LAD #24: Cross of Gold Speech

LAD #24: Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech
This speech was given by William Jennings Bryan on July 9th, 1896 at the Democratic National convention which is located in the bustling city of Chicago. He starts off by talking about the true value of the American worker- the importance of the workers, and the great country that America is and the rights that we have as citizens. He believes that to help the hurting economy, to have free coinage of silver,as there was a higher abundance of it compared to gold,and as it was hurting the farmers, as stated in the previous LAD, a key belief of the Populist Party and the Silver Democrats, who were pushing for free coinage of silver as well. Silver is worth 1/16th of gold and farmers could not use them- only wealthy men could use it. The important thing to do is what's for the major benefit of the people, and that the farmers were just as important as the big business people. Farmers could use this change in money value and pay off the debts they owed. He also believed in an income tax, believing it would be for the benefit of people. He ends the speech with a beautiful line that's very poetically written yet hits all the political marks "You shall not crucify a man upon a cross of gold."