THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

Progressive Roots

• Sources of Strength:– 1. Farmers – As Populism lost steam, famers held

onto the desire for change.– 2. Urban Middle Class/Social reformers- Alarmed by

the power of corporations and political machines. Troubled by urban decay.

– 3. Workers – Sought reform to protect workers from corporate excess, poverty, and work place dangers,

– 4. Writers – Journalists that analyzed social ills. Muckrakers

Muckrakers & Reformers

• Muckrakers – Name given by T.R. to journalists that sought social reform by exposing the ills of the day.

• McClure’s Magazine was the home of many of these articles.

• Held the idea that the cure for the ills of democracy was an informed and active citizenry.

Reform• Social Gospel: Protestant intellectual movement. Applied

Christian ethics to social problems. • Settlement movement: goal to deal with the vast gap in

wealth. – Object was to establish ‘settlement houses’ in poor urban areas

• Provided educational, recreational, and social services to the community.

• Jane Addams - Settlement House: Hull House in Chicago.• Jacob Riis – “How the Other Half Lives” -.

State Reforms• Reforms in the workplace– Safety– Labor departments (provide info & dispute

resolution services)–Workers’ accident insurance & compensation– Banned child labor (under age 14)– Set minimum wage laws

Political Reform

• State reforms focused on giving more power to voters– Direct primary (citizens vote to select nominees for

upcoming elections)– Initiative (citizens can put a proposed new law directly on

the ballot in the next election by collecting voters’ signatures on a petition)

– Referendum (citizens can approve or reject a law passed by a legislature)

– Recall (allows voters to remove public officials from office before next election)

National Reforms– 16th Amendment : Clarification of the income tax– 17th Amendment : Direct election of Senators– 18th Amendment : National prohibition of alcohol– 19th Amendment : Universal Suffrage

The Progressive Era had four constitutional amendments within 7 years. There were 43 years between the passage of the 15th and 16th Amendments, and another 12 between the 19th and 20th Amendments.

IV. Social Ills & Solutions

• The emergence of modern America brought social issues into sharp view

• The economy had modernized, but many parts of society and the culture lagged behind.

• Progressives sought the modernization of systems to deal with the pressing social ills

Moral Reform: Temperance

• Reformers viewed alcohol as cause for social ills

– crime, unemployment, prostitution, wasting of wages, hurts family

• Carrie Nation: – radical temperance reformer. – Noteworthy for vandalism, frequently attacking taverns with a

hatchet

• Anti-Saloon League & Women’s Christian Temperance Union– Connect alcoholism and the modern economy

Women and Reform

• Women were often at the fore of reform efforts– Child labor and temperance – Increased access to education– Visible in public life and social reform• Reform accomplishments: prohibition, federal

Children’s Bureau, etc.

Child Labor• In 1900 about 1 in every 6 children

between the ages of five and ten were engaged in "gainful occupations– Fifty percent increase from

1880.– National Child Labor Committee

campaigned against child labor• Sociologist Lewis Hine used

photography to stimulate reform. – Successful on state level to

ensure minimum age laws.

Women’s Rights

• The modern economy created a larger middle class, and thus a larger bloc of educated women

• Women had pushed for many of the Progressive reforms, but lacking the right to vote, focused women’s concern for suffrage

• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) formed in 1890– United National Woman Suffrage Association &

American Woman Suffrage Association. • Change of strategy: sought federal constitutional

amendment• WWI: women able to “prove themselves”• 19th Amendment ratified (1920)

Women’s Suffrage

• New generation of suffragettes– Carrie Chapman Catt –

pres. of NAWSA• Argue vote broadens

democratic role of women in caring for families

– Alice Paul • militant of taking it to

the streets; hunger strikes; focus on amendment

– 19th Amendment (1920) passed to reward women for role in WWI

Carrie Chapman Catt: 1859-1947

Maud Wood Park: 1871-1955

Lucy Burns 1879-1966

Alice Paul:1886-1977

18

THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

VI. National Politics

National Politics

• Election of 1900–William McKinley (R) vs. William Jennings Bryan

(D)– Campaign on domestic issues: currency, tariff–McKinley wins– Assassinated in 1901– VP Teddy Roosevelt takes over

