{"id":12231,"date":"2025-10-22T20:50:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T00:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=12231"},"modified":"2025-10-30T11:19:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:19:22","slug":"amdm2025october23","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/amdm2025\/amdm2025october23\/","title":{"rendered":"October 23rd: Cross of Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/utc.iath.virginia.edu\/uncletom\/utfihbsa9t.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Harriet Beech Stowe&#8217;s excerpt<\/strong> (Ch. 9)<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/exhibits\/featured-documents\/emancipation-proclamation\/transcript.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The Emancipation Proclamation<\/strong><\/a><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/resource\/rbpe.24404500\/?st=text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Gettysburg Address<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/the-cross-of-gold-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Cross of Gold Speech&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Announcements<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2025\/10\/InsideWashington_2026internship.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inside Washington Seminar<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Discussion Post #7<\/span><\/strong> due Friday, 10\/24, 11:07pm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inspiration from the Braver Angels Dialogue on AI advancing society\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Social Construction of Technology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Protections around technology\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ethics Boards for using the tool<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NATO-like group to police &#8220;good&#8221; use of AI<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Industry limiting use of AI (mainly for children)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other &#8220;dangerous&#8221; technologies we freely use<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Replication of power structures&#8230;who actually controls nuclear proliferation?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Was the American Revolution really the beginning of the Civil War?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Causes of the American Civil War\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DNKG4WhvHwg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Director Ken Burns says the American Revolution was a &#8220;civil war&#8221; that became a &#8220;world war&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/amdm2025\/amdm2025october14\/\">Harriet Beecher Stowe&#8217;s &#8220;In Which it Appears that a Senator is but a Man&#8221; from <em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/em> (1852)<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Emancipation Proclamation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Gettysburg Address<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>William Jennings Bryan\u2019s&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/the-cross-of-gold-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Cross of Gold Speech<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Democracy\/Liberty\/Freedom\/ETC. quotation:<br>&#8220;<strong>The &#8216;wealthification&#8217; of politics has become a major problem in U.S. democracy<\/strong>, due, in part, to weakened campaign finance laws, allowing the ultra-rich to exert outsized influence on elections through massive, often undisclosed contributions.&#8221;<br>&#8211;Darrell M. West and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, 10 April 2025. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/can-billionaires-buy-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">[Podcast]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Does more money mean more influence? Haven&#8217;t there been plenty of times in American history where people had more influence than others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Civil War Readings<\/strong> (from Tuesday)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s jump on back to Tuesday&#8217;s (10\/21) class webpage to finish up the Civil War readings.<a name=\"money\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A History of Money<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, a history of money is well outside the scope of this course, but I do want to get you thinking about money before discussing William Jennings Bryan&#8217;s &#8220;The Cross of Gold&#8221; speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What exactly is money?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What makes money valuable (or not valuable)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who\/What determines value?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Money, Money, Money&#8230;<p style=\"color: white\"><div class=\"video-container\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hQMCvBa_M2I?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=18&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div><\/p><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some important types of money and their definitions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>bartering<\/strong>: directly exchanging goods and services for other goods and services\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This house costs ten (10) steers, twenty-five (25) chickens, and your digging irrigation ditches for my crops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>commodity money<\/strong>: coins that have a medium of exchange like precious metals in them, usually gold or silver.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>representative money<\/strong>: currency backed by a precious metal (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gold_standard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">US Gold Standard until 1971<\/a>) that has a face value that can be exchanged for a commodity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>fiat money<\/strong>: is currency back by the authority of a governing body.