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Chapter Introduction

Section 1:The Roots of Progressivism

Section 2:Roosevelt and Taft

Section 3:The Wilson Years

Visual Summary

Chapter Intro 1

The Roots of Progressivism

Why did many citizens call for reforms?

Section 1

The Rise of Progressivism

Progressives tried to solve the social problems that arose as the United States became an urban, industrialized nation.

Section 1

• Progressivism was a series of responses to problems in American society that had emerged from the growth of industry.

• Facts about progressives:

The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)

− Their ideas were a reaction against laissez-faire economics and its emphasis on an unregulated market.

− They believed that industrialization and urbanization had created many social problems.

Section 1

− They belonged to both major political parties.

− Most were urban, educated, middle-class Americans.

− They believed that government had to be fixed before it could fix other problems.

− They had a strong faith in science and technology.

The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)

Section 1

• Among the first people to articulate progressive ideas was a group of crusading journalists who investigated social conditions and political corruption, also called muckrakers.

The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)

− Photojournalist Jacob Riis highlighted the plight of immigrants living in New York City in his book How the Other Half Lives.

− Lincoln Steffens exposed corruption in urban political machines.

Section 1

• Ida Tarbell exposed the competitive business practices of Standard Oil

• One of the first “investigative” reporters

• 2 year series of articles in McClure magazine draw the ire of the American public and the attention of Teddy Roosevelt as the great trust buster (or is it regulator??)

•

The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)

Section 1

Reforming Society

Many progressives focused on social welfare problems such as child labor, unsafe working conditions, and alcohol abuse.

Section 1

• Many progressives agreed that big business needed regulation.

Reforming Society (cont.)

− The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission both helped with regulation.

− Some progressives even advocated socialism—the idea that the government should own and operate industry for the community.

Section 1

• Many adult workers also labored in difficult conditions, so some changes went into effect.

• The Triangle Waistshirt Factory Fire was instrumental in the Progressive Movement.

• Probably the most emotional progressive issue was the campaign against child labor.

Reforming Society (cont.)

Section 1

• Some of the changes included:

Reforming Society (cont.)

− Workers’ compensation laws

− Zoning laws

− Building and health codes

− Government regulation of business to protect workers

Section 1

• The temperance movement emerged from the concern that alcohol explained many of society’s problems.

Reforming Society (cont.)

− This movement later pressed for prohibition.

Section 1

Reforming Government

Progressives tried to make government more efficient and more responsive to citizens.

Section 1

• One group of progressives focused on making government more efficient by using ideas from business.

• Progressives supported two proposals to reform city government:

Reforming Government (cont.)

− The first, a commission plan, divided city government into several departments, each one under an expert commissioner’s control.

New Types of Government

Section 1

− The second approach was a council-manager system.

• Another group of progressives focused on making the political system more democratic and more responsive to citizens.

Reforming Government (cont.)

New Types of Government

Section 1

• Led by Republican governor Robert M. La Follette, Wisconsin became a model of progressive reform.

− He attacked the way political parties ran their conventions and pressured the state legislature to pass a law requiring parties to hold a direct primary.

Reforming Government (cont.)

Section 1

• Progressives also pushed for three additional reforms: the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.

• To counter Senate corruption, progressives called for direct election of senators by the states’ voters.

Reforming Government (cont.)

− In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment was added to the Constitution.

Section 1

Suffrage

Many progressives joined the movement to win voting rights for women.

Section 1

• The debate over the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments split the suffrage movement into two groups:

Suffrage (cont.)

− The New York City-based National Woman Suffrage Association

− The Boston-based American Woman Suffrage Association

The Woman Suffrage Movement

Section 1

• This split weakened the movement, and by 1900 only four states had granted women full voting rights.

• In 1890, the two groups united to form the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

• Alice Paul left NAWSA and formed the National Woman’s Party so that she could use protests to confront Wilson on suffrage.

Suffrage (cont.)

