The Silver Question Dbq

The “silver question” was a major factor leading into the depression of 1893 in America. This issue led to up roars from miners to farmers while the government leaders at the time stood back and watch the madness unfold in front of them. The problem began with the debate of currency at the time and what would be the base of a dollar. The people of the time believed deeply in the idea of money needing backing in real worth (such as silver or gold) where as today people have more faith in paper money. So the search began. Then, ideas circled to make coin money out of gold and silver but since gold was at such a shortage it left silver to be the only option. Silver with having a staggering 16:1 ratio,to be equal to the price of gold, in the eyes of the mint left silver owners looking for a better deal for their products. The owners of …show more content…
Their seemed to be no real objection in the beginning but though out the 1870’s the views changed. The price of silver fell drastically which started to get people interested again in the idea of making coins from silver since the mint could get it so cheep. This fall in the price got the minds of the american people turning. Next, the American people are calling this the “Crime of ’73” stating that big business had go in and be responsible for creating the decline in the price of silver. People were not happy at all. Miner and farmers joined together to fight the government on this increase, but as the depression of 1893 began the government never even as much as blinked in their direction. Meanwhile, the amount of gold reserves declined and President Cleveland blamed the Sherman silver purchase Act of 1890 which got the government to buy up silver and pay for it with gold. So the President went on attack and started lobbying to have the Act repealed which led to a devastating split of the Democratic