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The Origins of Progressivism

Section 1

What was the Progressive Movement?

• An early 20th Century reform movement

• Aimed at: – Returning the control of the government to the

people– Restoring economic opportunities– Correcting injustices in American life

Four Goals of Progressivism

1. Protecting social welfare

2. Promoting moral improvement

3. Creating economic reform

4. Fostering efficiency

Protecting Social Welfare

• Review: What is Social Welfare?• Social Gospel/ Settlement House Movement

continued through Progressive Era• What is the YMCA??

– Young Men’s Christian Association – Opened Libraries– Sponsored classes– Built Swimming Pools & Handball Courts

• Salvation Army– Fed poor people in soup kitchens

• Many women followed the lead of Jane Addams and started taking action

• Slum brigades—teach immigrants

Early YMCA Ballers

Promoting Moral Improvement

• Some reformers felt that morality, not the workplace, held the key to improving the lives of poor people

• Thought people could better themselves by improving their behavior

• One of the strongest goals of reformers was to stop the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages– What was this known as?????

Prohibition• Banning of alcoholic

beverages• Prohibitionists believed

that alcohol was undermining American morals– What are

morals?...examples of good morals?

Prohibition• Alcoholic beverages had

been around for thousands of years

• Certain immigrant groups used these beverages more than others

• Hard to break old habits• Many individuals and

groups of people were very upset by this movement

WCTU

• What does this stand for?– Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

• Spearheaded the crusade for prohibition• What did these women do?

– Entered saloons and protested– Would sing and pray in the saloons– Urged bartenders to quit selling liquor

• The WCTU grew from a small, Midwestern group to a national organization consisting of 245,000 members by 1911

Carry Nation• Most famous member

of the temperance movement

• Member of the WCTU• 6 ft., 175lbs• “Bulldog running along

the feet of Jesus”• Nation was known for

attacking saloons with a hatchet

• Arrested 30 times in a 10 year span

Creating Economic Reform• Panic of 1893 caused many Americans to worry

– What was the Panic of 1893?– Serious decline in the American economy due to lack of

gold supply

• Many Americans questioned the Capitalist economic system due to poverty

• Some Americans, especially workers, embraced Socialism

• What is:– Capitalism?– Socialism?

Capitalism• Economic System • The means of production

are privately owned• $$ is invested in the

production & distribution for a profit

• “Free Market” What is this?

• Chance to go from poor to rich

• Laissez-Faire– Hands Off

Socialism• Social or Economic system• Property and distribution of

wealth are determined by the Government

• State or Government ownership of everything

• Elimination of private property, everyone is equal

• Karl Marx – Leading figure– Father of Communism

American Socialist Party

• Founded in 1901• Its prominent leader

was Eugene V. Debs• In the early 1900’s,

the party had numerous elected officials in office

• Debs ran for president 5 times unsuccessfully

• “Competition is natural enough at one time, but do you think you are competing today? Many of you think you are competing. Against whom? Against oil magnate John D. Rockefeller? About as I would if I had a wheelbarrow and competed with the Santa Fe Railroad from here to Kansas City!”

Muckrakers

• Muckrakers played a big role in bringing reform

• Investigative journalists• Exposed the problems of society• Upton Sinclair—The Jungle-meatpacking• Ida Tarbell—Exposed the ruthless

methods of the Standard Oil Company• Lincoln Steffens-exposed corruption in

gov’t

Fostering Efficiency

• Scientific management to increase efficiency was used in factories

• Frederick Taylor—Time Management studies

• Assembly line

• Henry Ford paid workers $5 a day!!

• Progressives also worked for better efficiency in all levels of government

Limiting Working Hours

• Many states enforced a 10 hour work day for both men and women

• Progressives also succeeded in winning workers’ compensation for family members of hurt or killed workers– What is worker’s comp.?– Is it still around today?

Reforming Elections

• States adopt secret ballot• Direct Primary• Initiative-a bill originated by the people

rather than lawmakers • Referendum- when voters accept or reject

the initiative (bill)• Recall- enabled voters to remove public

officials from elected positions– What did these five aim at doing????

A “Total” Recall?

Direct Election of Senators

• 17th Amendment

• 1913

• Direct election of U.S. Senators

• What does this mean?

• Who are our Senators????

Charles Grassley

Tom Harkin

Women’s Role

• Many more women were getting an education

• Many became teachers

• Help push for the passing of the 18th and 19th Amendments to the US Constitution

-Prohibition

-Women’s Suffrage

Teddy Roosevelt-TR• Born into a wealthy

family-1858• Had asthma as a child-

sickly• As a teen became a

marksmen and learned to ride horses

• Went to Harvard • Boxed and wrestled at

Harvard• Served in the New York

State Assembly from 1882-1884

• Served as US Civil Service Commissioner from 1889-1895

• Commissioner of the New York City Police from 1895-1897

• Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1897-1898

• Fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898 as leader of the “Rough Riders”

• Governor of New York 1898-1900

• Vice-President of the US in 1901

• Served as President from 1901-1909

• Wrote many history books

• Owned and ran a ranch in the Dakota Territory

• Avid hunter-African Safaris

Teddy Bear

Accomplishments as President• Used his personality, popularity and power

of persuasion to get what he wanted

• Believed that the federal government was there to help common people

• Wanted to give everyone a “Square Deal”

