How Did William Jennings Gould Influence The Development Of American Government

On March 19, 1860, a democratic, populist, and progressive leader who was influential in many political and social causes would be born. William Jennings Bryan was instrumental in the adoption of social reforms such as the popular election of senators, women’s suffrage, income tax, and prohibition. His goal was to protect the weak and powerless Americans from the elite. He used his electrifying oratory skills to engage his audience and become a strong leader. Although he played a major role in many different aspects of American government, he is best remembered for his defense of fundamentalist Christianity in the midst of modern science, Darwinism, and evolution. Social Darwinism and new discoveries of science began to fill the minds of people

He believed that Bryan’s last fight against evolution was inconsistent with everything he had previously done in his career. Gould believed that his arguments were inconsistent and blatantly wrong in certain aspects. He explains that Bryan “first made the common mistake of confusing the fact of evolution with the Darwinian explanation of mechanism”, then he “misinterpreted natural selection as a martial theory of survival by battle and destruction of enemies” and finally, “he made the logical error of arguing that Darwinism implied the moral virtuousness of such deathly struggle” (Gould). His previous doubts, combined with these errors in thought, initiated his fight against evolution being taught in schools. Although Gould thinks he got certain aspects confused, he also believes Bryan got some right. Gould’s view of Bryan evolves in the article from correcting all of Bryan’s errors to admitting that “Bryan was right in one crucial way…when he said that Darwinism had been widely portrayed as a defense of war, domination, and domestic exploitation, he was right” (Gould). Gould further agrees with Bryan after reading Headquarters Nights by Vernon L. Kellogg and The Science of Power by Benjamin Kidd. Kellogg documented his exchanges between Germany’s highest military officers in his book, which advocated for an obscene form of natural selection. Kellogg returned determined to destruct the German military by force due to these encounters. Because Kellogg’s predictions about the Germans were used to fight the German militia which ended the German authority, they were correct. On the other hand, Kidd “believed that life must move toward