Rare Coins and Politics - Part 2
fastcoin
Posts: 161 ✭
Rare Coins and Politics - Part 2
“You shall not crucify mankind on a Cross of Gold!”
Those were the words of William Jennings Bryan at the Democratic Convention in 1896, and a crowd of 20,000 delegates and party supporters cheered him on. The presidential candidate was only 36 years old at the time, but the speech vaulted him to the forefront of the party and won him the nomination. As famous as the speech is even today, there is still some confusion over what the controversy of “Free Silver” was all about.
Under Grover Cleveland the federal gold reserves had fallen to nearly zero, and J. P. Morgan was called in to bail out the government, which backed its paper money with these nearly non-existent gold reserves. Morgan made a gigantic profit from the government bonds he received in payment, and the public perceived that Cleveland was in cahoots with the devil himself.
With Cleveland politically dead, Bryan took the opportunity to push the Populist platform that proposed equal footing for silver as a currency reserve. The noted historian Kenneth C. Davis, in his book Don’t Know Much About History, explains it this way: “’Free Silver’ became the new Populist rallying cry, a demand to return America to a standard using both silver and gold coins.” As superb a historian as Davis is, he doesn’t have the facts quite right on this one.
Gold and silver coins already had equal footing in 1896, but only gold was being used for reserves, and the intrinsic value of the gold coins was greater than that of its silver counterparts. The silver interests (mine owners, etc.) wanted to make silver coins bigger, for one thing, and anyone who has seen some the so-called “Bryan money” from that era can attest to the oversized coinage that was proposed. Secondly, if silver became 50% of the national reserves then demand and prices would soar.
“Free Silver” was the solution to the country’s economic woes, or so it was thought, and Bryan and the Democrats/Populists nearly rode the wave into the White House before losing to Republican William McKinley.
Bryan’s brilliant verbal skills carried him to two more nominations--both unsuccessful. Today he is perhaps best remembered as the prosecuting attorney in the famous “Monkey Trial,” when a Tennessee schoolteacher named John Thomas Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution in the public schools. Bryan won an empty victory in that trial, and died soon afterwards.
Did you know that the beloved Mercury dime is actually a symbol of fascism? Wait, don’t throw away your beautiful set until all the facts are in! We live in a world of change, and nothing changes as fast as the American language. On the reverse of the Mercury dime there is a fasces, which is a bundle of rods bound around an ax. In Roman times, it was a symbol of authority, and it made a wonderful representation of America’s power when it was introduced on our coinage in 1916.
To quote once again from Kenneth Davis: “When Benito Mussolini adopted the term [fascism], he used it quite proudly. In 1925, Mussolini installed himself as head of a single party-state he called fascismo. While most of Europe disarmed [after the First World War], Mussolini rearmed Italy during the twenties. Mussolini saw military adventurism as the means to keep the Italian people loyal, and Italy embarked on wars in Africa and in support of General Francisco Franco’s Spanish rebels.”
From Roman times until the early 20th century the root word “fasces” and its derivatives shared a positive connotation. Mussolini changed that forever, and today the word “fascist” carries a strongly derogatory meaning.
Joel D. Rettew, Sr.
0
Comments
"The Crime of 1873" by Milton Friedman in The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98, No. 6. (Dec., 1990);
and
"The French Crime of 1873: An Essay on the Emergence of the International Gold Standard, 1870-1880" by Marc Flandreau in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 56, No. 4. (Dec., 1996).
Many numismatic sources tend to be either superficial or highly biased.
Mint Director George Evan Roberts got national notice, and the mint director's job because of a pro-gold standard pamphlet he wrote the helped McKinley get elected.
<< <i>Suggested non-numismatic readings to learn more about the silver debate include:
"The Crime of 1873" by Milton Friedman in The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98, No. 6. (Dec., 1990);
and
"The French Crime of 1873: An Essay on the Emergence of the International Gold Standard, 1870-1880" by Marc Flandreau in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 56, No. 4. (Dec., 1996).
Many numismatic sources tend to be either superficial or highly biased.
Mint Director George Evan Roberts got national notice, and the mint director's job because of a pro-gold standard pamphlet he wrote the helped McKinley get elected. >>
Another excellent reference on the subject is Bryan Money by Fred Schornstein (2001). It is an easy read with a nice summary of the subject and includes great detail on the many varieties of Bryan money.
-Randy Newman
<< <i>Nice read- thanks for taking the time to post it. >>
You are quite welcome and thanks for the compliment.
I love the connection between history, coins, and politics. It is what makes coin collecting fun. As everyone knows--exactly 140 years ago--U.S. Grant won the 1868 election as a Republican, but I challenge someone to tell me the name of the Democratic opponent that he defeated in that same 1868 election. Winners are long remembered, while the second place losers are soon forgotten. I will send a free coin to the first person who can correctly name Grant's Democratic opponent in that election that took place 3.5 short years after the Civil War ended. Do not send me a pm, but rather post the answer to this thread, please.
http://www.fastcoin.com
My Ebay Auctions
merse
I can't help but think of the times when coins I hold were circulating.
Maybe someone can post an 1868.
Here's a window into that time.
edit spl
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
myCCset
I can't help but think of the times when coins I hold were circulating.
Maybe someone can post an 1868.
Here's a window into that time.>>
Fascinating map,but shouldn't Oregon include the area that became Washington State?
<< <i><<I love history.
I can't help but think of the times when coins I hold were circulating.
Maybe someone can post an 1868.
Here's a window into that time.>>
Fascinating map,but shouldn't Oregon include the area that became Washington State? >>
The Washington Territorial Legislature was independent of the State of Oregon at that time.
Oregon had been a State since before the Civil War.
That white areas represents "teritories" in general. For instance the Idaho Territory was seperated from the Washington Territory in 1863.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso