View source for Free silver

{{Short description|Economic policy issue in the United States}}
[[File:1896GOP.JPG|thumb|Republican campaign poster of 1896 attacking free silver]]
{{Economic systems sidebar}}
{{Populism sidebar}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2025}}

'''Free silver''' was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th century. Its advocates were in favor of an [[expansionary monetary policy]] featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adherence to the more carefully fixed money supply implicit in the [[gold standard]]. Free silver became increasingly associated with [[People's Party (United States)|populism]], unions, and the perceived struggle of ordinary Americans against the bankers, monopolists, and [[robber baron (industrialist)|robber barons]] of the [[Gilded Age]]. Hence, it became known as the "People's Money".

Supporters of an important place for silver in a [[bimetallism|bimetallic]] money system making use of both [[silver]] and [[gold]], called "[[Silverite]]s", sought coinage of silver dollars at a fixed weight ratio of 16-to-1 against dollar coins made of gold. Because the actual price ratio of the two metals was substantially higher in favor of gold at the time, most economists warned that the less valuable silver coinage would [[Gresham's law|drive the more valuable gold out of circulation]].

While all agreed that an expanded money supply would inevitably inflate prices, the issue was whether this inflation would be beneficial or not. The issue peaked from 1893 to 1896, when the economy was suffering from a [[Panic of 1893|severe depression]] characterized by falling prices ([[deflation]]), high unemployment in industrial areas, and severe distress for farmers.<ref>Charles Hoffmann, "The Depression of the Nineties," ''Journal of Economic History'' (1956). Vol. 16, No. 2) 16 (2): 137–164. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2114113 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008020304/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2114113 |date=2023-10-08 }}</ref> It ranks as the 11th largest decline in U.S. stock market history.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What Prior Market Crashes Can Teach Us About Navigating the Current One|url=https://www.morningstar.com/features/what-prior-market-crashes-can-teach-us-in-2020|access-date=2020-07-14|website=Morningstar, Inc.|language=en|archive-date=2023-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405194800/https://www.morningstar.com/features/what-prior-market-crashes-can-teach-us-in-2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

The "free silver" debate pitted the pro-gold financial establishment of the Northeast, along with railroads, factories, and businessmen, who were creditors deriving benefit from deflation and repayment of loans with valuable gold dollars, against farmers who would benefit from higher prices for their crops and an easing of credit burdens.<ref name=":0" /> Free silver was especially popular among farmers in the [[Wheat belt (United States)|Wheat Belt]] (the western Midwest) and the [[Cotton Belt]] (the [[Deep South]]),<ref name=":0" /> as well as silver miners in the West. It had little support among farmers in the Northeast and the [[Corn Belt]] (the eastern Midwest). {{fact|date=February 2025}}

Free silver was the central issue for Democrats in the presidential elections of [[1896 United States presidential election|1896]] and [[1900 United States presidential election|1900]], under the leadership of [[William Jennings Bryan]], famed for his [[Cross of Gold speech]] in favor of free silver. The [[People's Party (United States)|Populists]] also endorsed Bryan and free silver in 1896, which marked the effective end of their independence. In major elections, free silver was consistently defeated, and after 1896 the nation moved to the gold standard.<ref>Williams, 1910</ref> {{fact|date=February 2025}} 

The debate over silver lasted from the passage of the [[Coinage Act of 1873|Fourth Coinage Act]] in 1873, which demonetized silver and was called the "Crime of '73" by opponents, until 1963, when the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 (also known as [[Executive Order 6814]]), which allowed the President and the Department of the Treasury to regulate US silver,<ref name="legislation" />{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}} was completely repealed by [[Executive Order 11110#Public Law 88-36|Public Law 88-36]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Streeter |first=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyz0CAAAQBAJ&dq=Public+Law+88-36+repeal+Silver+Purchase+Act+of+1934&pg=PA35 |title=The Silver Mania: An Exposé of the Causes of High Price Volatility of Silver |date=2012-12-06 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-94-009-6435-8 |language=en}}</ref>

