"Cross of Gold"

Paper Summary:

This paper explores how, in 1896, William Jennings Bryan, a three-time candidate for the American presidency, gave a speech where his rhetoric was more pronounced than the content. It examines how the speech utilized appeal to authority through biblical reference and allusion, how the imagery was particularly cogent to the issues of the time, and the tone was appropriate to the state of excitement surrounding the presidential candidate debates. It looks at how the history of the speech dates back to 1890 when the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed. It required the Department of the Treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month. This caused an inflationary trend because people believed it was an indication of future abandonment of the gold standard and rushed to trade dollars for gold.

From the Paper:

"The force of the emotional dichotomy is an attempt to draw the people together in one opinion and as one voting block. He substantiates his dichotomy and provides legitimate reasoning by saying, "Our war is not a war of conquest; we are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity" (Internet source). As he begins to speak of the central issue " opposition to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act " he again alludes to war and invites the comparison of the gold standard to a weapon of war that has "slain its tens of thousands" (Internet source). Bryan uses the rhetorical element of oppositional forces in more ways than one. He uses words such as "friends" and the "avenging wrath of an indignant people" as emotional cues and opposites to "Napoleon" and "them"."

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