The progressive era

The Progressive Era

A time of Change

Causes of the Progressive Era

• Cultural Decline– Robber Barrons

– Aristocracy

– Political Corruption

– Moral Devolution

• Muckrakers– Origin of Term

– Causes of

Fathers of Progressivism

• Teddy Roosevelt

• Woodrow Wilson

• “Fighting” Bob LaFollete

TR’s New Nationalism• “I stand for the square deal. But when I say that I am for

the square deal, I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service.”

• “I do not mean that I want a square deal for the man who remains poor because he has not got the energy to work for himself.”

• TR now proposed a New Nationalism of dynamic democracy that would recognize the inevitability of economic concentration; to counter the power of the giant corporations, Roosevelt proposed bringing them under complete federal control, so as to protect the interests of the laboring man and the consumer.

TR’s New Nationalism reforms• Square Deal for Labor-Coal Strike of 1901

– Doesn’t represent Unions or Owners but the other group involved (US citizen’s interests)

• Trust Busting (Good v. Bad)– Sherman Anti-trust– Northern Securities

• Railroad Regulation (Populism?)– Elkins Act-ICC can stop RR’s from offering

rebates– Hepburn Act- ICC can set “fair” rates for RR’s

TR’s New Nationalism reforms

• Consumer Protection– Pure food and drug act, Manufacture,sale and

transportation of adulterated food and drugs

– Meat inspection Act- independent federal inspectors maintain levels of sanitation

• Conservation– 150 Million acres of national reserves

– Irrigation projects in west

– Creation of US Forest Service (Gifford Pinchot) and National Conservation Commission

Woodrow Wilson-New freedom • “The great Government we loved has too often

been made use of for private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people.”

• “The Nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by solemn passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often debauched and made an instrument of evil.”

• “I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me!”

Wilson New Freedom Reforms1. Underwood Tariff-First lowering of

Tariffs since the civil war- Free trade benefits the people not businesses

2. Federal Trade Act-Set up FTC or Federal Trade Commission to investigate and halt unfair and illegal business practices. The FTC could put a halt to these illegal business practices by issuing what is known as a "cease and desist order.“

3. Clayton Anti-Trust Act-1. Declared certain businesses illegal (interlocking

directorates, trusts, horizontal mergers)

2. Unions and the Grange were not subject to antitrust laws. This made unions legal! Strikes, boycotts, picketing and the collection of strike benefit funds ruled legal

4. Federal Reserve System-1. Federal Reserve Banks in 12 districts would print

and coin money as well as set interest rates. In this way the "Fed," as it was called, could control the money supply and effect the value of currency

5. Federal Farm Loan Act set up Farm Loan Banks to support farmers.

Robert M. LaFollette• Wisconsin, Governor and US Senator • Wisconsin was the first state to adopt the primary

for nominations for state offices. • A new law taxed railroads on the value of their

property, ending an inequity • A railroad commission was created to regulate

rates • Funding for education was increased. • A civil-service law was adopted • This legislation was drafted by political and

social scientists and economists, a feature of the "Wisconsin Idea."

Goals of Progressivism

• Economic Reform

• Moral Reform

• Social Improvement

• Increased Production

Characteristics of Progressives

• Moralists• Politically Active• Protection of the weak

in society• Never Challenged

Capitalism• Paternalistic

Economic Reform

• Trust Busting

• Working Conditions–Ages, Wages, and Hours.

• Rise of Socialism

• Laissez Faire theory in decline

Child Labor

• In 1910, 2 million children under the age of 15 are working for daily wages.

• Why?