==Definitions and explanation==
[[File:The free silver highwayman at it again - Keppler. LCCN2012648520 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|"The free silver highwayman at it again" in 1896]]Under the gold specie standard, anyone in possession of gold bullion could deposit it at a mint where it would then be processed into gold coins. Less a nominal [[seigniorage]] to cover processing costs, the coins would then be paid to the depositor; this was free coinage of gold by definition. The objective of the free silver movement was that the mints should accept and process silver bullion according to the same principle, although the market value of the silver in circulating coins of the United States was substantially less than face value.<ref>Walter T. K. Nugent, ''Money and American Society, 1865–1880'' (1968)</ref>

As a result, the monetary value of silver coins was based on government [[fiat currency|fiat]] rather than on the commodity value of their contents, and this became especially true following the huge silver strikes in the West, which further depressed the silver price. From that time until the early 1960s the silver content in United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars was worth only a fraction of their face values.<ref>Milton Friedman, "Bimetallism Revisited", ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' Vol. 4, No. 4 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 85–104 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1942723 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220000530/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1942723 |date=2017-02-20 }}</ref> Free coinage of silver would have amounted to an increase in the money supply, resulting in inflation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Roark|first1=James L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1096495503|title=The American Promise: A History of the United States|last2=Johnson|first2=Michael P.|last3=Furstenburg|first3=Francois|last4=Cline Cohen|first4=Patricia|last5=Hartmann|first5=Susan M.|last6=Stage|first6=Sarah|last7=Igo|first7=Sarah E.|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|year=2020|isbn=978-1319208929|edition=Value Edition, 8th|volume=Combined Volume|location=Boston, MA|at=Kindle Locations 13951–13983|chapter=Chapter 18 The Gilded Age: 1865–1900|type=Kindle|oclc=1096495503}}</ref>

==Response==
[[File:96SILVER.JPG|thumb|Cartoon from ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'' showing a silverite farmer and a Democratic donkey whose wagon has been destroyed by the locomotive of [[sound money]]]]

Many [[populism|populist]] organizations favored an inflationary monetary policy because it would enable debtors (often farmers who had mortgages on their land) to pay their debts off with cheaper, more readily available dollars. Those who would suffer under this policy were the creditors such as banks and landlords.<ref name=":0" /> The most vocal and best-organized supporters were the silver mine owners (such as [[William Randolph Hearst]]) and workers, and the [[Western United States|western]] states and territories generally, as most U.S. silver production was based there and the region had a great number of highly indebted farmers and ranchers.<ref name=":0" />

Outside the mining states of the West, the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] steadfastly opposed free silver,<ref name=":0" /> arguing that the best road to national prosperity was "[[sound money]]", or gold, which was central to international trade. They argued that inflation meant guaranteed higher prices for everyone, and real gains chiefly for the silver interests. In 1896 Senator [[Henry M. Teller]] of Colorado led many western Republicans to bolt and form a third party that supported Democratic presidential nominee [[William Jennings Bryan]], the short-lived [[Silver Republican Party]].

The [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]] of 1890, while falling short of free silver's goals,<ref name=":0" /> required the U.S. government to buy millions of ounces of silver (driving up the price of the metal and pleasing silver miners) for money (pleasing farmers and many others). However, the U.S. government paid for that silver bullion in gold notes—and actually reduced their coinage of silver. The result was a "run" on the U.S. Treasury's gold reserves, which was one of the many reasons for the [[Panic of 1893]] and the onset of the 1890s Depression. Once he regained power, and after the Panic of 1893 had begun, [[Grover Cleveland]] engineered the repeal of the act, setting the stage for the key issue of the next presidential election.<ref name=":0" />