The Roosevelt Era

• Activist conservative, moralist, internationalist– Antitrust prosecution of the Northern Securities Company– Environmental conservation: Gifford Pinchot, U.S. Forest Service

• Election of 1904– Landslide victory– Square Deal – domestic program formed upon three basic ideas:

conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection

• Policy debates over monopoly, various strategies for regulation– Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act resulting from Upton

Sinclair’s The Jungle

Trustbusting

• In 1902, Roosevelt instituted an antitrust suit against ta railroad holding company – Northern Securities Company. – First president to push enforcement of Sherman Antitrust

Act• 1904 – Northern Securities Co. v. United States

– 5-4 decision by court against the trust. – Northern Securities had to disband, and each RR had to be

run independently. – Opens door for further anti-trust cases.

• TR & Atty. Gen. took on about 40 trusts• Stated that bad trusts harmed public & stifled competition,

while regulated good trusts

Consumer Protection

• Influenced by The Jungle (1906)• Pure Food and Drug Act forbade the

manufacture, sale, & transportation of adulterated or mislabled food and drugs

• Meat Inspection Act provided that federal inspectors visit meatpacking plants to ensure they met minimum standards of sanitation

Conservation vs. Preservation• TR’s most original & lasting contribution• Repeated use of the Forest Reserve Act 1891 –

set aside 150 mil acres of federal land as a national reserve

• White House conference on conservation – est. National Conservation Commission

OTHER TR CONSERVATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• 150 National Forests

• 51 Federal Bird Reservations

• 4 National Game Preserves

• 5 National Parks

• 18 National Monuments

• 24 Reclamation Projects

Through Roosevelt’s Eyes: Taft’s Presidency

Pro• Trust-busting – twice

as many• Conservation – Bureau

of Mines; added large tracts in Appalachia to reserve; 1st pres. to set aside oil reserve

• 16th Amendment – Progressive income tax (originally applied to very wealthy

Con• Taft aligns himself with

the Old Guard, gutting many of Roosevelt’s Square Deal policies.

• Fired Forestry Director Pinchot and weakened National Forest Service

Election of 1912• Reps nominate Taft• TR splits & forms Progressive Party (Bull Moose

party)• Dems nominate Woodrow Wilson• Taft represents the Old Guard, pro-business

Republicans, Roosevelt Progressive Republicans, and Wilson Progressive Democrats.

• SPLIT VOTE!

TR vs. Wilson

New Nationalism

• Continue with powerful regulatory agencies

• Woman suffrage• Broad program of

social welfare– Minimum wage– Social insurance

New Freedom

• Favored small enterprise, entrepreneurship, & free functioning of unregulated & unmonopolized markets

• Banking reform• Tariff reductions• Shunned social

programs

Wilson’s Presidency

• Attacks the “triple wall of privilege”– Tariffs– Banking– Trusts

• Seeks to restore competition• Favors rights of unions and working

man

New Freedom

• Wilson introduces the New Freedom: – New Freedom was Wilson’s social program for the US

• Federal Reserve Act 1914 (National Bank is back)– National banking system of 12 district banks– Supervised by Federal Reserve Board– Oversees currency

• Federal Trade Commission 1914 – Consumer protection. The FTC oversees business practices in US. Responsible for eliminating monopolies.

• Federal Trade Commission 1914 – investigate & take action against “unfair trade practice”

Effects of the Progressive Movement

Political

• Party primaries• Decline of

political machines

• Votes for Women

Social

• Laws protecting workers

• Settlement houses & social work

• Birth control for women

• Beginning of rights for African Americans

• Prohibition of alcohol

• Regulation of unsafe food & drugs

Economic

• Conservation of land, water, & other resources

• Regulation of business

• Lower tariffs• Federal in come

tax• Some victories

for workers