Western Farmers and Miners

William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech - Populist Challenge to Corporate Power

| Importance: 7/10

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 36-year-old former Nebraska Representative William Jennings Bryan delivers the electrifying “Cross of Gold” speech supporting “free silver” (bimetallism) against the gold standard, concluding with the famous peroration: …

William Jennings Bryan Democratic National Convention Populist Party Eastern banking interests Western farmers and miners gilded-age campaign-finance populism economic-policy bimetallism
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