What does roosevelt mean by ""speak softly and carry a big stick""?

Roosevelt means that one should use reasoned foresight in order to deal with domestic and foreign policy and act justly in every case, "speak softly," and have a strong military in order to make the adversary aware of the consequences of his possible misdemeanours.  

Explanation:

Roosevelt used this peculiar aphorism in order to showcase the importance of  peaceful negotiations, whilst having a strong army as backup in case something goes wrong. This bears strong resemblance with , pursuing political decisions based on particular circumstances. The aphorism I also alludes to a Machiavellian use of power when the circumstance demands. The politician should thus negotiate peacefully, according to the circumstance at hand, and intervene with military power, whenever the situation demands.

i believe the answer is:

-   william jennings bryan is a democrat while mckinley was a republican

at that time, the segment of population that choose for democratic party were the voters with low economic background and vice versa

- william jennings has support of populists and wants to have inflation to farmers while mckinley has support of bankers and businessmen , doesn't want inflation

the fixed value of gold make the large business able to stack up their gold without   being worried that it would devaluated.

- william jennings supported the silver standard while mckinley supported the gold standard

according to jenning, using other metal beside gold could the poor people to have more purchasing power and them advance in the society.

the dominoes began to fall. the surrender at appomattox took place a week later on april 9. while it was the most significant surrender to take place during the civil war, gen. robert e. lee, the confederacy's most respected commander, surrendered only his army of northern virginia to union gen. ulysses s. grant

explanation: