You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

William Jennings Bryan delivered these lines in his famous “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. Speaking for the party’s silver wing, Bryan attacked the gold standard as a monetary policy that favored creditors, banks, and Eastern financial interests while burdening farmers and wage laborers with deflation and debt. The speech came amid the severe economic dislocations of the 1890s (including the Panic of 1893) and the broader Populist-era struggle over currency and credit. Its electrifying religious imagery helped propel Bryan to the Democratic presidential nomination that year.

Bryan fuses economic argument with Christian passion imagery to cast the gold standard as a moral wrong rather than a technical policy dispute. The “crown of thorns” and “crucify” metaphors portray working people as suffering innocently under a system that tightens money, depresses prices and wages, and magnifies debts—benefiting those who lend and speculate. By framing monetary policy as a question of human dignity and social justice, Bryan seeks to mobilize a broad democratic coalition against concentrated financial power. The line’s enduring force lies in its ability to translate abstract economics into vivid ethical drama.

1) “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
2) “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”