The Progressive Era America Seeks Reforms in the

The Progressive Era America Seeks Reforms in the Early 20 th Century

Origins of Progressivism • As America entered the 20 th century, members of the middle class looked to reform issues at the municipal, state, & national levels. • Problems of the Gilded Age, including: • Economic inequities • Environmental issues • Social welfare • Working conditions • Rights for women and children *Promote efficiency*

Social Welfare • Industrialization was largely unregulated. Employers felt little responsibility toward their workers. • Urban centers were centers of crime, poverty, & despair. • As a result, benevolent societies, settlement houses, and churches served the community. (YMCA and Salvation Army) • Local, State, & the Federal government did little to help. Salvation Army Shelter

Moral Development • Reformers felt that peoples “personal behavior” needed to be changed. • One proposal was to prohibit the drinking of alcohol. • Woman’s Christian Temperance Union lead the fight. (1919) Congress passed the 18 th Amendment

Economic Reform • Panic of 1893 prompted Americans to question the capitalist system. • Some workers embraced socialism (government controls the economy). • Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901. Debs encouraged workers to reject American capitalism

Muckrakers Criticize • Most Progressives did not embrace socialism, but saw the truth in Debs’ criticism. • Investigative journalists, known as “Muckrakers, ” exposed corruption in business. • Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Monopoly. • J. Riis exposed “How the other half lives” (photo’s) • Michael Moore (films today)

Fostering Efficiency • Progressive put their faith in “scientific principles” to make the county better. • Frederick Taylor began using time & motion studies to improve factory efficiency. (produce quick) • Robert La Follette led the way in regulating business. • His Wisconsin Idea wanted: direct primaries, initiatives, referendums, & recall’s

Clean Up Government • Reforming all levels of government stemmed from the desire to make government MORE efficient and MORE responsive to citizens. • Prevent corruption and abuse of power (graft) • Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants’ influence on local governments.

Direct Election • Before 1913, state’s legislature chose U. S. Senators. • To force Senators to be more responsive to the public, Progressives pushed for the popular election of senators. • As a result, Congress passed the 17 th Amendment in 1913.

Protecting Children • As the number of child workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor. • Children should be educated not being injured at work. • Children’s Bureau (1912) investigates child abuse. • Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918

Legal Decisions • The Supreme & States courts enacted laws to reducing women’s hours of work. • Women were expected to care for family while the husbands worked. • Progressives won compensation cases to aid families of injured workers. Lochner v. NY

Domestic Workers • Women without formal education contributed mainly by doing domestic work. • Altogether, 70% of women employed in 1870 were servants. • Other non skilled workers found employment in textile mill, clothing factories, retail stores, & as clerical workers • Long Hours, Low Pay, & Poor Working Conditions

Women Lead Reform • Many of the leading Progressive reformers were middle class women. • They entered the public sphere after graduating college. • E. Stanton & S. Anthony were challenged by Lucy Stone, Julia Howe. • Alice Paul used pickets, marches, & hunger strikes to win suffrage. Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

Strategy for Suffragettes tried three approaches to winning the vote: 1. Convincing state legislatures to adopt the vote. 2. Pursuing court cases to test 14 th Amendment. 3. Pushing for national Constitutional amendment. 19 th Amendment (1920)

Roosevelt & Rough Riders • Roosevelt captured national attention by advocating war with Spain in 1898. • His volunteer cavalry brigade, the Rough Riders, won public acclaim for its role in the battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba. • Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of NY and later Mc. Kinley’s vice-president.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

Film clip of Theodore Roosevelt and Rough Riders

President Roosevelt Assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901 • When President Mc. Kinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt became the nation’s 26 th president. (Age 42) • He championed the Progressive Platform & called it the Square Deal. • Became a modern president that could influence the media and shape legislation.

Trust-Busting • By 1900 trusts controlled 80% of U. S. industries. • Trusts are legal bodies that were created to hold stock in many businesses • Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Pennsylvania Coal Strike • In 1902, 140, 000 coal miners in went on strike for increased wages, a 9 -hour work day, and the right to unionize (United Mine Workers). • Mine owners refused to bargain & production stopped. • Roosevelt called for arbitration to settled the dispute. • Thereafter, when a strike threatened public welfare, the federal government was expected to step in and help.

Food & Drug Regulation • After reading Upton Sinclair novel “the Jungle” Teddy pushed for passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. • Mandated cleaner conditions for meatpacking plants & safer transportation. • He also passed the Pure food & Drug Act in 1906. • Prevented companies from making false claims & list what ingredients were in their products.

