One hundred thirteen years ago, on July 9, 1896, William Jennings Bryan stepped to the podium at the Democratic National Convention and made what was to become one of the most famous speeches in American History.
The Democratic National Convention was debating the issue of bimetallism – the keeping of silver and gold as backing for the economic system versus following the trend of many European countries and use only a gold standard. The idea of bimetallism was popular with the common man – and was a standard for the Populist Party – but it was unpopular with big business and banking interests. The issues centered on helping those who were in debt by making money more available or protecting those who loaned money – the business and banking interests. A similar argument seems to be going on today – as well as the trend toward following others versus leading others on the international scene.
There was a reason for the debate: The People’s Party (popularly
known as the Populists Party) was a popular third party. Traditionally in America when the issues backed by third parties become too popular, one of the two major parties adopt them, thus taking the steam from the upstart newcomer. Hence we’ve remained primarily a two-party system. The Populists had several popular issues that the Democrats were addressing in their platform in 1896.
Bryan – thirty-six years old – stepped to the podium and gave a speech that rocked the convention and rocketed him into the limelight.
His speech was so well received that he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President the next day. He would lose the election, and gold would become the monetary standard for the United States from 1900 until 1975, when the dollar became our ‘fiat’ money (money with no intrinsic value other than the faith and credit placed on it).
You can here Jennings recreation of the speech for a recording twenty-five years after his
original speech here. YouTube has an interesting 3-minute presentation here. You can read the entire speech here. Finally, a lesson plan on bimetallism can be found here. This lesson includes an excellent video explaining the issue of bimetallism - click here to see it.
While the Cross of Gold speech is not often studied today, perhaps it is one we should take a look at again – with 113 years of perspective.
Essential Question: What relationship do the famous historic speeches of the past have on the world we live in today?
The Democratic National Convention was debating the issue of bimetallism – the keeping of silver and gold as backing for the economic system versus following the trend of many European countries and use only a gold standard. The idea of bimetallism was popular with the common man – and was a standard for the Populist Party – but it was unpopular with big business and banking interests. The issues centered on helping those who were in debt by making money more available or protecting those who loaned money – the business and banking interests. A similar argument seems to be going on today – as well as the trend toward following others versus leading others on the international scene.
There was a reason for the debate: The People’s Party (popularly
known as the Populists Party) was a popular third party. Traditionally in America when the issues backed by third parties become too popular, one of the two major parties adopt them, thus taking the steam from the upstart newcomer. Hence we’ve remained primarily a two-party system. The Populists had several popular issues that the Democrats were addressing in their platform in 1896.Bryan – thirty-six years old – stepped to the podium and gave a speech that rocked the convention and rocketed him into the limelight.
His speech was so well received that he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President the next day. He would lose the election, and gold would become the monetary standard for the United States from 1900 until 1975, when the dollar became our ‘fiat’ money (money with no intrinsic value other than the faith and credit placed on it).
You can here Jennings recreation of the speech for a recording twenty-five years after his
original speech here. YouTube has an interesting 3-minute presentation here. You can read the entire speech here. Finally, a lesson plan on bimetallism can be found here. This lesson includes an excellent video explaining the issue of bimetallism - click here to see it.While the Cross of Gold speech is not often studied today, perhaps it is one we should take a look at again – with 113 years of perspective.
Essential Question: What relationship do the famous historic speeches of the past have on the world we live in today?
PHOTO SOURCES:
William Jennings Bryan portrait, Library of Congress ID cph 3a00786
William Jennings Bryan at the Convention, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Opposing cartoon, Wikipedia
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William Jennings Bryan at the Convention, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Opposing cartoon, Wikipedia
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