==Climax==
[[File:Frankenstein 1896.jpg|thumb| 1896 editorial cartoon equating the free silver movement with [[Frankenstein's monster]].]]
The [[Populist Party (United States)|Populist Party]] had a strong free-silver element. Its subsequent combination with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] moved the latter from the support of the gold standard which had been the hallmark of the [[Grover Cleveland|Cleveland]] administration to the free-silver position epitomized by [[U.S. presidential election, 1896|1896]] presidential nominee [[William Jennings Bryan]] in his [[Cross of Gold speech]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cross of Gold speech {{!}} Summary, Meaning, Audio, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Cross-of-Gold-speech|access-date=2021-03-11|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=2021-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308002729/https://www.britannica.com/event/Cross-of-Gold-speech|url-status=live}}</ref> Bryan's 1896 candidacy was supported by Populists and "silver Republicans" as well as by most Democrats.

The issue was over what would back the US currency. The two options were gold (wanted by the [[Gold bug|"Goldbugs"]] and [[William McKinley]]) and silver (wanted by the [[Silverite]]s and Bryan). Unbacked paper (wanted by the [[United States Greenback Party|Greenbacks]]) represented a third option.<ref name=":0" /> A fourth option, a currency backed by land value, was advocated by Senator [[Leland Stanford]] through several Senate bills introduced in 1890–1892, but was always killed by the Senate Finance Committee.<ref>
{{cite book
  | year = 1890
  | title = Congressional Record, 51 Congress, 1 Sess.: 2068-2069, March 3, 1890.
   | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6Mrg4dsj3RUC&q=%22A+Bill+to+provide+the+Government+with+means+sufficient+to+supply+the+national+want%22&pg=PA112
  | access-date = August 7, 2017
  | last1 = Congress
 | first1 = United States
 }}
</ref>

== Silver fraternal orders ==
Three fraternal organizations rose to prominence during the mid-1890s and supported the silver campaign in 1896. They all disappeared after the failure of the campaign.

===List of Silverite fraternal orders===
* [[Freemen's Protective Silver Federation]] - Founded in 1894 in [[Spokane, Washington]], it adopted a constitution, bylaws, and a ritual at [[Pullman, Washington]] late that year. Their stated goal was "to unite the friends of silver under one banner to battle for the white metal and to wage war against the gold monopoly". It was reportedly an outgrowth of the [[National Order of Videttes]]. The order spread through the Pacific Coast states and east to the Missouri River. It claimed as many as 800,000 members in late 1896, though Stevens considered this "extravagant". Nevertheless, there was no doubt about its popularity and influence west of the Rocky Mountains during the [[1896 United States presidential election|1896 free silver campaign]]. The obligation of the order was said to be "most emphatic and binding" and lawyers and bankers were barred from membership.<ref>Stevens, Albert C. ''The Cyclopædia of Fraternities; a compilation of existing authentic information and the results of an original investigation as to more than six hundred secret societies in the United States'' New York City, Paterson, N.J., Hamilton printing and publishing company p.301</ref> The order was apparently defunct by the early 1920s.<ref>Preuss, Arthur ''A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies'' St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1924 p.137</ref>
* [[Silver Knights of America]] - Founded early in 1895 to campaign for free silver, it was headquartered in Washington, D.C., where it had a literary bureau. The governing body, the Supreme Temple, was incorporated as a stock company with $100,000 capital. Senator [[William Morris Stewart|W. M. Stewart]] of Nevada was president, [[James Pait]] was vice-president, [[Oliver Sabin]] secretary, [[James A. B. Richard]] treasurer, and S. S. Yoder was the director-general. Many well-known current and former members of the House of Representatives were members. The organization was "pushed simultaneously" in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Arkansas, from which it invaded the Democratic-leaning areas. There was a female branch, the Silver Ladies of America, which was "intended to strongly develop the social feature of the organization". The order had a ritual, grips, passwords, and a burial service. The order became defunct after 1896.<ref name="Stevens p.322">Stevens p.322</ref>
*[[Patriots of America]] - It was founded in late 1895 by [[William Hope Harvey|William Harvey]] to organize for free silver in the 1896 campaign. Officers of the order included First National Patriot William Harvey, National Recorder [[Charles McClure|Charles H. McClure]] of Michigan, and National Treasurer [[James F. Adams]] of Michigan. Each state was also expected to have a First State Patriot and these officers would constitute the Congress of Patriots. Each county was also supposed to have a First Patriot. The "First Patriots" of the national, state, and county level were expected to make an oath refusing to ever serve in elective or appointive offices or to have property over $100,000. There was an auxiliary organization, the Daughters of the Republic, which was tasked with looking after the poor of the Patriots of America. There were no dues and the order was financed through voluntary contributions. The order's object was to swing one of the parties to a free silver platform in 1896 and, if that failed, to launch an independent free silver ticket. The order was expected to hold a ballot every four years to determine what cause and candidate it would support, however, the order appeared to become defunct after 1896.<ref>Stevens p.321</ref> Headquartered in Chicago.<ref name="Stevens p.322"/>[[File:The free silver jabberwock - Keppler. LCCN2012648547 (cropped).jpg|thumb|"The free silver Jabberwock" in 1896]]

