#Free coinage of silver free#
On the 4th of March, 1895, a few Democrats, most of them members of Congress, issued an address to the Democrats of the nation asserting that the money question was the paramount issue of the hour asserting also the right of a majority of the Democratic Party to control the position of the party on this paramount issue concluding with the request that all believers in free coinage of silver in the Democratic Party should organize and take charge of and control the policy of the Democratic Party. Never before in the history of American politics has a great issue been fought out as this issue has been by the voters themselves. Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have passed.
The individual is but an atom he is born, he acts, he dies but principles are eternal and this has been a contest of principle. I shall object to bringing this question down to a level of persons. When this debate is concluded, a motion will be made to lay upon the table the resolution offered in commendation of the administration and also the resolution in condemnation of the administration. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty-the cause of humanity. The humblest citizen in all the land when clad in the armor of a righteous cause is stronger than all the whole hosts of error that they can bring. I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened if this were but a measuring of ability but this is not a contest among persons. Try updating to the latest version of your browser. Your browser is unable to play the audio element.
#Free coinage of silver full#
The full text of William Jenning Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech appears below. “Some,” wrote another reporter, “like demented things, divested themselves of their coats and flung them high in the air.” The next day the convention nominated Bryan for President on the fifth ballot. The response, wrote one reporter, “came like one great burst of artillery.” Men and women screamed and waved their hats and canes. His dramatic speaking style and rhetoric roused the crowd to a frenzy. The thirty-six-year-old former Congressman from Nebraska aspired to be the Democratic nominee for president, and he had been skillfully, but quietly, building support for himself among the delegates. (This inflationary measure would have increased the amount of money in circulation and aided cash-poor and debt-burdened farmers.) After speeches on the subject by several U.S. The issue was whether to endorse the free coinage of silver at a ratio of silver to gold of 16 to 1. The most famous speech in American political history was delivered by William Jennings Bryan on July 9, 1896, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The idea that anything that bears a government stamp constitutes good money has been fully refuted by past experience, and the point needs no further remark to convince anyone unless he be a debtor who has argued himself into the belief that anything that will temporarily relieve the crowded class of the country is to be sought after.Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech: Mesmerizing the Masses Within ourselves, of course, we can say what shall constitute a legal lender and what shall not, but when we go outside of our own country, we find that the opinions of other peoples play an important part in the regulation of our money system. “Congress has power to coin money and regulate the value thereof.” This provision seems to give some people the idea that money is money no matter whether it be of sheepskin or of gold and that the value of such money must remain the same.
And just now, when there is so much talk about free silver and the wonderful benefits to be derived there from, it seems highly proper for every voter to study the matter for himself and see, if he can, whether congress should be upheld or censured for its conservative legislation regarding the relation of gold and silver. Introduction: This subject, although old and threadbare, is almost as far from a satisfactory settlement as it has been anytime during our existence as an independent nation.