at this convention the delegates saw a man of presidential timber on the stage above them.
And, for the first time in generations, they saw a savior.
The sweltering Chicago heat and the stench of thousands of sweating bodies inside the convention hall threatened to overcome him, but Bryan steadied himself for his moment atop Sinai. His knuckles turned white as he grabbed the sides of the lectern. He had never lacked for confidence, so now that thousands of eyes among the party faithful were upon him, now that reporters were furiously scribbling his every word in their notebooks, now that the moment heâd been waiting for all his life was upon him, William Jennings Bryan knew he would not falter.
Bryan had arrived in Chicago uncertain of his chances of becoming his partyâs presidential nominee. But as his speech progressed he became convinced that victory was his. A new monetary policy based on the coinage of silverââfree silverââhad proven to be an even more enticing message than heâd expected. The new supply of money would relieve crippling debts for the farmers and other impoverished voters Bryan sought to mobilize.
As he neared the climax of his remarks he mustered every last ounce of energy he could and unleashed some of the most famous lines in American political rhetoric. âIf they dare to come out in the open field,â he thundered, âand 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.â
Bryan paused, raised his hands above his head, and continued, âWe 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.â
He brought his hands down around his head, as if he were placing an imaginary crown on top. Then he stretched his arms out to his sides, palms toward the delegates, took a deep breath, and bellowed, âYou shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!â
Moses had now morphed into Jesus, and the multitude assembled thought they were witnessing the Second Coming. Their shouts thundered through the coliseum, shaking its steel girders and echoing down city blocks in every direction. âBedlam broke loose,â exclaimed a stunned Washington Post correspondent. âDelirium reigned supreme. In the spoken word of the orator thousands of great men had heard the unexpressed sentiments andhopes of their own inmost souls.â
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With that speech, William Jennings Bryan ââThe Great Commonerââignited the first progressive moment in American history. His speech transformed Thomas Jeffersonâs and Andrew Jacksonâs Democratic Partyâa party famously skeptical of the federal governmentâinto a vehicle for massively expanding the state and making it responsiblefor redistributing wealth, breaking up businesses, assailing private property, and providing all manner of aid to the poor.
Bryan was Americaâs first prophet of progressivism, an ideology that would go on to redefine the Democratic Party for generations and ultimately destroy the experiment in limited government that had begun with the founding of the Republic.
But Bryanâs progressivism, while new to Americans and antithetical to the American system, was not a new movement at all. In fact, it originated from the very place the Founders had fled: the authoritarian-ruled nations of Europe.
GEORG HEGEL: THE BIRTH OF âPROGRESSâ
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Ninety years before William Jennings Bryanâs rapturous reception in Chicago, a German university professor cast his eyes on an emperor. Maybe it was because the commanding figure on horseback contrasted so starkly with his own bent and bookish posture, but the image impressed Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel more than anything he had