of 1896 in favor of free silver.'^- It is clear tliat his 

 lecture tours had created much sentiment for Bryan 

 to head the Democratic ticket, despite tlie opposition 

 of the Administration and the "old guard" of the 

 Party. Of all the potential silver candidates — Rich- 

 ard P. Bland, Ben Tillman, Horace Boies, perhaps 

 others — Bryan was, in many respects, in the most 

 advantageous position. Not being confined by the 

 duties of office or the dignity of party leadership, the 

 young man could campaign vigorously for himself 

 and for his issue. As William Allen White has 

 observed: "He was an attractive figure in those days 

 as he traveled from town to town, from county to 

 county, gathering about him the advocates of fiat 

 money." '^' The moral content of his evangelical 

 message seemed ageless, but his enthusiastic cam- 

 paign manner was fresh and his optimism buoyant in 

 a nation whose spirit had been jaded and discouraged 

 by a serious economic depression. He had an addi- 

 tional advantage possessed by no other contender: 

 having been a fusionist in Nebraska, he could appeal 

 to Populists and insurgent Republicans as well as 

 Democrats. In a nominating convention which was 

 bound to be relatively open and fluid, Bryan was 

 likely to be one of the strongest darkhorse candidates. 

 The clima.x of his campaign for the nomination 

 came early in July at the Democratic Convention, 

 after the basic work had been done and after a divisive 

 struggle over the seating of delegates in which the 

 silver forces had defeated and discredited the Cleve- 

 land Administration. The convention was hot, dis- 

 spirited, and deadlocked : "fortune favored me ... ," 

 wrote Bryan almost thirty years later.'** Although, 

 at first, it seemed that he might not have the oppor- 

 tunity to speak, it came at last when he spoke at the 

 close of the debate on the platform. It was a true 

 Bryan campaign speech, the finest of his career, and 

 one of the great orations in American history. To 

 the overheated and discouraged Democratic Party, 

 Bryan's voice rang with emotion and certainty as he 

 declared : 



I 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 



152 Bryan, during the first six months of 1896, received many 

 letters from friends concerning the organization of various 

 state delegations for free silver (see Bryan papers). Bryan was 

 clearly one of the central figures in this movement, and was 

 regarded by many as the leading contender for the nomination. 



153 William Allen White, op. cit. (footnote 120), p. 243. 

 '54 Bryan, Memoirs, p. 111. 



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. 



In the garb of the humble common man, Bryan 

 addressed the Party, pointing out the moral truths of 

 his cause, clarifying and simplifying the silver issue 

 until it became a principle of the purest justice. 

 Thinking again, as he had thought before, of an earlier 

 Democrat, Bryan declared : "What we need is an 

 Andrew Jackson to stand, as Jackson stood, against 

 the encroachments of organized wealth." He spoke 

 for the country folk: "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." 

 Concluding with a massive and magnificent Biblical 

 phrase, Bryan exclaimed : 



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 man- 

 kind upon a cross of gold. '*' 



Bryan had used the expression before; it was part of 

 his campaign repertoire and he "had laid it away for 

 a proper occasion." '*° 



The "Cross of Gold" was no new departure for 

 William Jennings Bryan: he had long experience 

 with this sort of oratory. It was a masterpiece of its 

 type — the moral-inspirational-political address com- 

 bining high emotional content. Biblical phraseology, 

 glittering imagery, and striking analogies. Bryan 

 had probably rehearsed the speech a thousand or 

 more times — in the campaigns of 1888, 1890, 1892, 

 and 1894, on the lecture circuit, and on innumerable 

 patriotic and inspirational occasions. Although the 

 "Cross of Gold" turned the dispirited Democratic 

 Convention into a howling frenzy of enthusiasm, it 

 did not win for the "boy orator" the Party's nomina- 

 tion: that had been substantially won in the preced- 

 ing year and a half. But the "Cross of Gold" set the 

 tone for Bryan's campaign in 1896. Patterning his 

 national tour after his Nebraska campaigns for J. 

 Sterling Morton and for his own seat in Congress, 



'55 Bryan, The First Battle, pp. 199, 203, and 206. 

 '3» Bryan, Memoirs, p. 103; Hibben, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 

 161. 



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BULLETIN 24 1 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



