Cross of Gold speech
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The Cross of Gold speech was a speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. The speech advocated bimetallism. At the time, the Democratic Party wanted to standardize the value of the dollar to silver and opposed pegging the value of the United States dollar to a gold standard alone. The inflation that would result from the silver standard would make it easier for farmers and other debtors to pay off their debts by increasing their revenue dollars. It would also reverse the deflation which the U.S. experienced from 1873-1896.
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[edit] Opposition
Backers of the solely gold standard felt that the protection against inflation was paramount in protecting savings, and the gold standard would prevent inflation. Inflation would put a burden on creditors, along with anyone who decided they didn't want to spend their money immediately. President Cleveland backed the creditors as there were many in his cabinet.[citation needed]
[edit] The speech
The speech was given in the context of a wider debate at the convention about bimetallism, and so the greater part of Bryan's speech is devoted to responses to other speakers whose contributions have largely been forgotten. Bryan's speech places him in the camp of Western interests (largely farmers and other borrowers) against Eastern interests (moneylenders), in the camp of rural interests against urban interests, and in the camp of economic nationalists against internationalists who were concerned about the U.S. abandoning the internationally recognized gold standard. Bryan's speech cemented his role as a leading voice for economic populism.
[edit] Origin of the name
The speech gets its popular name from its ending, with its biblical allusions:
- Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand 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.:
At the conclusion of the speech, Bryan stretched out his arms in a Christ-like manner for five seconds, while the crowd remained quiet. According to the New York World, at that point everyone seemed to go mad at once and shrieked and rushed the stage. The New York Times commented that "A WILD, RAGING, IRRESISTIBLE MOB" had been unleashed.[1]
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[edit] See also
- U.S. presidential election, 1896
- Coinage Act of 1873
- William Jennings Bryan
- 1896 Democratic National Convention
[edit] Footnotes
[1] Jackson Lears, "Rebirth of a Nation", 2009, p. 187.
[edit] External links
Full text and audio version of "Cross of Gold" at History Matters.
