How did free silver help farmers?

How did free silver help farmers?

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. This position was known as the Free Silver Movement.

Who does free silver benefit?

Free silver was especially popular among farmers in the Wheat Belt (the western Midwest) and the Cotton Belt (the Deep South), as well as silver miners in the West. It had little support among farmers in the Northeast and the Corn Belt (the eastern Midwest).

Why did farmers advocate for the free coinage of silver or Bimetallism?

Farmers, particularly in wheat and cotton belts, advocated bimetallism because they believed it was inflationary and beneficial to them, and silver miners in the western United States advocated bimetallism for safe value for money.

What is the best explanation of free silver?

What is the best explanation of “free silver?” The U. S. government would promote prosperity by inflating the money supply, through minting all of the silver offered to it.

Why did farmers want more money in circulation?

Many of the farmers wanted some inflation so that they could get enough money for their crop so that they could make the payments to the bank. If silver was also used as money, there would be much more money in circulation and this would cause some inflation. At that time, paper money was called “greenbacks”.

Why did American farmers support bimetallism?

Farmers believed that a bi-metallic money supply would help them deal with the economic issues they faced. Farmers were suffering because prices for their crops were very low, and they had to borrow money at interest rates that were quite high. With a bi-metallic money supply, there would be more money in the economy.

Why was bimetallism a problem?

A major problem in the international use of bimetallism was that, with each nation independently setting its own rate of exchange between the two metals, the resulting rates often differed widely from country to country. …

Why did the Silverites want?

The Silverites advocated free coinage of silver. They wanted to lower the gold standard of the United States to silver therefore allowing inflation of the money supply. Many Silverites were in the West, where silver was mined.

Why did farmers support the Free Silver movement?

Farmers believed a bi-metallic money supply would go a long way toward helping them solve their financial problems. Basically supporters of the free silver movement thought that bimetallism would help the economy by causing inflation. This would help farmers and others who had too much debt.

Why did the Populist Party want free coinage of silver?

Free coinage of silver was another rallying cry of the populist party. The point of this policy was to give people a more accessible and stable currency. As it stood, gold was rare and expensive, making the debts of people like farmers (the main base of the populist party) hard to pay back.

Why did the Free Silver movement advocate bimetallic currency?

Farmers and debtors in the Free Silver Movement had long advocated a bimetallic (gold and silver) standard for the nation’s currency in the belief that an increase in the amount of money in circulation would raise crop prices and allow for easier debt repayment.….

Why did the supporters of free silver want inflation?

If money comes to be worth less, those who are in debt benefit because the money they are paying back is worth less than the money they borrowed. Supporters of free silver wanted to cause inflation to help farmers get out of debt more easily, thus (in their minds) helping the economy.