1. Currency Standards Gold Standard Bimetallic Standard Gold Standard
Created by Mr. Johnson
Gold Standard
Bimetallic Standard
Metal: ________________________
Would increase / decrease the money supply
Would cause inflation / deflation
Farmers / lenders favored this standard
Nickname for supporters of this standard: “__________________”
Metals: ________ and ___________
Would increase / decrease the money supply
Would cause inflation / deflation
Farmers / lenders favored this standard
Nickname for supporters of this standard: “_________________”
Gold Standard
Politics & Economics
Draw an arrow to the side of either the gold standard or bimetallic standard to indicate which standard the policies below favored
Coinage Act of 1873 (“Crime of ‘73”)
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
William McKinley & the Republican Party
William Jennings Bryan & the Populist Party
Discovery of gold in South Africa, Yukon and Alaska
Tight money policy
Loose money policy
Bimetallic Standard

2. “Cross of Gold” Speech, 1896 Questions
“If they [the Republicans] dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands 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.”
-William Jennings Bryan
Questions
What two parties nominated Bryan as their presidential candidate in 1896? What constituency did these parties have in common?
How and why did Republicans attack Bryan’s speech?
What were the consequences of Bryan’s failed presidential campaign?
Caption:
The Sacrilegious Candidate - No man who drags into the dust the most sacred symbols of the Christian world is fit to be president of the United States.