Born in Niles, Ohio, on 29 January 1843, McKinley lived for much of his childhood in Poland, Ohio. He entered Allegheny College when he was seventeen but soon left because of illness and worked as a teacher and a post-office clerk before the outbreak of the Civil War. After the war he read law and studied at the Albany Law School (1866-1867) before passing the Ohio bar examination and establishing a law office in Canton, Ohio. On 25 January 1871 he married Ida Saxton, the daughter of a prominent Canton banker and businessman.

Political Career.

Elected to the House of Representatives on the Republican ticket in 1876, McKinley served in Congress until 1891, after a Democratic gerrymandering of the Ohio House districts cost him the 1890 election. As a congressman McKinley developed a reputation for favoring civil-service reform and a high tariff. In 1890, as chairman of the House Ways and Means...