lead americans to see that the class in power was not necessarily looking out for their own interests. that was his main argument, but he had to frame it in a way that it didn t become class war pa fair. americans didn t want class warfare. they d seen a series of strikes in the last 20 years that looked an awfully lot like class warfare or something that they feared from europe, communist organizations and conflict. so that fear of class warfare is very vital to the period of the 1890s when bryan s campaigning. it turns out that the strike of 1877, for example, with the ma accompli militia and federal government bringing out gatlin guns and mowing down american workers striking, that didn t sit well with american people. so bryan was walking this thin line trying to raise the issue but not be accused of class warfare. bryan was born in salem, illinois and moved to nebraska as an adult where he practiced law, ran for congress, served two terms, and became the democratic pre