William james bryan biography of michael

First Amendment did not apply to state laws at the time

Clarence Darrow, one of the era’s most prominent lawyers, defended Scopes, with assistance from Arthur Garfield Hays, counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. As the Supreme Court had not yet applied the First Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment, the presiding judge barred any consideration of whether the Tennessee statute violated the First Amendment. Toward the end of the trial Bryan himself took the stand and faced skillful questioning by Darrow that revealed Bryan’s limited knowledge of modern biological science and of the Bible’s content.

Court later ruled law prohibiting teaching of evolution violated First Amendment

Bryan died in 1925, five days after Scopes was convicted and fined. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the conviction on a technicality without ruling on the constitutionality of the law. More than 40 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion in Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), ruled that a comparable Arkansas law violated the First Amendment proscription of the state establishment of religion.

This article was originally published in 2009. David Ray Papke is a professor of law at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a long-time teacher and scholar of American legal history.

American political campaign

In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. Bryan, a former Democraticcongressman from Nebraska, gained his party's presidential nomination in July of that year after electrifying the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech. He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley.

Born in 1860, Bryan grew up in rural Illinois and in 1887 moved to Nebraska, where he practiced law and entered politics. He won election to the House of Representatives in 1890, and was re-elected in 1892, before mounting an unsuccessful US Senate run. He set his sights on higher office, believing he could be elected president in 1896 even though he remained a relatively minor figure in the Democratic Party. In anticipation of a presidential campaign, he spent much of 1895 and early 1896 making speeches across the United States; his compelling oratory increased his popularity in his party.

Bryan often spoke on the issue of the currency. The economic Panic of 1893 had left the nation in a deep recession, which still persisted in early 1896. Bryan and many other Democrats believed the economic malaise could be remedied through a return to bimetallism, or free silver—a policy they believed would inflate the currency and make it easier for debtors to repay loans. Bryan went to the Democratic convention in Chicago as an undeclared candidate, whom the press had given only a small chance of becoming the Democratic nominee. His 'Cross of Gold' speech, given to conclude the debate on the party platform, immediately transformed him into a favorite for the nomination, and he won it the next day. The Democrats nominated Arthur Sewall, a wealthy Maine banker and shipbuilder, for vice president. The left-wing Populist Party (which had hoped to nominate the only silver-supporting candidate) endorsed

William Jennings Bryan, born on March 19, 1860 in Salem, Illinois, was the dominant politician in the Democratic Party from the late 19 century to the early 20 century. He was nominated for the presidency three times, and his populist leanings and tireless stumping transformed political campaigning in this country. In 1925 he led the successful prosecution in the Scopes Monkey Trial, although his involvement ironically solidified his reputation in some areas as a relic from a prior age.

Early years

Bryan grew up in Illinois. Although originally a Baptist, he became a Presbyterian after attending a revival at age 14; Bryan later described his conversion as the most important day of his life.

Like many children in Illinois at the time, Bryan was home-schooled until he was old enough to attend high school at Whipple Academy, and then college at Illinois College in Jacksonville where he graduated as valedictorian. He moved on to Chicago to attend Union Law College (the precursor of Northwestern University School of Law), where he met his first cousin, Mary Elizabeth Baird, whom he married in 1884 when Bryan was 24.

House of Representatives

Bryan had political ambitions from an early age, and chose to move to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1887 because he saw little opportunity to run for office in his native Illinois. In Nebraska he won election as a Representative—only the second Democrat elected to Congress by Nebraskans at the time.

This was where Bryan flourished and began making a name for himself. Assisted by his wife, Bryan quickly gained a reputation as both a masterful orator and a populist, a man who believed firmly in the wisdom of the common people.

Cross of Gold

In the late 19 century, one of the key issues facing the United States was the question of the Gold Standard, which pegged the dollar to a finite supply of gold. During his time in Congress, Bryan became a staunch opponent of the Gold

American politician (1860–1925)

Not to be confused with William Jennings Bryan Dorn.

"William J. Bryan" redirects here. For the Senator from Florida, see William James Bryan.

William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He served in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895 and as the Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, Bryan was often called "the Great Commoner", and because of his rhetorical power and early fame as the youngest presidential candidate, "the Boy Orator".

Born and raised in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska in the 1880s. He won election to the House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, served two terms, and made an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1894. At the 1896 Democratic National Conventio