Financial Politics in the United States in the 1890s

In the 1890s, the choice between the gold standard and the free coinage of silver upended American politics. The gold standard linked the United States to the larger international financial system, in which gold was the common denominator. The free coinage of silver would effectively sever these ties by devaluing the dollar. The gold standard allowed the U.S. to secure vast amounts of foreign capital on good terms to build railroads and develop industry, but at the cost of deflation. The free coinage of silver would raise prices, particularly for cotton and wheat, whose cultivators carried heavy debts and were hard-pressed. The struggle would define the United States. Would it continue to develop industrially, or would it return to its agricultural roots?

The combatantsamong them Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, J.P. Morgan, and William McKinleyunderstood what was at stake. This book **deals both with well-known aspects of the contest, such as the 1896 Presidential election between McKinley and Bryan, and lesser-known ones, such as how the currency issues interacted with racial politics and international negotiations over the role of silver in the world's monetary system. The result is the most comprehensive account of financial politics in the United States in the 1890s yet published.

Provides the most thorough study of the politics of the currency in the U.S. in the late nineteenth century yet written Offers the first study to combine the financial and political histories of the United States in the 1890s Investigates major financial crises and economic depressions and their political impacts

Autorentext

Wyatt Wells is a Professor of History at Auburn University at Montgomery, USA. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of business, finance, and government, most recently Permanent Revolution: Reflections on Capitalism (2020). He has been both the Newcomen Fellow in Business History at Harvard Business School and a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Hong Kong.

Inhalt

Ch 1: Introduction.- Ch 2: Context.- Ch 3: The Politics of Silver.- Ch 4: The End of Compromise.- Ch 5: The Economics of Gold.- Ch 6: The Battle of the Standards.- Ch 7: The Triumph of Gold.- Ch 8: Conclusion.