On the Milestones blog
There are a couple of new and interesting posts up at the Milestone Documents blog. First, Barry Alfonso has written a piece on William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech from 1896, noting that Bryan’s scorching piece makes our current political discourse seem very safe and generic by comparison. One of the striking things about studying historic documents from America’s past is realizing how harsh the rhetoric often was and how cutthroat the debate. In the present day we often think of our political discourse as being bitterly partisan, and the press is forever reinforcing the notion that our politics is hugely divided. If you read these older documents, you might come away with a different view.
To wit: Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” speech from 1852, which, as Bradley Skelcher remarks in his new post on the speech, makes it clear that questioning the patriotism of those who criticize the country (or at least the country’s political establishment) is nothing new.
Both of these speeches contain eye-opening critical commentary. If you’re wondering what impact these speeches had when they were delivered, you can find out by reading the respective articles in Milestone Documents in American History through your local library. Our friends at Salem Press will soon unveil a tool that will allow you to see which libraries in your vicinity have purchased the set. If you are unable to find it, not to worry: you’ll shortly be able to download individual articles from the set at www.MilestoneDocuments.com. Watch this space for the announcement about when that site goes live.