Financial Politics in the United States in the 1890s
The Golden Web
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Beschreibung
In the 1890s, the choice between the gold standard and the free coinage of silver upended American politics. The gold standard linked the United States to the larger international financial system, in which gold was the common denominator. The free coinage of silver would effectively sever these ties by devaluing the dollar. The gold standard allowed the U.S. to secure vast amounts of foreign capital on good terms to build railroads and develop industry, but at the cost of deflation. The free coinage of silver would raise prices, particularly for cotton and wheat, whose cultivators carried heavy debts and were hard-pressed. The struggle would define the United States. Would it continue to develop industrially, or would it return to its agricultural roots?
The combatants—among them Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, J.P. Morgan, and William McKinley—understood what was at stake. This book deals both with well-known aspects of the contest, such as the 1896 Presidential election between McKinley and Bryan, and lesser-known ones, such as how the currency issues interacted with racial politics and international negotiations over the role of silver in the world’s monetary system. The result is the most comprehensive account of financial politics in the United States in the 1890s yet published.
Wyatt Wells is a Professor of History at Auburn University at Montgomery, USA. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of business, finance, and government, most recently Permanent Revolution: Reflections on Capitalism (2020). He has been both the Newcomen Fellow in Business History at Harvard Business School and a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Hong Kong.
In the 1890s, the choice between the gold standard and the free coinage of silver upended American politics. The gold standard linked the United States to the larger international financial system, in which gold was the common denominator. The free coinage of silver would effectively sever these ties by devaluing the dollar. The gold standard allowed the U.S. to secure vast amounts of foreign capital on good terms to build railroads and develop industry, but at the cost of deflation. The free coinage of silver would raise prices, particularly for cotton and wheat, whose cultivators carried heavy debts and were hard-pressed. The struggle would define the United States. Would it continue to develop industrially, or would it return to its agricultural roots?
The combatants—among them Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, J.P. Morgan, and William McKinley—understood what was at stake. This book deals both with well-known aspects of the contest, such as the 1896 Presidential election between McKinley and Bryan, and lesser-known ones, such as how the currency issues interacted with racial politics and international negotiations over the role of silver in the world’s monetary system. The result is the most comprehensive account of financial politics in the United States in the 1890s yet published.
Provides the most thorough study of the politics of the currency in the U.S. in the late nineteenth century yet written Offers the first study to combine the financial and political histories of the United States in the 1890s Investigates major financial crises and economic depressions and their political impacts
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Wyatt Wells
Themen in »Financial Politics in the United States in the 1890s«
United States History, 1890s gold standard United States, political history Populism, 1890s Free Silver Coinage American financial history 19th-century American history Grover Cleveland William McKinley American railroads American financial diplomacy American populism William Jennings Bryan John Pierpont Morgan American political history
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“In this rigorous, deeply researched, and well-written study, Wyatt Wells breathes new life into the ‘battle of the standards’—the often neglected or misunderstood controversy in the late nineteenth century over whether gold or silver should constitute the primary backing for the U.S. money supply. Partisans in this battle held sharply different views regarding economic development, and the outcome of the battle would have a profound impact on the political economy of the United States for decades to come. A deft blend of economic, business, and political history, Financial Politics in the United States in the 1890s: The Golden Web represents a major contribution to the scholarly literature on late-nineteenth-century America.” (Peter A. Coclanis, Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
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