A Cross of Gold: William Jennings Bryan And the Oklahoma Constitution' is the examination of how the Native Americans worked to create a constitution for their own state of Sequoyah but ultimately failed to do so. But while they failed their work led to the foundations for what would become the state of Oklahoma. 'A Cross of Gold' is also the examination of how William Jennings Bryan, a politician and orator forgotten by history, took an interest in what was Oklahoma Territory, a territory wanting to be admitted into the United States. Bryan was seen as a radical by President Theodore Roosevelt and his protege William Howard Taft but his influence and ideas would force Roosevelt and Taft to pay close attention to the upcoming Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and its progressive ideas.