the same name, built in the 183 ...

, placed into consideration by a long-winded speech which drew catcalls."Hisgen and Graves New Party Ticket: The Independence Convention Makes Its Choice in Early Morning,"
''New York Times,'' July 29, 1908, pp. 1, 3. The Howard nomination was followed by a speech by Rev. Roland D. Sawyer of Massachusetts, who formally placed Hisgen's name into the pool of candidates. This was followed by the nomination of Georgian John Temple Graves, the editor of a Hearst newspaper. An attempt by a Kansas delegate to put the name of Democratic Party standard bearer

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...

into nomination was met with raucous jeering which briefly prevented the speaker from continuing. With order restored, the speaker continued in his effort to formally nominate Bryan, causing an even more fierce explosion of rage and protest, as a report in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' indicates:

"A scene of riot immediately followed, several delegates attempting to reach the rostrum for the purpose of offering physical violence to the speaker. 'I intend, if I am allowed to finish, to nominate Mr. William J. Bryan,' said Mr. .I.Sheppard.
"The hall broke into a wild uproar, a dozen delegates vainly struggling in the main aisle in an attempt to reach Mr. Sheppard. Canes and fists were shaken at him furiously, while howls of execration went up from all sides of the hall."

Only after an extended period of tumult was order restored and Sheppard ruled out of order on the grounds of having nominated an individual who was not a member of the Independence Party. Sheppard walked from the rostrum under protection of the convention's two sergeants of arms, but was still swung at with a cane by a New York delegate as he passed down the aisle, with the New Yorker forcibly restrained. An announcement shortly followed that Sheppard had been removed as a member of the National Committee of the Independence Party. With the nominations finally complete, convention voting ensued. The first ballot saw a tally of 396 votes for Hisgen, 213 for Graves, 200 for Howard, 71 for Reuben R. Lyon, and 49 for William Randolph Hearst. A second ballot brought Hisgen to the doorstep of nomination, gathering 590 votes, compared to 189 for Graves and 109 for Howard. Only in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 29 did Hisgen go over the top, winning the nomination. Graves was chosen as Hisgen's Vice-Presidential running mate by the gathering.

Party platform

The party platform adopted by the Chicago convention declared that corporate corruption, waste in government spending, the exploitative pricing of

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce a particular thing, a lack of viable sub ...

, a costly

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

, and rule by political machines had exacted a costly economic toll on both investors and working people alike. Both the Republican and Democratic parties, were to blame, the Independence Party declared, and it cast itself as the banner-bearer in the effort "to wrest the conduct of public affairs from the hands of selfish interests, political tricksters, and corrupt bosses" and to make government "an agency for the common good." The party platform argued against corrupt

machine politics In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hi ...

, for the eight-hour work day, against the use of judicial injunctions to settle labor disputes, for the creation of a

Department of Labor A ministry of labour (''British English, UK''), or labor (''American English, US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workfor ...

, for improved workplace safety, and for the establishment of a

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

. The organization expressed its disapproval of maintenance of

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

s against striking workers and against the use of prison labor for the production of goods for the marketplace. The organization also favored broad implementation of the initiative and referendum system and in favor of the power of recall of elected officials. Although mildly

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

in content, the platform of the Independence Party took pains to cast the organization as "a conservative force in American politics, devoted to the preservation of American liberty and independence."

Final efforts

The national party collapsed after the 1908 election, in which Hisgen and Graves won less than one percent of the popular vote. Hearst ran again for Mayor of New York in 1909, and for lieutenant governor in 1910, but was defeated both times. The New York Independence League continued to nominate candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York until the state election of 1914.

Establishment

1908 Presidential convention

Party platform

Final efforts

Presidential tickets

Footnotes

Further reading