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Progressive Reforms (6-2 begins)

• Progressive era was met with some setbacks• In Lochner v. New York (1905) the Supreme Court

invalidated the 10 hour workday limit• By 1917, Progressives have influence on the high

court, and 10 hour workday is established for factory workers

• Laws regulating workplace safety also established after Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911)– 146 workers, mostly immigrant women perish in the

fire

VII. TR Corrals the Corporations

• Teddy Roosevelt comes to power in 1901, Republican president taking over after President McKinley is assassinated.

• Comes to be a maverick in his own party, is not afraid to use the “bully pulpit” of the presidency to go after corporations and trusts.

• Roosevelt shores up railroad regulation by getting Congress to pass the Elkins Act (1903)– Law with more teeth than the Interstate Commerce Commission,

Elkins Act imposed harsh fines on BOTH the railroads that offered rebates, and the shippers that accepted them

– Hepburn Act of 1906 expands the scope of the I.C.C. and what it enforces.

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VIII. Caring for the Consumer

• T.R. and the public is nauseated by narrative of Chicago meat packing industry, portrayal by Upton Sinclair in his book, The Jungle.

• Spurs Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act (1906)– Quality of meat that passes state lines must be

inspected from “corral to can” by federal government• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) is also passed to

prevent adulteration, mis-labeling of foods and drugs

IX. Earth Control

• Roosevelt was avid outdoorsman, naturalist, hunter, conservationist

• Roosevelt began to set aside millions of acres, most in the Western U.S., for conservation– Land to be protected from lumber and mineral

interests• Preservationists lost major battle in 1913

when San Francisco succeeded in flooding Hetch Hetchy Valley to use for drinking water.

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XIII. The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat

• Roosevelt exits in 1908, hands the reins of power to his VP, William Howard Taft, who easily win the election with TR’s blessing.

• TR believed Taft would continue his progressive policies, but Taft actually gravitates more towards the conservatives of the GOP

• Taft does use dollar diplomacy:– using American finance to manipulate foreign

countries, American economic interests, especially in Latin America, far East

XV. Taft Splits the Republican Party• While Taft was an even more prolific trustbuster than TR, Taft had a

knack for political missteps• Taft goes after U.S. Steel—but U.S. steel had been an acceptable trust

to Roosevelt (he had a stake in a merger connected to U.S. Steel)• Taft promised to lower protective tariffs (a goal of Progressives), but

signs the weak Payne-Aldrich Bill, which only has a few goods on the duty free list.

• Taft precipitates a GOP civil war with dismissing division of forestry official Gifford Pinchot– Disagreed with Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger wanted to sell public

lands, Pinchot protested, was dismissed• Roosevelt is infuriated at Taft, will run for president again in third

party

I. The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912

• 1912 Campaign was a three man race:– Taft: Republicans– Woodrow Wilson: Democrats– TR: Progressive “Bull Moose” Party

• Democrats ran on Wilson’s platform of “New Freedom.” Called for:– Stronger anti-trust legislation– Banking reform– Tariff restrictions

• Contrasted with Roosevelt’s brand of Progressivism, known as “New Nationalism.” called for:– Consolidation of trusts and labor unions– More government regulation– Women’s suffrage– More social welfare programs

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Map 29-1 p663

IV. Wilson Tackles the Tariff

• As promised Wilson does go after tariffs, House passes the Underwood tariff, which reduces tariff rates.

• Constitutional Amendment, 16th accompanies– Graduated income tax.

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V. Wilson Battles the Bankers

• According to Wilson, banking system needs reform, currency is “inelastic” cannot be dispersed where needed in a time of crisis

• Wilson succeeds in getting Federal Reserve Act (1913) passed– Nation divided into banking districts with

reserves of currency– Federal reserve board can increase/decrease

paper money supply

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VI. The President Tames the Trusts

• Wilson gets Congress to crack down further on trusts. Other Progressive legislation passed:– Federal Trade Commission Act (1914):

• Body entrusted with rooting out bad practices (unfair trade practices, unlawful competition, false advertising, bribery, etc.) linked to interstate trade

– Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914):• Strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, including

cracking down on holding companies and interlocking directorates (how JP Morgan controlled industries)

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VII. Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide

• Wilson pressed ahead with government reform for laborers.– Workingmen’s Compensation Act (1916):

assistance for federal employees in times of disability.

– Adamson Act (1916): 8 hour workday for interstate commerce employees, train industry workers.

VIII. New Directions in Foreign Policy

• Wilson’s foreign policy pulls him in many directions:• Philippines:

– Jones Act (1916)—promises eventual independence to the Philippines

• Mexico: – U.S. sailors arrested in Mexico, – Wilson retaliates by using navy to stop arms shipments to

Mexican strongman Victoriano Huerta.– Country hurdles toward war, but situation is mediated by

South American powers in situation known as the Tampico Incident

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XII. America Earns Blood Money

• A world-wide conflict has been sparked in Europe.• Conflict between the Central Powers, and Allies

rages• U.S. remains neutral in early part of the “Great

War” WWI• However the U.S. is drawn closer to war with the

sinking of the Lusitania a British passenger liner sunk by a German U-boat.

• Is an incident to the U.S. as many U.S. citizens are aboard.

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Map 29-3 p672

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Map 29-4 p675

I. War by Act of Germany

• American businessmen had been financing the allies

• Americans also sympathetic to the allies because of cultural ties

• America eventually drawn into the war by the treacherous Zimmerman note:– German telegraph intercepted to Mexico offering

to help Mexico take back the American Southwest, if they enter the war for the Central Powers.

Note Quiz 6-21. Explain how Lochner v. New York was a setback to the Progressive movement.2. What law was passed to strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission?3. Explain how author Upton Sinclair factored into the Progressive movement—

connect to specific legislation.4. John Muir objected to the flooding of what picturesque landscape in 1913?5. Explain CLEARLY how President Taft manipulated foreign nations to bend to the

will of the United States.6. Wilson reformed the nation’s banking system, and created a central bank with

the passing of what law?7. List one law passed during Wilson’s tenure geared towards cracking down on the

trusts.8. List one law passed during Wilson’s tenure geared towards helping workers.9. Explain the “Tampico Incident”10. The U.S. will formally join the Allies in 1917, after intercepting what? What was

the content of the message they discovered?