THE POPULIST CHALLENGE ★^657of workers’ wages. Moreover, the revivalist atmosphere of many Populist gath-
erings and the biblical cadences of Populist speeches were alien to the largely
immigrant and Catholic industrial working class. Urban working- class voters
in 1894 instead shifted en masse to the Republicans, who claimed that raising
tariff rates (which Democrats had recently reduced) would restore prosperity
by protecting manufacturers and industrial workers from the competition of
imported goods and cheap foreign labor. In one of the most decisive shifts in
congressional power in American history, the Republicans gained 117 seats in
the House of Representatives.
Bryan and Free Silver
In 1896, Democrats and Populists joined to support William Jennings Bryan for
the presidency. A thirty- six- year- old congressman from Nebraska, Bryan won
the Democratic nomination after delivering to the national convention an elec-
trifying speech that crystallized the farmers’ pride and grievances. “Burn down
your cities and leave our farms,” Bryan proclaimed, “and your cities will spring
up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and grass will grow in the streets
of every city in the country.” Bryan called for the “free coinage” of silver— the
unrestricted minting of silver money. In language ringing with biblical imagery,
Bryan condemned the gold standard: “You shall not press down upon the brow of
labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
At various points in the nineteenth century, from debates over “hard” ver-
sus “soft” money in the Jacksonian era to the greenback movement after the
Civil War, the “money question” had played a central role in American poli-
tics. Bryan’s demand for “free silver” was the latest expression of the view that
increasing the amount of currency in circulation would raise the prices farm-
ers received for their crops and make it easier to pay off their debts. His nom-
ination wrested control of the Democratic Party from long- dominant leaders
like President Grover Cleveland, who were closely tied to eastern businessmen.
There was more to Bryan’s appeal, however, than simply free silver. A
devoutly religious man, he was strongly influenced by the Social Gospel move-
ment (discussed in the previous chapter) and tried to apply the teachings of
Jesus Christ to uplifting the “little people” of the United States. He championed
a vision of the government helping ordinary Americans that anticipated provi-
sions of the New Deal of the 1930s, including a progressive income tax, banking
regulation, and the right of workers to form unions.
Many Populists were initially cool to Bryan’s campaign. Their party had
been defrauded time and again by Democrats in the South. Veteran Populists
feared that their broad program was in danger of being reduced to “free sil-
ver.” But realizing that they could not secure victory alone, the party’s leaders
What were the origins and the significance of Populism?