THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Part I
Dec 25, 2015
WHO WERE THE PROGRESSIVES?
• People who believed that new ideas and honest, efficient government could bring about social justice
• Progressives shared common belief that industrialization and urbanization had created troubling social and political problems
• Progressives targeted a variety of problems
Muckrakers
• Journalists who crusaded against the filth of big business– Lincoln Steffens– Jacob Riis– Ida Tarbell– Upton Sinclair
Lincoln Steffens
• Published The Shame of the Cities
• Exposed political corruption in Philadelphia
• Criticized utility companies for charging too much
• Targeted corrupt politicians
Jacob Riis
• Photographer
• Photographed the urban poor of New York
• Published How the Other Half Lives
Factory workers
• Triangle
Ida Tarbell• Teacher, Writer and Journalist
• She was known as one of the leading "muckrakers" of her day
• She is best-known for her 1904 book The History of the Standard Oil Company
vsTARBELL
ROCKEFELLER
Upton Sinclair• Wrote The Jungle
• The book dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that partly contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.
Societal Reform• Jane Addams
– Hull House- A settlement house in Chicago
• Settlement houses were community centers that provided social services to the urban poor
– Child care classes for mothers
– English classes for immigrants
– Nursery school and kindergarten
– Theater, art and dance programs for adults
Protecting Children
• Florence Kelley– Lawyer who helped convince Illinois to ban
child labor– Helped form the National Child Labor
Committee– Lobbied federal government to form the US
Children’s Bureau
• Others lobbied for compulsory education
Reforming Government• Reformers pushed for election reform• Initiative – allows voters to propose a new
law by gaining signatures on a petition• Referendum – allows voters to approve or
disapprove a law that has already been proposed or passed by state or local governments
• Recall – public official can be removed from office by voters
• Direct Primary – the people vote directly for their parties candidates
The Galveston Plan• Following a deadly hurricane, Galveston,
Texas replaced its mayor and city council with a five-person commission
• Thus started the commission form of government
• Many cities followed suit
Robert La Follette
• Elected Governor of Wisconsin in 1900
• Forced RR’s to charge lower rates and pay higher taxes
• Improved education
• Made factories safer
• Adopted the direct primary
• Other progressive governors made similar changes
Women Make Progress
• Florence Kelley helped improve conditions for women in the workplace
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union helped the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919– This Amendment banned alcohol in the US
• Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in 1921
• Ida Wells helped form the National Association of Colored Women
The Suffrage Movement
• Without the right to vote, women had limited influence in society
• Carrie Chapman Catt urged women to join the National American Woman Suffrage Movement
• Many women became “suffragettes”
• Suffrage Groups supported the US war effort during World War I
• Their actions convinced a growing number of legislators to support the 19th Amendment
• The 19th Amendment passed in 1920
The Struggle Against Discrimination
• Social reform or social control?– Many Progressives pushed for the
Americanization of immigrants and racial minorities
• Racism limits the goals of Progressives– After the Supreme Court issued its Plessy v.
Ferguson decision, many states passed segregation laws
African Americans Demand Reform
• Booker T. Washington– Urged African Americans to move
slowly towards racial progress
• W.E.B. Du Bois– Rejected this idea, urged African
Americans to demand immediately all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution
• The NAACP was formed in 1909– Focused on middle-class African Americans
and their struggle for political and social justice
• The Urban League formed in 1911– Focused on poorer workers and families in
urban areas
Organizations Form to Help End Discrimination
• The Anti-Defamation League– Formed to defend Jews
• Partido Liberal Mexicano– Formed to defend
Mexican Americans
• Society of American Indians– Formed to defend Native
Americans
• Elected Vice President in 1900
• President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz
• Roosevelt was 42 years old and had a record of challenging government corruption
• He was also for regulating big business.
United Mine Workers Strike
• 1902- Anthracite miners in eastern Pennsylvania went on strike for shorter hours and union recognition
• Owners refused to negotiate
• Roosevelt threatened to close mines unless both sided agreed to arbitration
• Resulted in a shorter work day but owners did not have to recognize unions
The Square Deal
• Roosevelt’s 1904 campaign slogan
• Looked to balance interests of business, labor and consumers
• Limit the power of trusts• Promote public health and
safety• Improve working conditions
• Ordered Northern Securities, a railroad shipping monopoly, to dissolve.
• With this victory, he filed 44 more anti-trust suits against companies
TRUSTBUSTING
TRUSTBUSTING LEGISLATION
• Elkins Act- forbade shipping companies from accepting rebates for business
• Hepburn Act- authorized the ICC to set railroad rates and to regulate other companies engaged in interstate commerce
Pure Food and Drug Act
• Forbade the manufacture, sale or transportation of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients
• Required that containers of food and medicine carry ingredient labels
• Conservation - withdrew sale of millions of acres of public land and set up 150 million acres of forest reserves. Created programs to make damaged lands usable again.
Early Legislation
• Mann-Elkins Act– Extended the regulatory
powers of the ICC to telephone and telegraph companies
• 16th Amendment– Permitted Congress to
levy a personal income tax
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
• House of Representatives passed a tariff bill calling for reduced tariffs.
• However, the United States Senate speedily substituted a bill written by Nelson W. Aldrich calling for fewer reductions and more increases in tariffs.
• Taft signed it into law, frustrating both proponents and opponents of reducing tariffs.
• The debate over the tariff split the Republican Party into Progressives and Old Guards and led the party to lose the 1910 congressional election.
Ballinger Pinchot Affair
• Richard Ballinger approved the sale of some of the land Roosevelt had set aside for conservation.
• Gifford Pinchot, head of U.S. Forrest Service criticized this move and was fired by Taft
• This further weakened his support by Progressives
1912 Election
• Teddy Roosevelt ran against Taft for the Republican nomination
• Roosevelt actually won the majority of the Republican primaries but was not given the nomination by the party
• Roosevelt and his supporters split from the party and created the Progressive Party
• The part was also know as the Bull Moose Party, because TR said he was “fit as a bull moose” to run for the Presidency
• Wilson and the Democrats swept the election to become the 28th President
Woodrow Wilson
• Repealed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff• Clayton Antitrust Act – closed the
loopholes provided by the Sherman Antitrust Act and clearly defined what a monopoly is.
• Federal Reserve Act– Set up a 3 tier banking system– 12 Federal Reserve Banks (Bankers
Bank)– Member Banks– Federal Reserve Chairman (Ben
Bernanke)
– Federal Reserve Board – At the top, this board runs the system through setting interest rates and controlling inflation.
• To decrease inflation – set high interest rates to bring money supply back in.
• To get more money in the economy – lower interest rates to allow people to save and spend more.
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act – Clarified and extended stipulations set by the Sherman Anti-Trust act. An overall improvement.
• Federal Trade Commission – investigated corporations for failed claims and unfair
practices. Still around today.
Progressive Amendments
• 16th Amendment – implements federal income tax
• 17th Amendment – called for direct election of US Senators
• 18th Amendment – prohibition outlawed the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcohol
• Volstead Act – outlawed the consumption of alcohol
• 19th Amendment – granted women’s suffrage