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is USD, EURO, Pound Sterling, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Free Silver vs the Gold Standard<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>During the 1890s, there was a depression known as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Panic_of_1893\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Panic of 1893<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Panic_of_1896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Panic of 1896<\/a><\/strong>. This actually has roots in the Civil War and post-Civil War policies. War costs money, and the US government needed to raise money. It had a lower tax base because of Southern Secession. Before the Civil War, gold and silver coins (commodity money) were used as official currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to raise money, the United States issued Greenbacks (fiat money), which could eventually be exchanged for gold or silver. The value of Greenbacks fluctuated with how well the North was doing in the Civil War: when things looked bad, the value fell; when things looked good, the value rose. At the end of the war, Greenbacks increased in value, but their exchange rate didn&#8217;t match the value of gold until 1878, and then they could be exchanged for gold. This stablization was helped by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Specie_Payment_Resumption_Act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Resumption Act of 1875<\/a><\/strong>, <span style=\"background-color:yellow\">which restored the gold standard.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, we don&#8217;t like <strong>inflation<\/strong>: when prices go up, we have less buying power. Putting the US back on the gold standard deflated currency, which hurt those paying off debt. If you have a $10,000 loan and inflation goes up, essentially your loan drops because your currency can pay off more of the debt. If currency deflates, your currency is worth less, but your loan amount stays the same. Consider what the phrase &#8220;money is cheap (or expensive) now&#8221; means. It&#8217;s also tied to interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1890s, deflation was hurting farmers and workers, spurring a populist party (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Populist_Party_(United_States)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The People&#8217;s Party<\/a><\/strong>) to form, and one of it&#8217;s main platforms was <strong>free silver<\/strong>, which meant the unlimited coinage of silver. Silver was to have a direct exchange rate to gold, but this meant the money supply would increase, thus, <strong>increasing inflation<\/strong>. Farmers wanted inflation to increase their prices; debtors wanted inflation to lower their debts. These groups were in the West and South. Those opposed&#8211;wealthy Northeastern bankers&#8211;wanted to have a true gold standard. The depression(s) of the 1890s affected politics, and the free silver movement was championed by populist Democrats who nominated <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Jennings_Bryan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">William Jennings Bryan<\/a><\/strong> for President in 1896 and 1900 (also in 1908).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Questions to Start Us Off<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Below I have some questions about Populism. I&#8217;m also asking you to think about what this means from a contemporary context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Question:<\/span><\/strong> Why would farmers in particular want inflation to raise prices?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Think of this as the reverse of why debtors want inflation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Question:<\/span><\/strong> When do you hear the word &#8220;populist&#8221; today?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Question:<\/span><\/strong> What are the values of everyday people?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Social, political, and economic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Question:<\/span><\/strong> What do so-called middle- and working-class people want <em>from<\/em> government?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Question:<\/span><\/strong> How might the Preamble to the Constitution figure into our discussion on the values and needs of average citizens?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;promote the general Welfare&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensuring conditions are good for the well being of the State<br>-vs-<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Considering this in a &#8220;positive rights&#8221; approach where the government secures material conditions for individuals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Cross of Gold Speech<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>William Jennings Bryan was an amazing orator but seen as a radical. He was liked and hated, but his support was mainly in the (at the time) less populated South. In the 1896 Presidential Election, Bryan lost by around 600,000 votes, and we should compare the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:ElectoralCollege1896.svg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Electoral College of 1896<\/a><\/strong> with that of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:ElectoralCollege2024.svg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2024<\/a><\/strong> for some perspective. Notice the population difference but also the &#8220;voting&#8221; blocks of the two different eras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryan&#8217;s &#8220;Cross of Gold Speech&#8221; is a powerful oratory that on face seems like simply an issue about <strong>monetary policy<\/strong>, but <span style=\"background-color:yellow\">it is an anti-elitist, anti-moneyed interest, pro-Southern, pro-common person coalition-building call<\/span>. He would eventually fall out of favor with the Democratic Party establishment, which kept him out of running for president after 1908, but he still was appointed as Secretary of State by Woodraw Wilson (he resigned when the US started to intervene in events of World War I).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But let&#8217;s concern ourselves with the speech. To whom is he speaking? Sure, the Democratic Convention, but his message is also for whom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>para. 1: &#8220;&#8216;The <strong>humblest citizen<\/strong> in all the land, <strong>when clad in armor of a righteous cause<\/strong>, is stronger than all the whole hosts of error that they can bring.'