• Used the “bully pulpit” to influence media and help pass laws

• TR was the “trustbuster”• “good trusts” vs “bad trusts”• Helped settle the 1902 Coal strike in which

miners got better pay and a nine hour workday

• Passed the Elkins Act(1903-no rebates) and Hepburn Act(1906-ICC set max RR rates) which required railroads to be fair and just in their prices and practices

• Passed the Meat Inspection Act-1906• Passed the Pure Food and Drug Act-1906• Newlands Act-1902-sold western land and

made dams which allowed for irrigation• Conservation-map p. 323• Did not do much for African-Americans

Conservation Measures

• Roosevelt condemned view that our “resources were endless”

• T.R. set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves

• 1.5 million acres of water-power sites• Established 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several

national parks• Conservation- planned management of natural

resources, involving the protection of some wilderness areas and the development of others

Theodore Roosevelt National Park—Badlands, N.D.

Willam Jennings Bryan vs William Howard Taft-1908 Election

1908 Election Taft v. Bryan

William Howard Taft

• Born September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, OH• Attended Yale College: New Haven, CT• Lawyer then Secretary of War• Never aimed at being president• After his presidency he was a Professor at Yale

Law School• 1921, became Chief Justice of the Supreme

Court, which was his career goal• Only president to ever serve as Chief Justice• Only president to hold public office after leaving

the White House

• “When I am addressed as ‘Mr. President,’ I turn to see whether you are not at my elbow.” –W.H. Taft

• Taft never really felt like he was the president; always in Roosevelt’s shadow

Why was Taft Not Liked?

• Not as energetic and well liked as Roosevelt• Not good at using the “Bully Pulpit”• Promised to lower tariffs but actually increased

many with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff upsetting progressives

• Appointed wealthy lawyer Richard Ballinger to Secretary of the Interior who removed land TR set aside for conservation

• Supported Speaker of the House Joe Cannon who was anti-progressive

Federal Income Tax

• 16th Amendment passed 2-3-13

• Legalized a graduated federal income tax

• Provided $$ to the GOV’T by taxing individual earnings and corporate profits

“Uncle” Joe Cannon

Republican Party Split

• Due to these problems with Taft, the Republicans split into old-guard republicans and progressive republicans

• TR did not get the Republican nomination so he decided to run as a third party candidate in the Progressive Party(Bull Moose Party)

• Why would this split guarantee a democrat win?

Teddy Roosevelt-Progressive

Bull-Moose Platform

• Direct Election of Senators

• Initiative, Referendum, Recall in all states

• Woman Suffrage• Worker’s Compensation• 8 hour workday • Minimum wage for

women• Federal Law against child

labor

William Howard Taft-Republicans

Woodrow Wilson-Democrats

Eugene V. Debs-Socialist

It Gets Nasty!!

• During the campaign before the election, both Roosevelt & Taft take shots at each other

• Taft called T.R. a “dangerous egotist”

• Roosevelt branded Taft as “Fat Head with the brain of a guinea pig”

• Wilson’s quote: “Don’t interfere when your enemy is destroying himself”

1912 Election

Election of 1912• Election offered several choices:

– Wilson’s New Freedom– Taft’s Conservatism– Roosevelt’s Progressivism– Debs’ Socialism

• Republican Split gives Wilson the presidency• Republican voters split between Taft &

Roosevelt• Democrats voted for Wilson• Wilson only received 42% of the popular vote,

but won 435 electoral votes• Roosevelt finished 2nd with 4.1 million votes

Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom

Wilson’s Background

• Grew up in the South after the Civil War & Reconstruction

• Son, Grandson, and Nephew of Presbyterian Ministers—strict upbringing

• Before entering politics, Wilson worked as:– Lawyer– History Professor– President of Princeton

University– Governor of N.J.

Wilson’s Accomplishments

• Passed Clayton Anti-Trust Act(1914)– Could break up monopolies

-Labor Unions were given the right to exist

-Strikes, boycotts, picketing etc became legal

• Federal Trade Commission was established in 1914– Investigated companies for monopolistic

practices

• Underwood Tariff(1913) drastically cut tariff rates for the first time since the Civil War

Federal Reserve System

• America needed stronger banks• Federal Reserve Act of 1913• Divided the nation into 12 districts regional

central bank in each district• “Bankers Bank”• Federal Reserve banks could issue new paper

money in emergency situations• Also, helped with giving out loan $$• Banks within the system helped others from

closing due to lack of money

Federal Reserve System

• Controls the U.S. money supply and the availability of credit in the country

• One of President Wilson’s most enduring achievements

• We use this same system today as the basis of the nation’s banking system

• 17th, 18th and 19th Amendments were passed during his term

– Direct election of senators(1913)– Prohibition(1919)– Women’s Vote(1920)

*Led US during Mexican Crisis and WWI

**Developed Missionary Diplomacy

*African-Americans were for the most part ignored by Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson and the Progressive Movement

*Wilson reinstated segregation in Washington D.C. and also started segregation in the US military.

The Twilight of Progressivism

• Roosevelt, Taft, and the early part of Wilson’s presidencies marked the golden age of Progressivism within the United States

• Question: Do you think the progressives accomplished very much?

• World War I would dominate Wilson’s 2nd term and brought Progressivism to an end