Some historians have seen Bryan as the political heir of Jefferson and Jackson, and McKinley as the political heir of Hamilton and the Whigs. Are such connections valid? Why or why not?

Bryan very much idealized the individual American, particularly the farmer, as prime example of democracy, like Jefferson, and less elegantly, Jackson. All three were equally skeptical of the concept of masses of urban industrial workers, though for different reasons.

McKinley, coming from the Republicans, then the party of distinguished patrician interest and privilege, was much more quick to see small scale movements like the Populists as rabble rousing, relying instead upon the wise leadership of the well bred. in the same way, Hamilton actively disliked "the people' thinking them lazy, feckless and ignorant. He did not believe democracy need be all inclusive.