William jennings bryan cross of gold speech audio

YOUR ESSAY PROMPT: AND BACKGROUND INFO AND FURTHER IMPORTANT DIRECTIONS FOR HISTORICAL METHODS PAPER (100 pts.):

This is a challenging essay/review to write. You are to write one essay/review using the three sources provided by your Professor. Please listen first to the audio of William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold Speech" and then watch the video on WWI, and finally read the article by Stephen J. Gould. Be sure to include information from all three sources in your essay/review and cite the information with reference notes and a bibliography and the body of the essay must be at least 3 pages long. This is the one required major writing assignment for the semester. A little background before you begin....first, listen to the actual Speech by William Jennings Bryan I provide as a primary source so that you can actually hear his voice and get an idea as to how good a speaker he was, this is his most famous speech which may seem a bit boring today, but back then it was very interesting since it affected every common person's pocketbook, then, listen to the second video which gives a general overview of the effects of Social Darwinism on WWI and how it affected the German intellectuals, military leaders and colonial administrators prior and during World War I. Then, read Steven J. Gould's article "William Jennings' Bryan's Last Campaign" Then, you are to write an essay/review in response to the questions below….First, the article is fascinating because it was written by a Harvard Professor, (now deceased), who was one of the world’s leading proponents of evolution, left-wing in his politics and an agnostic, (someone who does not believe there is enough evidence to prove there is or isn’t a God). He wrote about William Jennings Bryan, who was a major politician of a past generation, a fundamentalist Christian, and someone who fiercely opposed the teaching of evolution. At first glance, you would think there could be no possible agreement between these two on anything, and yet, it is very evident that Gould was quite impressed with Bryan and even sympatric with him on some issues. Ask yourself as you read the article if Gould made a few mistakes in his historical analysis of Bryan’s role opposing evolution. Also ask yourself why Gould simply chooses not to mention information that would better explain his topic. For example he doesn’t even discuss the terminology “Social Darwinism,” even though much of the article is about Bryan confusing the scientific theory of evolution with the unscientific social theory of Social Darwinism.