The Progressive Era

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The Progressive Era
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Who were the Progressives?

• Chiefly middle-class residents of U.S. Cities
• Doctors, lawyers, ministers, storekeepers

• Cared for the poor and the less fortunate and
  insisted on honesty in public life.

• Believed that honest government and just laws
  could improve human condition.

• Challenged fixed notions that stood in the way
  of reform

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PROGRESSIVES PARTY PLATFORM

• Attack
• The abuses of monopolies
• Rate-fixing practices of railroads
• Child labor in factories mines
• Corruption of big-city political machines
• Womens suffrage
• Conservation programs
• Civil service
• Better pay shorter hours for workers

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Muckrakers

• Informed the public about the dirty realities
  of party politics
• Told of scandalous conditions in factories and
  slums

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FACTORY OWNER DETAINED IN FIRE THAT KILLED
55 Morocco, April 28, 2008
Casablanca Police detained the owner and
manager of a Casablanca mattress factory that
went up in flames, killing at least 55 people, a
police official said Sunday amid accusations of
poor safety standards and locked doors that
trapped workers. Rescue workers found one more
body yesterday and a sniffer dog was seen
uncovering body parts a day after the blaze at
the factory. SOURCE Tribune-Review
NOW, turn to page 216 in your text Do you see
anything there that sounds familiar?
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Famous Muckrakers

• Henry Demarest Lloyd
• Atlantic Monthly Attacked practices of Standard
  Oil Co.
• Samuel Sidney McClure
• McClures Magazine Published shocking exposés of
  political and economic corruption.
• Jacob Riis
• How the Other Half Lives Articles on tenement
  life.

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• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)- Forbade
  manufacturer, sale, and transportation of
  adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs.
• Meat Inspection Act (1906)- Federal inspectors
  would visit meatpacking plants to ensure
  standards of sanitation were met.

Consumer Protection
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Political Reforms in Cities and StatesThe
Cornerstone of Progressive ideology was faith in
Democracy

• Voter Participation
• Municipal Reform
• State Reform

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Voter Participation

• Australian/Secret Ballot
• Required voters to mark their choices secretly
  within the privacy of a curtained booth
• Direct Primaries
• Robert La Follette introduced method of
  nominating party candidates by majority vote
• Direct Election of U.S. Senators
• 17th Amendment Required all U.S. Senators to be
  elected by popular vote

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Voter Participation (cont.)

• Initiative, Referendum, Recall
• Initiative Voters could compel the legislature
  to consider a bill
• Referendum Allowed citizens to vote on proposed
  laws printed on their ballots
• Recall Enabled voters to remove a corrupt
  politician by majority vote

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Municipal Reform

• Comprehensive Program of Municipal Reform
• Mayor Samuel M. Golden Rule Jones introduced it
• Included free kindergartens, night schools, and
  public playgrounds
• Controlling Public Utilities
• Cities came to own/operate gas lines, electric
  power plants, urban transportation systems
• Commissions and City Managers
• Voters elected heads of city departments

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State Reform

• Wisconsin Idea- Series of Progressive measures
  included direct primary law, tax reform,
  regulation of railroad rates.
• Temperance and prohibition was NOT a priority
  according to Urban Progressives
• Rural Progressives were determined to abolish
  liquor
• 1915- 2/3 of states persuaded to prohibit sale of
  alcohol.

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The Campaign for Womens Suffrage
The Progressive era was a time of increased
activism and optimism for a new generation of
feminists

• Militant suffragists
• Alice Paul formed the National Womens party in
  1916 - took more aggressive action
• Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
• 1920 - granted womens right to vote in all
  elections at the local, state, and national level

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African Americans in the Progressive Era

• African Americans were, for the most part,
  ignored by the Progressive presidents and
  governors
• Progressives did nothing about segregation and
  lynching for 2 reasons
• They shared in the general prejudice of the times
• They considered other reforms to be more
  important since they benefited everyone in
  American society, not just one group

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Mob Justice Mob Justice
Between 1890 and 1920, there were 3,107 reported lynchings in the United States. In 4 out of 5 lynchings, the victim was an African American. Between 1890 and 1920, there were 3,107 reported lynchings in the United States. In 4 out of 5 lynchings, the victim was an African American.
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Two Approaches Washington and Du Bois

• Washington
• Stressed economics
• Thought that blacks should concentrate on
  learning industrial skills for better wages

• Du Bois
• Stressed civil rights
• Argued that political and social rights were a
  prerequisite for economic independence

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Urban Migration

• Between 1910 and 1930, about one million blacks
  traveled north to seek jobs in the cities
• Motivating their decision to leave the South
  were
• Deteriorating race relations
• Destruction of their cotton crops by the boll
  weevil
• Job opportunities in northern factories that
  opened up when white workers were drafted in
  World War I

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Civil Rights Organizations

• In 1905, W.E.B. Du Bois and a group of black
  intellectuals started the Niagara Movement
• On Lincolns birthday in 1908, Du Bois and the
  Niagara Movement formed the NAACP
• National Urban League formed in 1911 to help
  those migrating from the South to northern cities

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Progressive Presidents

• I am, therefore, a Progressive because we have
  not kept up with our own changes of conditions,
  either in the economic field or in the political
  field. We have not kept up as well as other
  nations have. We have not adjusted our practices
  to the facts of the case...
• Woodrow Wilson, campaign speech, 1912

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Great Progressive Presidents
Taft (1908-1912)
Wilson (1912-1920)
Roosevelt (1901-1908)

• These men sought broad reforms and regulations on
  the national level.

