Free Silver

Free Silver was a monetary-policy movement advocating unlimited coinage of silver alongside gold at a legally fixed ratio, especially in the United States during the late nineteenth century.

Bimetallism: A monetary system that assigns legal tender status to both gold and silver at a specified ratio. Free Silver was the American political campaign for a particular form of bimetallism.
Crime of 1873: A name given by silver advocates to the 1873 United States law that omitted the standard silver dollar from authorized coinage. The charge crystallized the movement’s claim that silver had been deliberately demonetized.
William Jennings Bryan: A Democratic politician and orator who made free silver the centerpiece of his 1896 presidential campaign. His Cross of Gold speech became the movement’s defining national appeal.
Cross of Gold speech: William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 Democratic convention speech condemning monetary policies that burdened debtors. Its closing image turned free silver into a moral and political cause.
Coinage Act of 1873: A United States law that ended the standard silver dollar’s legal status as a coin available for unlimited minting. Its enactment became the event Free Silver advocates called the Crime of 1873.
Panic of 1873: A financial crisis beginning in 1873 that was followed by a prolonged period of economic contraction and falling prices. Deflation after the panic strengthened demands for a larger currency supply.
Coin Harvey: William Hope Harvey, an American writer and political advocate who popularized free silver through his 1894 book Coin's Financial School. His fictional classroom made the movement’s monetary arguments accessible to mass audiences.
United States presidential election of 1896: The election in which Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan amid a national dispute over monetary standards. The result rejected Bryan’s free-silver campaign and strengthened the gold standard.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act: An 1890 United States law requiring the Treasury to buy large quantities of silver and issue notes redeemable in coin. It was a partial compromise that fell short of unlimited free coinage.
Bland–Allison Act: A 1878 United States law requiring the Treasury to purchase and coin limited amounts of silver each month. It was the first major congressional response to pressure for restoring silver coinage.

Linked from 6 pages