When I find a man who is not willing to pay his share of the burden of the government which protects him I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours. It simply intends to put the burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people. We beg no longer we entreat no more we petition no more. We have begged, and they have mocked when our calamity came. We have entreated and our entreaties have been disregard. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity. Ah, my friends, we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast but those hardy pioneers who braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose-those pioneers away out there, rearing their children near to nature’s heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds-out there where they have erected school houses for the education of their children and churches where they praise their Creator, and the cemeteries where sleep the ashes of their dead-are as deserving of the consideration of this party as any people in this country. … We come to speak for this broader class of businessmen. Our silver Democrats went forth from victory unto victory until they are assembled now, not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter up the judgment rendered by the plain people of this country. Three months later, at Memphis, an organization was perfected, and the silver Democrats went forth openly and boldly and courageously proclaiming their belief and declaring that if successful they would crystallize in a platform the declaration what they had made and then began the conflict with a zeal approaching the zeal which inspired the crusaders who followed PETER the Hermit.
#Free coinage of silver free
On the 4th of March, 1895, a few Democrats, most of them members of Congress, issued an address to the Democrats of the nation asserting that the money question was the paramount issue of the hour asserting also the right of a majority of the Democratic party to control the position of the party on this paramount issue concluding with the request that all believers in free coinage of silver in the Democratic party should organize and take charge of and control the policy of the Democratic party. Never before in the history of American politics has a great issue been fought out, as this issue has been, by the voters themselves. Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have passed. The individual is but an atom he is born, he acts, he dies but principles are eternal and this has been a contest of principle. I shall object to bringing this question down to a level of persons. When this debate is concluded a motion will be made to lay upon the table the resolution offered in commendation of the administration and also the resolution in condemnation of the Administration. “The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the whole hosts of error that they can bring.” I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty-the cause of humanity. Chairman and Gentleman of the Convention: I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened if this were but a measuring of ability but this is not a contest among persons. Source: Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention Held in Chicago, Illinois, July 7–11, 1896 (Logansport, Ind., 1896), pp. Bryan then ran a whistle-stop campaign (a train tour bringing his message to the people), traveling around the country giving hundreds of speeches before finally losing to Republican William McKinley. His passionate speech electrified the crowd and convinced the members of the convention to nominate him as their candidate on the fifth ballot. At the time, Bryan was a former member of Congress from Nebraska who had been working tirelessly to build support for his candidacy. On the night of July 8, William Jennings Bryan revealed himself as the candidate the silverites were looking for by delivering one of the most famous speeches in American history. There was no doubt the platform would endorse the unlimited coinage of silver, but a candidate was needed who could sell the position to the American people.
Unfortunately, they did not have a candidate. At the Democratic National Convention in 1896, proponents of “free silver” (the re-legalization of silver as part of the nation’s monetary standards) appeared to possess the two-thirds majority needed to nominate a candidate.
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