Why, that man who used to boast that he looked like Napoleon, that man shudders today when he thinks that he was nominated on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. I deny it. When I neared my seat, somebody near me raised a shout, and the next thing I was picked up … The audio portion is an excerpt. William Jennings Bryan was born 1860 and lived till 1925. But in the early 20th century, the fame of Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech led him to repeat it numerous times on the Chautauqua lecture circuit where he was an enormously popular speaker. �h��X?J��T�����i ���Rx�l���������Yj)j�x��5�Z�wm��4��nD�* ��*���*�|h�t�YZc����R,����p��'���M$�G�w6o����q�N8r��`ב���sm/��t��%P�ݦ�є �2b�F�� ]Q�i��bt1��p$JL4�h$ Raised in Nebraska, Bryan became the Democratic and Populist Parties’ nominee at age 36 in 1896. The inflation that would … What we need is an Andrew Jackson to stand as Jackson stood, against the encroachments of aggregated wealth. Bryan begins his speech by admitting he may not have as much experience as those who spoke before him. Thus has the contest been waged, and we have assembled here under as binding and solemn instructions as were ever fastened upon the representatives of a people. 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. 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The gentleman from New York says that he will propose an amendment providing that this change in our law shall not affect contracts which, according to the present laws, are made payable in gold. 58 0 obj << /Linearized 1 /O 61 /H [ 972 269 ] /L 97226 /E 60467 /N 6 /T 95948 >> endobj xref 58 17 0000000016 00000 n The merchant at the crossroads store is as much a businessman as the merchant of New York. Why, if they tell us that the gold standard is a good thing, we point to their platform and tell them that their platform pledges the party to get rid of a gold standard and substitute bimetallism. We defy them! After speeches on the subject by several U.S. I shall object to bringing this question down to a level of persons. More than a century after Bryan delivered that speech, his words still have power, and some of his metaphors still appear in … Here is the line of battle. time before some commentator alludes to William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech at the 1896 Democratic convention as the leading example of an orator's ability to sway listeners. If they ask us here why it is we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that if protection has slain its thousands the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. Reprinted in The Annals of America, Vol. I ask him, if he will apply his logic to us, why he does not apply it to himself. Without the acts of Bryan would this nation even be afloat still? What we oppose in that plank is the life tenure that is being built up in Washington which establishes an office-holding class and excludes from participation in the benefits the humbler members of our society. 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