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Bimetallism and the 1896 'Cross of Gold' fight
1896· Crisis or event
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
Bimetallism defined money in both gold and silver at a fixed ratio; the 1896 US election settled the fight in gold's favor.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
The US set silver at 15 ounces to 1 of gold in 1792, then 16 to 1 in 1834. When the market ratio drifted, the undervalued metal vanished from circulation (Gresham's law: bad money drives out good). The Coinage Act of 1873 dropped the silver dollar. As prices fell for two decades, indebted farmers demanded 'free silver' to lift them. William Jennings Bryan's 'Cross of Gold' speech in 1896 electrified Democrats, but he lost to William McKinley.
Why it matters
It was the first great American fight over whom money serves, debtors or creditors. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 followed, and the argument echoes in today's inflation debates.
Facts, rules and data
Bryan's July 1896 speech text, the 1873 and 1900 acts, and price data. Milton Friedman's 1990 paper 'The Crime of 1873' argued keeping silver could have eased the deflation.
Debates and risks
Whether The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) is an allegory of the silver fight, as a 1964 essay claimed, is debated; most scholars doubt Baum intended it.
Connections (2)
▸Bimetallism and the 1896 'Cross of Gold' fight lost out to The gold standardFact, law or data
The connection
Bimetallism kept breaking down because fixed gold-silver ratios drifted from market prices, and one metal would vanish. The US dropped the silver dollar in 1873, Bryan's free-silver campaign lost in 1896, and the Gold Standard Act of 1900 made gold the sole standard.
When and why
United States, 1873–1900; also Europe, where Germany's switch to gold in 1871–73 pushed others to follow.
How we know
The Coinage Act of 1873, the 1896 election returns and the Gold Standard Act of March 1900 are public records.
Debates and risks
Whether keeping silver would have eased the 1873–96 deflation, as Friedman argued, or caused instability, is still debated.
▸Bimetallism and the 1896 'Cross of Gold' fight aimed to reverse Deflation: falling pricesFact, law or data
The connection
Under a gold-linked dollar, US prices fell for about two decades after 1873, roughly 1–2% a year, while farmers' mortgage debts stayed fixed. Free-silver advocates wanted unlimited coinage of silver at 16 ounces to one of gold to expand the money supply and lift prices. Bryan's 1896 'Cross of Gold' speech made it the election's central issue.
When and why
United States, 1873–1896; Populists and William Jennings Bryan at the July 1896 Democratic convention in Chicago. McKinley's victory settled the question for gold.
How we know
Historical price indexes show the long deflation, and Bryan's speech and the party platforms state the aim of raising prices with silver.
Debates and risks
Whether free silver would have helped farmers or just set off inflation and capital flight is debated; new gold from South Africa and the Klondike ended the deflation anyway.