==Result==
The city voters—especially German Americans—overwhelmingly rejected the free-silver cause out of the conviction that it would lead to economic disaster, unemployment, and higher prices. The diversified farmers of the Midwest and East opposed it as well, but the cotton farmers in the South and the wheat farmers in the West were enthusiastic for free silver. Bryan tried again in 1900 to raise the issue but lost by larger margins, and when he dropped the issue it fell out of circulation. Subsequent actions to revive the issue were unsuccessful.<ref>Russell L. Mahan, "William Jennings Bryan and the Presidential Campaign of 1896". ''White House Studies'' (2003). 3 (1): 41. {{doi|10.2307/1917933}}. {{JSTOR|1917933}}.</ref>[[File:"FREE SILVER" "REPUDIATION" "DEMOCRACY" Detail, A down-hill movement - C.J. Taylor. LCCN2012648553 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Entitled, "A down-hill movement" by C.J. Taylor in 1896]]

==Symbolism==
Free silver became increasingly associated with [[populism]], unions, and the fight of ordinary Americans against the bankers, railroad monopolists, and the [[robber baron (industrialist)|robber barons]] of the [[Gilded Age]] capitalism era and was referred to as the "People's Money" (as opposed to the gold-based currency, which was portrayed by the Populists as the money of "exploitation" and "oppression"). William H. Harvey's popular pamphlet ''[[Coin's Financial School]]'', issued in the aftermath of the [[Panic of 1893]], illustrated the "restorative" properties of silver; through the devaluation of the currency, closed factories would reopen, darkened furnaces would be relit, and the like. But progressive activist [[Henry Demarest Lloyd]] held a harshly critical view, writing: "The free silver movement is a fake. Free silver is the [[cowbird]] of the reform movement. It waited until the nest had been built by the sacrifices and labor of others, and then it lay its own eggs in it, pushing out the others which lie smashed on the ground."<ref>The Populist Response to Industrial America p142 Norman Pollack – 1976 "This was followed by his blistering indictment of silver: "The Free Silver movement is a fake. Free Silver is the [[Cowbird|cow-bird]] of the Reform movement."</ref>

