The Financial Crises of the 1890s and the High Tide of Populism (a)

Abstract

Set in November 1896, the case describes the views of the two leading candidates for US president, William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley, along with those of three other figures: J. P. Morgan, Mary Elizabeth Lease, and Eugene Debs. The task for the student is to assess the role of money and financial crises in the evolving political landscape—these five people reflect policy positions across the political spectrum. The main controversy in the case is whether only gold, or both gold and silver, should back the dollar, an issue that has been simmering for about a quarter-century and that is resolved in the election of 1896. Excerpt UVA-F-1831 Rev. Jul. 15, 2020 The Financial Crises of the 1890s and the High Tide of Populism (A) Gold is money. Everything else is credit. —J. P. Morgan We cannot gamble with anything so sacred as money, which is the standard and measure of all values. I can imagine nothing which would be more disturbing to our credit and more deranging in our commercial and financial affairs than to make [the United States] the dumping-ground of the world's silver. . . .