USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -“Silverites ” believed that currency should be redeemable in silver as well as gold.

Detailed explanation-2: -Bryan wanted the United States to use silver to back the dollar at a value that would inflate the prices farmers received for their crops, easing their debt burden.

Detailed explanation-3: -Supporters of free silver included owners of silver mines in the West, farmers who believed that an expanded currency would increase the price of their crops, and debtors who hoped it would enable them to pay their debts more easily.

Detailed explanation-4: -Free silver was the central issue for Democrats in the presidential elections of 1896 and 1900, under the leadership of William Jennings Bryan, famed for his Cross of Gold speech in favor of free silver. The Populists also endorsed Bryan and free silver in 1896, which marked the effective end of their independence.

Detailed explanation-5: -A defining principle of populism was its passionate hostility to the gold standard. Scholars have typically argued that the mostly agrarian populists opposed gold because of the heavy burden of farm debt.