SILVERITE

'Silverites' were a political group in the United States in the mid-19th century that advocated that silver should continue to be a monetary standard along with gold. The Silverite coalition's famous slogan was "16 to 1" – that is, the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold, a ratio similar to the Coinage Act of 1792.

Contents

See also

See also

★ Free Silver

★ Bimetalism
The Silverites were a group of free silver advocates in the United States. Plainly put, they wanted to lower the gold standard of the United States to silver, thus inflating the economy. Many of these people were in the west, where silver had already been found. They predicted that--if the silver was used as the standard of U.S. economy--they would be able to pay off all of their debt. The debt amount would stay the same but they would have more silver money to pay it off with.
The Silverites' main presidential candidate was William Jennings Bryan. Though he did run for president several times he was never elected, and almost always showed up as a third party candidate.