&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;I come to speak to you in defense of a cause <strong>as holy as the cause of liberty<\/strong>\u2014the cause of humanity.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The individual is but an atom; <strong>he<\/strong> is born, <strong>he<\/strong> acts, <strong>he<\/strong> dies but principles are eternal; and this has been a contest of principle.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>tricolon repetition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/The-smashing-pumpkins-cherub-rock-lyrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Smashing Pumpkins, &#8220;Cherub Rock,&#8221; <em>Siamese Dream<\/em>, 1993.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who is righteous, what is bold \/ So I&#8217;m told<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who wants honey? \/ As long as there&#8217;s some money \/ Who wants that honey?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 2: Notice the gravity Bryan sets.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<strong>Never before in the history of<\/strong> this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have passed.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<strong>Never before in the history of<\/strong> American politics has a great issue been fought out, as this issue has been, by the voters themselves.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 3: Notice how many times he uses &#8220;<strong>paramount<\/strong>&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;the silver Democrats&#8230;&#8221; are victorious<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;the zeal which inspired the crusaders who followed PETER the Hermit&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Our silver Democrats&#8230;are assembled now, <strong>not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter up the judgment rendered by <span style=\"background-color:yellow\">the plain people of this country<\/span><\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 4: Notice how he speaks about northeastern &#8220;businessmen&#8221; even though he claims, &#8220;we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast&#8230;&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;those <strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">hardy pioneers<\/span> who braved all the dangers of the wilderness<\/strong>, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose\u2014those <span style=\"background-color:yellow\">pioneers<\/span> away out there, rearing their children near to <strong>nature\u2019s heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds<\/strong>\u2014out there where they have erected school houses for the education of their children and <strong>churches where they praise their Creato<\/strong>r, and the cemeteries where sleep the ashes of their dead\u2014are as deserving of the consideration of this party as any people in this country.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 6: Notice this repetition\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<strong>We beg no<\/strong> longer; <strong>we entreat no<\/strong> more; <strong>we petition no<\/strong> more. <strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">We defy<\/span><\/strong> them!&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 7: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/amendments-11-27#xvi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">On future Amendment XVI (16)<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<strong>The income tax is a just law.<\/strong> It simply intends to put the burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people. <strong>I am in favor of an income tax.<\/strong> When I find a man who is not willing to pay his share of the burden of the government which protects him I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy <strong>the blessings of a government like ours<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 8: &#8220;I stand with JEFFERSON&#8230;.the issue of money is a function of the Government, and that the banks should go out of the governing business.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Who stands to gain if banks issue money?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What would bank-issued currency risk?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 9: Incumbents&#8230;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;What we oppose in that plank is the life tenure that is being built up in <strong>Washington<\/strong> which establishes <strong>an office-holding class and excludes from participation in the benefits the humbler members of our society<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 10: &#8220;&#8230;the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;when we have restored the money of the constitution all other necessary reforms will be possible, and that <strong>until that is done<\/strong> there is no reforms will be possible, and that <strong>until that is done<\/strong> there is no reform that can be accomplished.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Great repetition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 11: Interesting use of rhetorical questions (notice the strategy <strong><em>of course you know this<\/em><\/strong>&#8230;)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Why this change?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Ah, my friends, is not the change evident to anyone who will look at the matter?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">Why might the gold standard leave the US open to foreign intervention?<\/span><\/strong>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;fastening the gold standard upon this people&#8230;willing to surrender the right of self-government and <strong>place legislative control in the hands of foreign potentates and powers<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 14: &#8220;Here is the line of battle. We care not upon which issue they force the fight. We are prepared to meet them on either issue or on both.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;they will search the pages of history in vain to find a single instance in which <strong>the common people<\/strong> of any land ever declared themselves in favor of a gold standard. They can find where <strong>the holders of fixed investments<\/strong> have.