William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech at the
Democratic Convention, 1896
Would
be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to
whom you have listened if this were a mere measuring of abilities; but this is
not a contest between persons. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad
in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I
come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty -
the cause of humanity.
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 offered in condemnation of the administration. We
object to bringing this question down to the level of persons. The individual
is but an atom; he is born, he acts, he dies; but principles are eternal; and
this has been a contest over a principle....
The
sympathies of the Democratic party, . . . are on the
side of the struggling masses who have ever been the foundation of the
Democratic party. There are two ideas of government. There are those who
believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous,
their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea,
however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their
prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them.
You
come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard;
we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn
down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as
if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of
every city in the country.
My
friends, we declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own people on
every question . . . It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when
but three millions in number, had the courage to declare their political
independence of every other nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have
grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less independent that our
forefathers? No, my friends, that will never be the
verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is
fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other
nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because
England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism
because the United States has it. If they dare to come out in the open field
and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the
uttermost. 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.