Section 1

• In 1915 Carrie Chapman Catt became NAWSA’s leader and tried to mobilize the suffrage movement in one final nationwide push.

• On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment went into effect.

Suffrage (cont.)

Woman Suffrage, 1869–1920

Chapter Intro 2

Roosevelt and Taft

What were the policies and achievements of the Roosevelt and Taft presidencies?

Section 2

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency

Theodore Roosevelt, who believed in progressive ideals for the nation, took on big business.

Section 2

• Roosevelt’s reform programs became known as the Square Deal.

• To Roosevelt, it was not inconsistent to believe in Social Darwinism and progressivism at the same time.

• Roosevelt believed that trusts and other large business organizations were very efficient and part of the reason for America’s prosperity.

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency (cont.)

− However, he also wanted to ensure that trusts did not abuse their power.

Section 2

• Roosevelt also believed that it was his job to keep society operating efficiently by mediating conflicts between different groups and their interests.

− He urged the United Mine Workers (UMW) and mine owners to accept arbitration.

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency (cont.)

Section 2

• In 1903, Roosevelt convinced Congress to create the Department of Commerce and Labor to investigate corporations and publicize the results.

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency (cont.)

− However, he later agreed to advise the companies privately and allow them to correct their problems without taking them to court.

− Therefore, Roosevelt was able to regulate big business without sacrificing economic efficiency.

Section 2

• In keeping with his belief in regulation, Roosevelt pushed the Hepburn Act through Congress in 1906.

• By 1905 consumer protection had become a national issue.

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency (cont.)

− Many Americans were equally concerned about the food they ate.

− In 1906 Upton Sinclair published his novel The Jungle, which resulted in the Meat Inspection Act being passed in 1906.

Section 2

− The Pure Food and Drug Act passed the same day.

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency (cont.)

Section 2

Conservation

New legislation gave the federal government the power to conserve natural resources.

Section 2

• Roosevelt put his stamp on the presidency most clearly in the area of environmental conservation.

• In 1902, Roosevelt supported passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act, which paid for irrigation and land development projects in the West.

Conservation (cont.)

Section 2

• Roosevelt also backed efforts to save the nation’s forests through careful management of the timber resources of the West.

Conservation (cont.)

− He appointed Gifford Pinchot to head the United States Forest Service, established in 1905.

A. A

B. B

C. C

Section 2

Under Roosevelt, the power of which branch of government dramatically increased?

A. Legislative

B. Executive

C. Judicial

A B C

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Section 2

Taft’s Reforms

William Howard Taft broke with progressives on tariff and conservation issues.

Section 2

• William Howard Taft called Congress into a special session to lower tariff rates.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− The tariff debate divided progressives, and in the end, Taft signed into law the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which cut tariffs hardly at all and actually raised them on some goods.

Section 2

• Many progressives were unhappy when Taft replaced Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior, James R. Garfield, an aggressive conservationist, with Richard A. Ballinger, a more conservative corporate lawyer.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− Gifford Pinchot charged Ballinger with having once plotted to turn over valuable public lands in Alaska to a private business group for personal profit.

Section 2

− Taft’s attorney general decided the charges were groundless, but Pinchot leaked the story to the press and asked Congress to investigate.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination.

Section 2

• Despite his political problems, Taft had many successes:

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− He brought twice as many antitrust cases in four years as his predecessor had in seven.

− He established the Children’s Bureau in 1912.

− He set up the Bureau of Mines in 1910.

Section 2

• Frustrated with Taft over the issue of trusts, Roosevelt announced that he would enter the presidential campaign of 1912.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

Chapter Intro 3

The Wilson Years

What reforms did President Wilson undertake?

Section 3

The Election of 1912

Woodrow Wilson was elected after Republican voters split between Taft and Roosevelt.

Section 3

• Theodore Roosevelt left the Republican Party and became the presidential candidate for the newly formed Progressive Party in the election of 1912.

• Conservative Republicans rallied behind William Howard Taft.

• Woodrow Wilson was a progressive Democrat.

