I came across William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold Speech" recently, and it piqued my interest. Bryan's speech on free silver reportedly sent the crowd into several wild bouts of cheers and applause. What was it about "free silver" that was so galvanizing?
Additionally, Bryan's speech seems to imply a class divide on the issue. What was the silver standard's appeal to lower classes?
Finally, and this is a little beyond the original question, when and why did this stop mattering?
There was a good discussion of the history of the Gold Standard here, led by u/DeSoulis.
The divide you notice in Bryan's Cross of Gold speech was between farmers, especially his base in the mid-west, and bankers and businessmen, especially in the east. Having a currency based on gold meant that the amount of currency available for making transactions was limited to the amount of gold available. When the economy boomed, the value of money itself went up, called deflation: and so commodities, like corn and wheat, were then worth less. Farmers always need credit, loans to buy seed, loans to get them through the year until their crops come in, in the fall. If a farmer took out a loan early in the year and the value of money increased, by the time his crops came in they would be worth less- giving a bonus to those making the loan. Going to "Free" silver was seen as a way to increase the money supply and avoid deflation.
Though the Gold Standard has sometimes been brought up as a Good Thing to Do, since 1933 the value of currency in the US has more or less been set by the Federal Reserve, which gets to print money and expand or restrict the supply depending on whether there's inflation or deflation. After 1971 it also became impossible to redeem US currency for gold or silver from the US Treasury.