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After the conclusion of the United States Civil War, one of the major political divisions in the United States was based on monetary policy. During the Civil War, the United States government had introduced the Greenback, a form of paper currency whose value was not backed by the price of a commodity, but rather the faith and credit of the United States Government. After the Civil War, many industrialisted favored a policy of controlled deflation and a return to gold-backed currency. In 1873, the Mint Act officially ended government support for silver purchases. This caused a major decline in the price of silver, exacerbated by a glut of availability thanks to newly found silver deposits. Plains and silver mining states began to advocate for a return to silver coinage, partially to prop up silver prices and partially to induce inflation and help struggling farmers. In the presidential election of 1892, the Republican and Democratic parties both nominated candidates who opposed silver monetary policy. As a result, Democrats and Republicans in Nevada formed the Nevada State Silver Party and advocated for the formation of a National Silver Party. In 1896 and 1900, the Democratic Party nominated William Jennings Bryan, a supporter of silver monetary policy, for President, while the Republican Party officially supported the gold standard. This caused a split, as conservative Silver Party members were forced to choose between supporting silver monetary policy and their opposition to Bryan's other policies and the Democratic Party at large. Such Silver Republicans are here labeled separately from Nevada Silver Party members to reflect this. Bryan lost both elections, in 1900 by a landslide, and the silver issue declined in salience outside of silver mining areas, leading to an end to all silver parties. Most Silver Republicans returned to the Republican Party.