Derek's APUS Blog

The "Cross of Gold" speech was delivered to address the issue of free coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to 1 from silver to gold. he starts his speech by saying that the American worker has great value and how they are important, as well has how great America is. He states that Democrats have proposed an issue of money. He says that the farmers and American workers are just s important as the big business leaders of the time, and that farmers could use this change of money to pay off debts they owed. He ends his speech by saying he doesn't believe people should "crucify mankind upon a cross of gold". The populist party was against the decreasing value of silver and the  increasing value of gold, opposite to what Bryan believed. 

This act gives the president power to divide up tribal lands held by Native Americans, by splitting the land into shares for each individual. the amount of land that would be received is determined by the age, gender, and family status of the individual. The president is able to preform this action if it would help agriculturally. It would also help the government sell his land to American settlers. The government is also given the right to build railroads, telegraph lines and highways through this land. This act id similar to the Indian Removal Act, because both acts forced Native Americans off their land for the benefit of the United States Government.

In the preamble, the populist party states that the American public opinion has been suppressed. They say they want to fix that American industry is only supporting the rich. In the platform, they say the union of labor will be permanent and other things like the regulation of railroads and they need a secure national currency. finally in the expression of sentiments, they talk about resolutions to problems like opposing national aid, shorter working hours, a free ballot, and limiting the president to one term. The Knights of labor were supported by the populist party,  along with other unions. 

Originally, McKinley disagreed with the public demand for war, but he needed to confront the conflict. He says that America needed to intervene for many reasons bu that intervening would hurt American trade with Cuba. He then says that the conflict was spreading to American and hurting business and scaring people. He leaves the decision up to congress and says the he believes that there are other ways to resolve this without Americas intervening. McKinley's War message is similar to the Cuban missile crisis because the U.S. was being affected by the actions of Cuba 

Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth discuses how the difference between the rich and the poor is beneficial to society. He claims that this inequality brings about advancements in civilization. Carnegie implicates social Darwinism in his book. Social Darwinism referring to survival of the fittest, because believes that although it may bring negatives on some, it is better for the whole. He then goes on to say that people should embrace this gap between rich and poor because it will end up being beneficial. Because the government has a lassez-faire approach to businesses, he believes that those with wealth have an obligation to society. This obligation can be met by proving money for the less fortunate or some type of charity. He says how an equal distribution of wealth will never work because money would only be held on to and then none would get spent and therefor there would be no advancement. Similar to Carnegie, Bill Gates makes many charitable contributions to further society.