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What if an election leaves a republic unable to survive its own quarrels?
In Ingersoll Lockwood's 1900; or, The Last President, an American election opens onto a frightening political possibility. Money, debt and class divide the country. Farmers, workers and bankers disagree over what money should be, while the story imagines what follows if the side Lockwood fears takes power.
New York becomes a stage for wealth, poverty and gathering anger. Crowds fill the tale with pressure, and fear hangs over the city. This short political novel carries the urgency of a warning: beneath the election struggle lies a larger question about whether the American republic can hold together.
What you’ll discover
- An election under strain Enter a political struggle where arguments over money reach into the foundations of the republic.
- A city on edge See New York's great wealth and crowded poverty become the setting for class anger.
- Fear as political force Explore how dread shapes Lockwood's vision of an election and its possible consequences.
- Democracy's fragile foundations Face the unsettling possibility that a nation's own divisions can threaten its political survival.
- An urgent warning tale Follow a plain, quick narrative that puts political alarm ahead of richly drawn characters.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy alternate history, American politics of the 1890s and cautionary tales will find a fast, vivid story here, along with a view of how writers pictured a republic in crisis.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An election becomes a national alarm
- The streets turn into a battlefield
- Crowd loyalty meets the money markets
- New laws cannot create monetary trust
- Regional power strains the Union
- Lawful power can weaken constitutional safeguards
- Promises outgrow the leader's control
- Crowds and clocks shape the story
- One crisis leads into the next
Who’s who
- BryanThe young President who rises on the votes of the common people and sets out to remake the nation's money and laws.
- AltgeldThe master spirit of Illinois who delivers the state to Bryan, is called King-maker, and later serves as Secretary of War.
- Governor MortonThe aged Governor who orders the regiments out on election night and fears for the Republic even after the city is saved.
- TillmanThe powerful Southern leader and the President's close ally, who shapes the Cabinet without taking a seat in it.
- The SpeakerThe Southern-backed leader of the House who drives the new programme through and keeps the chamber in session night and day.
- The President's wifeThe calm, loyal partner to whom Bryan confides his doubts as the movement he started grows beyond his control.
- The Silver PilgrimsThe marching crowds who head for Washington with plated spoons, hoping for office, double pay and Bryan dollars.
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1900; or, The Last President
by Ingersoll Lockwood · 1896
A Bryan victory sends mobs against New York, and a new President sets out to remake the Republic.
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“We are the people, and what we do, we do under the holy sanction of law.”
In short
What happens to a republic when a crowd wins an election and then keeps on winning? Ingersoll Lockwood asks that question in 1900, or The Last President, a political fantasy set in the years after the vote of 1896.
1900; or, The Last President at a glance
- Reading time
- About 45 min35 min fast, 50 min slow
- Length
- 10,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1896by Ingersoll Lockwood
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Election night sends mobs against New York
The story opens on the night of Tuesday, November 3, 1896. New Yorkers are sitting down to dinner when the news arrives that Bryan is elected President.
Within half an hour, mounted police ride through the streets with a warning. Stay inside, bar your doors, put out the lights. Huge mobs led by Anarchists and Socialists are gathering on the East Side, and they mean to plunder the homes of the rich. The rioters wreck the gasworks and the electric plants, for they prefer to fight in darkness.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1896
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Lockwood, Ingersoll. 1900; or, The Last President. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/1900-or-the-last-president.
Lockwood, I. (2026). 1900; or, the last president. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/1900-or-the-last-president (Original work published 1896)
Lockwood, Ingersoll. 1900; or, The Last President. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/1900-or-the-last-president.
@book{lockwood20261900,
author = {Lockwood, Ingersoll},
title = {1900; or, The Last President},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/1900-or-the-last-president},
note = {First published 1896}
}
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What is 1900, or The Last President about?
It imagines Bryan winning the 1896 election and carrying out his silver programme, with riots, new laws, a collapsing dollar and a divided Union. It is a warning, written by an opponent, about what mass politics might do to the Republic.
Is The Last President by Ingersoll Lockwood a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction. Lockwood wrote it in 1896 as a political fantasy about the future, using real names and real policies such as free silver coinage, but the events he describes never happened.
What does the Dawnless Day mean in the book?
It is the name given to March 4, 1897, the day of Bryan's inauguration, when thick clouds obscure Washington's morning light until nearly nine. It acts as an omen that darkens the start of the new administration.
The author
Ingersoll Lockwood
1841–1918 · American lawyer and novelist
Ingersoll Lockwood (1841–1918) was an American lawyer and writer born in Ossining, New York. He wrote Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger (1890), Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey (1893), and 1900; or, The Last President (1896). He died in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“We are the people, and what we do, we do under the holy sanction of law.”
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