![]() The economy, which had already begun to recover anyway, got a needed boost. Gold bugs got a gold standard Silverites got an expanded currency. Enough gold poured into America to give both sides what they wanted. McKinley won in 1896, but his victory did not quiet his enemies’ demand for an expanded currency. When Bryan complained about Republicans’ rhetoric (one man accused him of trying to create “a red welter of lawlessness as fantastic and as vicious as the dream of a European communist”), Republicans retorted: “This is a fight for the country and the flag.” The election was one of history’s most vicious. ![]() In the election of 1896, Republican “Gold Bugs” backed big-business representative William McKinley, while Democratic “Silverites” backed Nebraskan William Jennings Bryan. More money might also create inflation, enabling them to pay back loans in cheaper dollars.īoth sides believed the other was setting out to destroy the country and, in the apocalyptic years of the mid-1890s, they often backed their convictions with violence. More money would make it easier for them to borrow to develop new businesses to rebuild prosperity. The have-nots – workers, farmers, entrepreneurs – wanted the government to coin silver as well as gold to expand the currency. Looser money would create inflation, decreasing the value of their holdings and unsettling the business community so that it would not help fuel a recovery. The haves – financiers, creditors, established businessmen – insisted that the security of the nation depended on a gold standard. Their division centered around the issue of money. The nation had entered a devastating depression in 1893 – farming had begun to crash even earlier, in 1890 – and by 1896, the nation was torn between the have and the have-nots. The biggest winners in the Klondike Fever were the writers who saw romance in the chill dream: Jack London, whose most famous novel, The Call of the Wild, showed how love and loyalty trumped gold and Robert Service, whose poems explored the humor, sentimentality, loyalty, and cruelty of life in the Yukon.īut like its 1849 California predecessor, this gold rush had profound implications for American politics. ![]() In the end, few miners made fortunes and many more lost their lives. But the cold and unforgiving mountains were no picnic, either. The most famous obstacle was Chilkoot Pass: 1500 steps cut into ice, up which prospectors had to carry their gear and the year’s supply of food the Canadian authorities required to prevent starvation, a total weight of about a ton. The route to the gold fields was treacherous. By the following summer, 30,000 to 40,000 men had rushed to the Yukon to try their fortunes there. It is likely that it was, in fact, a Tagish Indian man, Skookum Jim, who found the gold, but he gave his American brother-in-law George Carmack (married to Jim’s sister Kate) credit for the discovery since Carmack would be far better able to protect his mining claim than a native man. Prospectors struck gold on Augon Bonanza Creek in the Yukon Territory of Canada, a discovery that profoundly affected American politics.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |