Domestic Politics 1849–1900 - AP U.S. History

Card 1 of 121

0
Didn't Know
Knew It
0
1 of 2019 left
Question

Passage adapted from William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold Speech" (1896)

I shall not slander the fair state of Massachusetts nor the state of New York by saying that when citizens are confronted with the proposition, “Is this nation able to attend to its own business?”—I will not slander either one by saying that the people of those states will declare our helpless impotency as a nation to attend to our own business. It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when but 3 million, had the courage to declare their political independence of every other nation upon earth. Shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to 70 million, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No, my friends, it will never be the judgment of this people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good but we cannot have it till some nation helps us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we shall restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States have.

If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

Bryan's speech is an example of which of the following nineteenth-century political philosophies?

Tap to reveal answer

Answer

William Jennings Bryan was perhaps Populism's greatest voice, and his 1896 nomination for President by the Democratic Party sealed its place in national politics. The tenets of populism were support of farmers, election reform, and the removal of the gold standard. The gold standard referred to pegging the value of the American dollar to gold, which caused fluctuations in prices despite its consistent logic. Bryan argued for bimetallism, which made the dollar valued in comparison to gold and silver.

← Didn't Know|Knew It →