National Child Labor Committee

• Used Graphic photos of Children to sway popular opinion

• Used teams of undercover investigators into factories

• Supported by Labor Unions

• Keating Owen Act(3)

Hours

• Haymarket Square Riots (3)

• Muller Vs. Oregon– Florence Kelley

– Louis Brandeis

– Protection from industry

– 10 hour work day

• Worker Compensation

Increased Production

• Ergonomics• Fredrick Taylor

– Study of Scientific Management

– Definition

– Results

Henry Ford

• Assembly line, 1913– Simple Tasks

– Constant speed

– Results• Increased Production

• High Worker Turn over

• Ford changes employee policies

Moral Reform

• Prohibition• Women’s Christian

Temperance Movement (WCTM)– Temperance not

Prohibition – Francis Willard– Prayer Protest Peace– Not Just about

Alcohol

Moral Reform-Prohibition

• Carrie Nation– 1st Marriage– Remarries– Epiphany to destroy

saloons (3)– “Hatchetations”– Results

• Arrests• Souvenirs • Newsletters

• Anti-Saloon League

Moral Reform-Salvation Army

• Founded by William Booth in 1865 London , modified in 1880

• Soup Kitchens, Nurseries

• Encourage Hard work and Religion

• Missionary goals• Today?

Moral Reform- YMCA

• Young Men’s Christian Association– Founded 1844 London to

Fight unhealthy moral and physical conditions of I.R.

• Libraries• Cheap Rooms• Athletics

– Pools, weights,basketball

• Religious Study Groups

Political Reform

• State/Local– Councils vs.

Commissioners – Reform Politicians

• Fightin’ Bob• Toledo’s Samuel

“Golden Rule” Jones

• Charles Evans Hughes

• Election Reform– Australian Ballot– Initiative– Referendum– Recall– Direct Primary– 17th Amendment

Progressive Amendments• 16th Amend- Income tax• 17th Amendment-Direct election of Senators “The

Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof”

• 18th Amendment-Prohibition-”the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors is hereby prohibited.”

• 19th Amendment- “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. “

The Progressive Woman

• Women Traditional Role?– Home?– Work?– Political?

• Women’s Modern Role?– Home?– Work?– Political?

WOMEN LEAD REFORM• Many of the leading

progressive reformers were women

• Middle and upper class women also entered the public sphere as reformers

• Many of these women had graduated from new women’s colleges

Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

Women’s Education

• Traditional education (3)

• Reforms• Elizabeth Blackwell• Maria Mitchell• Vassar

WOMEN AND REFORM• Women reformers strove to

improve conditions at work and home

• NAWSA was created to join women together to fight for equal rights (voting).. It excluded black women

• In 1896, black women formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

• Suffrage was another important issue for women

Suffrage Reform

• Suffragettes– Susan B. Anthony

– Eliz. Cady Stanton

– Lucy Stone

– Carrie Catt

Suffragettes Stratagies

• Convince State Legislatures

• Test the 14th Amendment

• Create a New National Amendment

Militant Women :(

• Alice Paul, New Jersey– Mass Picketing, closing

down business districts and streets

– Hunger strikes

– Parades

– Breaks from Nawsa in 1916 to form National Women’s Party

– Goal was an ERA

Emmeline Pankhurst

Blacks in the Progressive era

the challenges faced by minorities during this period.

George Washington Carver – African American who discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut (including cosmetics—lipstick). In his traveling classroom, he taught Alabama farmers about crop rotation.

Booker T. Washington – founder of Tuskegee Institute and whose autobiography Up From Slavery inspired thousands.

-with his sons

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois agreed that African Americans needed “thrift, patience, and industrial training.” They disagreed about segregation—Washington accepted it and Du Bois rejected it.

Tuskegee students building their own classrooms

ROOSEVELT AND CIVIL RIGHTS

• Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans

• He did, however, support a few individuals such as Booker T. Washington

NAACP FORMED TO PROMOTE RIGHTS

• In 1908, on Lincoln’s birthday a number of African Americans and prominent white reformers formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

• The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914

• The goal of the organization was full equality among the races

• The means to achieve this was the court system

• Based on discussions of Niagara Movement 3 years earlier

1964 Application

Great Migration

• To be discussed with WWI

WEB DuBois

• in 1903 when DuBois published his now famous book, The Souls of Black Folks. The chapter entitled "Of Booker T. Washington and Others" contains an analytical discourse on the general philosophy of Washington. DuBois edited the chapter himself to keep the most controversial and bitter remarks out of it. Nevertheless, it still was more than enough to incur Washington's continued contempt for him.

• William Edward Burghardt DuBois

• By any means necessary

• The Philadelphia Negro