The Election of 1912 (cont.)

Section 3

• The election of 1912 was a contest between two progressives with different approaches to reform.

The Election of 1912 (cont.)

− Roosevelt called his program the New Nationalism.

− Wilson countered with what he called the New Freedom.

New Nationalism Versus New Freedom

Section 3

• Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican voters, enabling Wilson to win.

The Election of 1912 (cont.)

New Nationalism Versus New Freedom

A. A

B. B

Section 3

Which candidate believed that monopolies should be destroyed and that freedom was more important than efficiency?

A. Woodrow Wilson

B. Theodore Roosevelt

A B

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Section 3

Wilson’s Reforms

President Wilson reformed tariffs and banks and oversaw the creation of the Federal Trade Commission.

Section 3

• Five weeks after taking office, Wilson appeared before Congress to present his bill to reduce tariffs.

• In 1913, Congress passed the Underwood Tariff, and Wilson signed it into law.

• This law reduced the average tariff on imported goods to about 30 percent of the value of the goods and provided for levying an income tax.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

Section 3

• To restore public confidence in the banking system, Wilson supported the establishment of a federal reserve system.

• The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created 12 regional banks to be supervised by a Board of Governors, appointed by the president.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

Progressives Reform the Economic System

Section 3

• In the summer of 1914, at Wilson’s request, Congress created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to monitor American business.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

− The FTC had the power to investigate companies and issue “cease and desist” orders against companies engaging in unfair trade practices.

Section 3

• Wilson wanted the FTC to work toward limiting business activities that unfairly limited competition, as opposed to breaking up big business.

• Unsatisfied by Wilson’s approach, progressives in Congress responded by passing the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

Section 3

• In 1916, Wilson signed the first federal law regulating child labor.

− The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act prohibited the employment of children under the age of 14 in factories producing goods for interstate commerce.

− The Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 1918.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

Section 3

• Wilson also supported the Adamson Act and the Federal Farm Loan Act.

Wilson’s Reforms (cont.)

Section 3

Progressivism’s Legacy and Limits

Progressivism changed many people’s ideas about the government’s role in social issues.

Section 3

• By the end of the Progressive Era, Americans expected the government, particularly the federal government, to play a more active role in regulating the economy and solving social problems.

• The most conspicuous limit to progressivism was its failure to address racial and religious discrimination.

Progressivism’s Legacy and Limits (cont.)

Section 3

• In 1905 W.E.B Du Bois and 28 other African American leaders met at Niagara Falls to demand full rights for African Americans.

Progressivism’s Legacy and Limits (cont.)

− This meeting was one of the many steps leading to the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Section 3

• Jewish people also faced discrimination.

• Sigmund Livingston started the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to combat stereotypes and discrimination.

Progressivism’s Legacy and Limits (cont.)

VS 1

Causes of the Progressive Movement

• People thought progress in science and knowledge could improve society.

• People thought immigration, urbanization, and industrialization had created social problems.

• People thought laissez-faire economics and an unregulated market led to social problems and that government could fix them.

• Political corruption prevented the government from helping its citizens.

VS 2

Effects on Business and Society

• Interstate Commerce Commission is strengthened.

• Consumer protection laws are passed.

• Federal Trade Commission is created.

• Federal Reserve System is created to regulate the money supply.

• Clayton Antitrust Act grants labor unions more rights.

• Zoning laws and building codes improve urban housing.

VS 3

Effects on Business and Society (cont.)

• Child labor laws are passed, regulating time and conditions for minors to work.

• Workers’ compensation laws are passed.

• Temperance movement begins seeking limitations on the production and consumption of alcohol.

VS 4

Effects on Politics

• Cities begin adopting commission and city-manager forms of government.

• States begin to adopt the direct primary system, allowing voters to choose candidates for office.

• States begin to allow initiatives, referendums, and recall votes.

VS 5

Effects on Politics (cont.)

• Seventeenth Amendment is ratified, requiring direct election of senators.

• Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

End of Custom Shows

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