The Progressive Era

Reform shifts from the farm to the city and climbs the ladder of

government from the local to the state and then to the national level.

Def.: reform mov’t seeking to return control of the gov’t to the

people, restore economic opportunities, and to correct injustices in American life.

I. The Problems of the 1890’s

• Huge Gap between rich and poor

• Tremendous economic and political power of the rich

• Wealthy were insensitively flaunting their wealth before a poorer public

I. Problems of the 1890’s (cont.)

• Industrial workers hideously poor, living in squalor and working in dangerous conditions

• Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives (1890)

• Little concern for Black America

II. Progressive Reformers

A. Streams of Reform

• Origins: Greenbacks, Populist Party

• The “Social Gospel” movement

--Walter Rauschenbusch: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907)

• Settlement House Workers

--Jane Addams, Hull House in Chicago (1889)

A. Streams of Reform (cont.)

• Young, socially-conscious lawyers

• Investigative Journalists-- “Muckrakers”--Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and Upton Sinclair

• Small businessmen

B. Features of Progressive Reform

• Desire to remedy problems through government initiative

• Reliance on “experts”-- Robert Lafollette’s “Wisconsin Idea”

• Wanted reform not revolution

B. Features of Progressive Reform (cont.)

• Desire to make society more moral and more just

• Desire to distribute income more equitably

• Desire to broaden opportunities for individual advancement

• Women were active in progressivism--Suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony

B. Features of Progressive Reform (cont.)

• Middle-class reform movement

• Operated on all three levels of government

III. Sample Progressive Reforms

Progressive Goals1. Protect social welfare

2. Promote moral improvement3. Create Economic reform4. Foster efficiency at work

A. Political Reforms

• Tried to put more power into the hands of the people

• Innovative changes in city government--city managers and commission model

• The Direct Primary• Initiative, Referendum and Recall• The Secret Ballot• Direct Election of Senators and the Vote for

Women

B. Social Reforms

• Child labor laws• Ten-hour work days

--The “Brandeis brief”--Muller v. Oregon (1908)-(Lochner vs. N.Y.)--Bunting v. Oregon (1917)

• Prohibition initiatives• Moral Purity campaigns

--Mann Act (1910)*Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

B. Social Reforms (cont.)

• Minimum safety standards on the job

• Minimum standards for housing codes

• “City Beautification” movement

• Immigration Restriction• Eugenics

--Buck v. Bell (1927)• Little Help for Blacks

--NAACP (1909)-- “Birth of a Nation”

IV. Progressive Amendments to the Constitution

• 16th Amendment (1913)—federal income tax

• 17th Amendment (1913)—direct election of senators

• 18th Amendment (1919)—prohibition

• 19th Amendment (1920)—vote for women

V. Presidential Progressivism: Theodore Roosevelt

• Great drive, energy and exciting personality

• TR’s interests and early years

• NYC police commissioner• Spanish-American War

experience-- “Rough Riders”

• Political Rise from NY Governor to Vice-President

A. First Term as President (1901-1904)

• McKinley’s assassination

• Cast every issue in moral and patriotic terms

--The “Bully Pulpit”

• Square Deal: control corporations, consumer protection, conservation, reform railroads

• Coal Miner Strike- threatened seizure of mine

B. “Trust-Buster”?

• Wants to regulate in order to get businesses to act right

• Making an example of the Northern Securities Co.

• The Elkins Act (1903) and the Hepburn Act- regulation of the RR

C. Second Term as President (1905-1909)

• More vigorous progressivism

• Federal Meat Inspection Act (1906)

• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

• Conservation Policy--Preservation vs. Conservation

VI. “A Tough Act to Follow”: The Presidency of William Howard Taft

(1909-1913)• The Election of 1908• Dollar Diplomacy-use

foreign policy to protect Wall Street Dollars

• Mann-Elkins Act (1910)- increased power of ICC; control of telegraph and telephone

VI. Presidency of Taft (cont.)

• Controversy over the Tariff

• More conservative than TR, but also more trust suits

• The “Ballinger-Pinchot” Affair

• Growing tension with Teddy Roosevelt

VII. The Election of 1912

• Growing split within the Republican Party

• Creation of the “Bull Moose” Party

• Progressive Party Platform: “New Nationalism”

• Democrats drafted Woodrow Wilson

VIII. Democratic Progressivism: The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1913-

1921)

• True progressive and dynamic speaker

• Sympathetic to small businessmen

A. “New Freedom”

• Wilson’s brand of progressivism

• Wants to recreate the “golden age” of small American businesses

• Wilson wants to open channels for free and fair competition

B. Key Wilsonian Legislation

• Underwood Tariff Act (1913)

• Federal Reserve Act (1913)

• Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)

• Federal Trade Commission (1914)

Other Wilson Laws

• Federal Farm Loan Act• Child Labor Act• Minimum Wage

C. Congressional Progressivism After 1914

• Wilson was not a strong progressive when it came to social reform

• Congress takes over the progressive agenda

• Examples of congressional progressive legislation after 1914--Federal Highways Act (1916)

Prohibition, Suffrage, Civil Rights

IX. The Waning of the Progressive Movement

• Progressive movement peaks by 1917• Success of the movement led to its decline• Advent of World War I also hurt progressive

activism• Progressives themselves began to weary of their

reform zeal—as did the nation as a whole• Ironically, voter participation has steadily declined

since the election of 1912• Schenck v U.S. (1919)- clear and present danger

Wilson’s Foreign Policy

• Anti-imperialistic• Jones Acts (1916,17)- independence for the

Philippines and citizenship for Puerto Rico• Sent troops to Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican

Republic• Mexican Revolution let to U.S. involvement

in Mexico; Pancho Villa and Gen. John Pershing

Areas of the Progressive Era

• Expansion of democracy• Efficiency- Frederick W. Taylor(Scientific

Management), Robert M. La Follette • Regulation- trusts• Social Justice- settlement house mov't, labor

legislation• Prohibition