Chapter 8, William Jennings Bryan: The Democrat as Revivalist Summary and Analysis

William Jennings Bryan was never president, but was one of the most important figures in American history for the role he played in leading and embodying Populist sentiment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He combined many distinct views - support for inflation through 'free silver', free trade, anti-imperialism, nationalization of the railroads and banning the teaching of evolution - and had no distinct political principles for tying them together. Instead, his powerful speaking voice and role in popular American religion gave him a platform which he used primarily to be heard and not to bring about positive political change.

Bryan's constituents were the farming people of the West and South. He somewhat represented those who survived Reconstruction in the South. They were often in...