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Theodore Roosevelt

• Youngest President in U.S. History (42)
• Took office after McKinleys assassination (Sept.
  1901)
• Roosevelts Reforms
• Square Deal
• Trust-busting
• Railroad regulation
• Consumer protection
• Conservation

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Roosevelts Reforms

• Square Deal
• Roosevelt favored business and labor equally
• Crisis involving strike of coal miners led to a
  granting of a 10 wage increase and 9 hour day to
  the miners

• Trust-Busting
• He enforced Sherman Antitrust Act
• Broke monopolies of Northern Securities Co. and
  Standard Oil
• Bad Trust- harmed public and stifled
  competition
• Good Trust- through efficiency and low prices
  dominated a market.

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• Railroad Regulation
• Passed 2 laws to strengthen powers of Interstate
  Commerce Commission (ICC)
• Elkins Act (1903)- Gave ICC greater power to stop
  railroads from granting rebates to favored
  costumers
• Hepburn Act (1906)- ICC could fix just and
  reasonable rates for railroads.

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• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)- Forbade
  manufacturer, sale, and transportation of
  adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs.
• Meat Inspection Act (1906)- Federal inspectors
  would visit meatpacking plants to ensure
  standards of sanitation were met.

Consumer Protection
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Map Key  
B Federal Bird Preserve F National Forest
G Federal Game Preserve M National Monument
P National Park R Reclamation Project
yellow Federal Bird Preserves green National
Forests brown National Game Preserves red
National Monuments orange National Parks blue
Reclamation Projects.
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Conservation

• Made use of the Forest Reserve Act (1891)
• Set aside 150 million acres of federal land as a
  national reserve that could not be sold to
  private interests.
• Passed Newlands Reclamations Act (1902)
• Provided money from the sale of public land for
  irrigation projects on western states.
• National Conservation Commission was established
• Established by Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania

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Preserve the Beauty Preserve the Beauty
On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park in the United States. By 1920 there were 15 national parksincluding Alaskas Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), opened in 1899, and Hawaii Volcanoes, opened in 1916. In 1916 the National Parks Service was created to ensure that the natural beauty of the United States would be preserved for future generations to enjoy. On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park in the United States. By 1920 there were 15 national parksincluding Alaskas Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), opened in 1899, and Hawaii Volcanoes, opened in 1916. In 1916 the National Parks Service was created to ensure that the natural beauty of the United States would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
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Tafts Presidency

• Had served in Roosevelts cabinet as secretary of
  war
• Nominated by the Republican party in 1908 and
  defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan
• Important Events
• More trust-busting and conservation
• Split in the Republican Party

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Trust-Busting

• Continued Roosevelts Progressive policies
• Ordered the prosecution of almost twice the
  number of antitrust cases as his predecessor

Conservation

• Established the Bureau of Mines
• Added large tracts in the Appalachians to the
  national forest reserves
• Set aside federal oil lands

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More Progressive Measures

• Mann-Elkins Act - 1910
• Gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power
  to suspend new railroad rates and oversee
  telephone, telegraph, and cable companies
• Sixteenth Amendment - 1913
• Authorized US government to collect income tax

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Split in the Republican Party

• Reasons
• Payne-Aldrich Tariff
• Taft angered Progressives in his party by signing
  the tariff bill and making a public statement in
  its defense
• Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy
• In 1910, when chief of Forest Service Pinchot
  criticized secretary of interior Ballinger, Taft
  fired Pinchot - Conservatives applauded
  Progressives protested
• House Speaker Joe Cannon
• Progressives angered when Taft failed to support
  their effort to reduce Cannons dictatorial
  powers over Congress
• Midterm Elections
• Taft supported conservative candidates,
  Progressives turned to Roosevelt

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• Dedicated to the welfare of the working class
• Favored public ownership of the railroads,
  utilities, and major industries such as oil and
  steel
• Effects
• Some Socialist ideas were accepted
• Public ownership of utilities
• Eight-hour work day
• Pensions for employees

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Eugene V. Debs

• One of the founders of the Socialist party
• Ran in 5 elections from 1900 to 1920
• Jailed for the Pullman strike
• Outspoken critic of business and a champion of
  labor

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The Election of 1912

• Candidates
• Taft (Republican)
• Roosevelt (Progressive/Bull Moose)
• Wilson (Democratic)
• Debs (Socialist)
• Campaign
• Mainly a battle between Roosevelt and Wilson

• Results
• Wilson - 435 electoral votes, 41 popular
• Roosevelt - 88 electoral, 27 popular
• Taft - 8 electoral, 23 popular
• Debs - no electoral, 6 popular

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Woodrow Wilsons Progressive Program

• Tariff reduction
• Underwood Tariff (1913) lowered tariffs for the
  first time in 50 years
• Banking reform
• Proposed a national banking system with 12
  district banks supervised by a Federal Reserve
  Board
• Business regulation
• Clayton Antitrust Act
• Federal Trade Commission

• Other reforms
• Federal Farm Loan Act
• Child Labor Act

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Causes
Growth of Industry
Growth of Cities
THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT
Effects
Political - Party primaries - Split in Republican
party - 1912 - Decline of machine politics -
Votes for women
Social - Laws protecting workers - Settlement
houses and social work -Birth control for
women - Beginning of civil rights movement for
African Americans
Economic - Conservation of land and water -
Regulation of business - Lower tariffs - Reformed
banking system - Federal income tax