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>the common people<\/em><\/strong> vs <strong><em>the elite moneyed interests<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 15: Say no to trickle down but yes to trickle up\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous that their prosperity will <strong>leak through on those below<\/strong>. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to <strong>make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 16: Climactic rise to the speech just before the &#8220;mic drop&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Burn down <strong>your cities<\/strong> and leave <strong>our farms<\/strong>, and <strong>your cities<\/strong> will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy <strong>our farms<\/strong> and the grass will grow in the streets of <strong>every city<\/strong> in this country.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 17: Nationalism?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;My friends, we shall declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question, <strong>without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth<\/strong>, and upon that issue <strong>we expect to carry every single State in this Union<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>para. 18: Bombastic ending&#8230;we have behind us:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;the producing masses&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;the commercial interests&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;the laboring interests&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;all the toiling masses&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. <strong><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold<\/span><\/strong>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, the speech I linked to is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/historymatters.gmu.edu\/d\/5354\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a slightly shorter version of the original<\/a><\/strong>. Time permitting, we&#8217;ll consider the rhetorical effect of a passage not in the shorter speech I assigned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>We say to you that you have made too limited in its application the definition of a <strong>businessman<\/strong>. The man who is employed for wages is as much a <strong>businessman<\/strong> as his employer. The attorney in a country town is as much a <strong>businessman<\/strong> as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis. <span style=\"background-color:yellow\">The merchant at the crossroads store is as much a <strong>businessman<\/strong> as the merchant of New York.<\/span><br>[Full speech, para. 6]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s the effect of repeating &#8220;businessman,&#8221; and with whom would this resonate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Federal Government and Economic Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Industrialization made it necessary for the US Government to begin to intervene more to regulate the economy. The excesses of the Gilded Age probably helped get the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/amendments-11-27#xvi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">16th Amendment passed<\/a><\/strong> (Ratified in 1909; passed in 1913). Before these regulations could take effect, the &#8220;commerce clause&#8221; of the Constitution (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript#1-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Art. 1, sec. 8<\/a><\/strong>) needed to be considered differently. Prior to 1937, the Supreme Court interpeted the clause to be limited to direct commerce being selling goods instead of anything the was prior to the goods being sold: labor&#8217;s wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>President Franklin Roosevelt&#8217;s court-packing plan<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change from limiting commerce to direct selling and moving goods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expands the power that Congress has in regulating &#8220;interstate commerce&#8221; and the economy in general<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s see if we got through covering Harriet Beecher Stowe\u2019s excerpt from&nbsp;<em>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/em>, Abraham Lincoln\u2019s \u201cThe Emancipation Proclamation\u201d (1863), and his \u201cThe Gettysburg Address\u201d (19 Nov 1863). We\u2019ll move onto William Jennings Bryan\u2019s&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/the-cross-of-gold-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Cross of Gold Speech<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;on Thursday, 10\/23. There\u2019s an argument to be made that Bryan\u2019s populist party is a response to the treatment of soldiers as well as laborers as expendable\u2026we\u2019ll discuss. Don\u2019t forget to do&nbsp;<strong>Weekly Discussion Post #7<\/strong>&nbsp;before Friday, 10\/24, 11:07pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>West, Darrell M. and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas. &#8220;Can Billionaires Buy Democracy?&#8221; Brookings, 10 April 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/can-billionaires-buy-democracy\/\">https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/can-billionaires-buy-democracy\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harriet Beech Stowe&#8217;s excerpt (Ch. 9)The Emancipation ProclamationThe Gettysburg Address &#8220;Cross of Gold Speech&#8221; Announcements Plan for the Day Does more money mean more influence? Haven&#8217;t there been plenty of times in American history where people had more influence than others? Civil War Readings (from Tuesday) Let&#8217;s jump on back to Tuesday&#8217;s (10\/21) class webpage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":11703,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12231","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-3bh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12231"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12278,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12231\/revisions\/12278"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}