==Silver Purchase Act of 1934==
In 1934, the passage of the Silver Purchase Act revived the debate stirred by Grover Cleveland's 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.<ref name="nationalsilver">{{Cite web|date=2017-06-19|title=Silver Tax Stamps|url=https://info.mysticstamp.com/this-day-in-history-june-19-1934_tdih/|access-date=2021-03-10|website=Mystic Stamp Discovery Center|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102195007/https://www.mysticstamp.com/info/this-day-in-history-june-19-1934/|url-status=live}}</ref> The new law granted the U.S. president and U.S. secretary of treasury the authority to purchase silver, issue silver certificates, and also nationalize U.S. mines.<ref name="legislation">{{Cite book|last=73rd United States Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/73rd-congress/c73.pdf|title=The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March 1933 to June 1934|date=June 19, 1934 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |volume=48|pages=1178–1181 |chapter=Chapter 674: An Act To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase silver, issue silver certificates, and for other purposes |oclc=50860124|author-link=73rd United States Congress|chapter-url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/73rd-congress/session-2/c73s2ch674.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818223825/https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/73rd-congress/session-2/c73s2ch674.pdf |archive-date=2020-08-18}}</ref><ref name=nationalsilver /> The law also included a 50¢ tax on profits from the transfer of silver bullion and financing a "Silver Tax Stamp".<ref name=nationalsilver /><ref name=legislation /> After the law was passed, the U.S. Treasury paid rates for silver well over its 1934 value, achieving the hoped-for result, raising the price of silver from 45¢ to 81¢ an ounce.<ref name=nationalsilver /> However, overprints on the Silver Stamp Taxes, which ranged from 1¢ to $1,000, also presented a problem for free, nationally owned silver.<ref name=nationalsilver /> These were stamps attached to transfer memoranda to indicate payment of the silver tax.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210417235226/https://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/taxstamps_RG1934.html Article title]}} Stamp Collecting World, ''Silver Tax Stamps'' retrieved March 12, 2021</ref> In 1943, the overprints were discontinued, and the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 would be fully repealed in 1963.<ref name=nationalsilver />

{{Clear}}

==See also==
* [[Alexander del Mar]]
* [[Gresham's law]]
* [[Inflation]]
* [[Silver Party]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Coletta, Paolo E. [https://archive.org/details/63ColettaGreenbackers "Greenbackers, Goldbugs, and Silverites: Currency Reform and Politics, 1860-1897,"] in H. Wayne Morgan (ed.), The Gilded Age: A Reappraisal. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1963; pp.&nbsp;111–139.
*Kazin, Michael. ''A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan'' (2007)
* Gramm, Marshall. "The Free Silver Movement in America: A Reinterpretation," ''Journal of Economic History,'' vol. 64, no. 4 ( Dec 2004), pp.&nbsp;1108–1129.
* Ritter, Gretchen. ''Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America.'' (1997)
* Rockoff, Hugh. "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a monetary allegory," ''Journal of Political Economy,'' vol. 98, no. 4 (Aug. 1990), pp.&nbsp;739–60 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2937766 in JSTOR]
* Wells, Wyatt. "Rhetoric of the Standards: The Debate over Gold and Silver in the 1890s," ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era,'' (Jan. 2015) 14#1 pp.&nbsp;49–68. 
*[https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest_a_00841#authorsTabList Weiss, Colin. 2019. "Contractionary Devaluation Risk: Evidence from the Free Silver Movement, 1878-1900." The Review of Economics and Statistics]
*Williams, R. Hal. ''Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896.'' Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Free silver}}
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/1005 The Money Question of the 51st Congress]: Speeches before the 51st Congress (1889–1891) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on [[FRASER]]
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/308 The Money Question of the 52nd Congress]: Speeches before the 52nd Congress (1891–1893) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on [[FRASER]]
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/289 The Money Question of the 53rd Congress]: Speeches before the 53rd Congress (1893–1895) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on [[FRASER]]
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/archival/1342/item/458992 Free silver cartoons] from Judge
* {{Wikisource-inline|The New York Times/Free Silver and Annexation|Free Silver and Annexation|single=true}}
* {{Wikisource inline|The Writings of Carl Schurz/Honest Money and Honesty|Honest Money and Honesty|single=true}}
* {{Wikisource inline|Popular Science Monthly/Volume 43/September 1893/Why Silver Ceases to Be Money|Popular Science Monthly, September 1893—Why Silver Ceases to Be Money|single=true}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|Coinage of Silver, 1934|single=true}}
* {{Wikisource inline|Silver Purchase Act of 1934|single=true}}

{{US history}}
{{Money and central banking within the contemporary United States (pre–1913)}}

[[Category:Economic history of the United States]]
[[Category:Economic ideologies]]
[[Category:Silver]]
[[Category:Metallism]]