William Jennings Bryan accepting his nomination from the Chairman and Members of the Notification Committee of his nomination as the Democratic Candidate of 1900:
"I shall, at an early day, and in a more formal manner accept the nomination which you tender....
When I say that the contest of 1900 is a contest between Democracy on the one hand and plutocracy ...I do assert that on the important issues of the day the Republican party is dominated by those influences which constantly tend to substitute the worship of Mammon for the protection of the rights of man....
....If true Christianity consists in carrying out in our daily lives the teachings of Christ, who will say that we are commanded to civilize with dynamite and proselyte with the sword?...Imperialism finds no warrant in the Bible. The command "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" has no Gatling gun attachment. When Jesus visited a village of Samaria and the people refused to receive him, some of the disciples suggested that fire should be called down from Heaven to avenge the insult; but the Master rebuked them and said: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Suppose he had said: "We will thrash them until they understand who we are," how different would have been the history of Christianity!
Compare, if you will, the swaggering, bullying, brutal doctrine of imperialism with the golden rule and the commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Love, not force, was the weapon of the Nazarene; sacrifice for others, not the exploitation of them, was His method of reaching the human heart.
...When our opponents are unable to defend their position by argument they fall back upon the assertion that it is destiny, and insist that we must submit to it no matter how much it violates our moral precepts and our principles of government. This is a complacent philosophy. It obliterates the distinction between right and wrong and makes individuals and nations the helpless victims of circumstance.
Destiny is the subterfuge of the invertebrate, who, lacking the courage to oppose error, seeks some plausible excuse for supporting it. Washington said that the destiny of the republican form of government was deeply, if not finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the American people. How different Washington's definition of destiny from the Republican definition!
I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the glories of the present and the past--a destiny which meets the responsibility of today and measures up to the possibilities of the future.
Behold a republic, resting securely upon the foundation stones quarried by revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth--a republic applying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident propositions that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with inalienable rights; that governments are instituted among men to secure these rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Behold a republic in which civil and religion liberty stimulate all to earnest endeavor and in which the law restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury--a republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which no one cares to wear a crown.
Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments--a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.
Behold a republic increasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood --a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent example and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in darkness.
Behold a republic gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes--a republic whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day!"
For the Complete Speech see:
http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/bryanimp.htmlFor Bryan's speeches against Imperialism:
http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ail/bryan.html
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