Regulating the Railroads • 1903 - Congress created the Department of Labor & Commerce. • TR makes a “gentlemen’s agreement” w/ some big companies (open books) • 1906 - Hepburn Act gave the ICC the power to regulate railroad Companies & set rates.

The Environment • Before Roosevelt the federal government paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources. • Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern of his administration. Film clip of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt with John Muir (Founder of the Sierra Club)

Accomplishments • 1905 - created the US National Forest Service & appointed Gifford Pinchot as its head. • Roosevelt set aside • 148 million acres of forest reserves • 1. 5 million acres of water-power sites • 50 wildlife sanctuaries • several national parks.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Civil Rights • Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans. • He did support Booker T. Washington b/c his focus was on economics & education. • Mr. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute to provide a technical education for African Americans.

Taft’s Progressivism • William Howard Taft (R) easily defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election. • Taft “busted” 90 trusts during his four years in office. • Taft was not popular with the public or the reformers. • He called the Presidency, the “lonesomest” job in the world. ” • By 1910, Democrats had regained control of the House of Representatives. Taft was Roosevelt’s War Secretary

Election of 1912 • Republicans split in 1912 between Taft &Roosevelt (returned after a safari to Africa). • Convention delegates nominated Taft • Discontented members formed a third party, the Progressive Party (nicknamed the Bull Moose Party), and nominated Roosevelt. • The Democrats put forward a reform-minded New Jersey governor, Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson’s New Freedom • With a strong mandate from the American people, Wilson moved to enact his program, the “New Freedom. ” • He planned his attack on what he called the triple wall of privilege: trusts, tariffs, and high finance.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act • In 1914 Congress enacted the Clayton Anti-Trust Act that strengthened the Sherman Act. • It had an anti-trust provision that prevented companies from acquiring stock from another company and supported workers’ unions.

Federal Trade Commission • The FTC was formed in 1914 to serve as a “watchdog” agency to end unfair business practices. • The FTC protects consumers from business fraud.

Federal Income Tax • Wilson worked hard to lower tariffs, however, the lost revenue had to be made up. • The 16 th Amendment instituted a graduated federal income tax.

Rise of U. S. Imperialism! Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, and Latin America

Anti-Imperial Sentiment • From the Civil War until the 1890 s, most Americans had little interest in territorial expansion: • Imperial rule was inconsistent with America's Republican Principles. • Many Americans did not welcome people with different cultures, languages, & religions.

Acquisition of Alaska • In 1867, Sec. of State William Steward arranged to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7. 2 million. • It was rich in natural resources (timber, minerals, & oil), • Alaska was a bargain at only two cents per acre.

European Imperialism • Between 1870 and 1900, the European powers seized territory in Africa and Asia. • In the US, a large number of policy makers, bankers, manufacturers, and trade unions grew fearful that the country might be closed out in the struggle for global markets & raw materials.

Darwinian Struggle • The world's nations were engaged in a struggle for survival & that countries that failed to compete were doomed to fail. • During the late 1880 s, the US began to display a new assertiveness. • The United States came close to declaring war on Germany, Chile, and Great Britain.

Dependency on Trade • By the 1890 s, the US economy was dependent on foreign trade. • 1/4 of the nation's farm products & half its oil were sold overseas. • AT Mahan argued that US prosperity & power depended on control of the world's sea-lanes. • "Whoever rules the waves rules the world, "

Annexation of Hawaii • In 1893, a group of sugar & pineapple businessmen deposed Hawaii's queen with the aid of the military. • They seized 1. 75 million acres and conspired for U. S. annexation. • Some Americans protested but it was annexed in 1898 & became a state in 1959.

Spanish American War! • The Tariff of 1894, placed restrictions on sugar imported from Cuba. • Angry nationalists began a revolt against the Spanish colonial regime. • The US had investment interests in Cuba so they dispatched the USS Maine to rescue citizens who might be in danger from the conflict.

Yellow Journalism • Feb. 15, 1898 the Maine blew up & the US blamed it on a Spanish mine. • The US public was stirred into an anti-Spain frenzy by Hearst and Pulitzer. • President Mc. Kinley gave the OK for war. • Congress agreed after the Teller Amendment (No ambitions in Cuba)

The Outcome • The US defeated Spanish forces in Cuba & other Spanish colonies in 144 days. • The US took control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. (protectorate) • The Platt Amendment gave the US the right to intervene in Cuba to protect "life, property, and individual liberties. “

Philippine American War • As a result war Spain ceded the Philippines to the US for $20 million. • Former Pilipino ally Emilio Aguinaldo led troops against US occupation. • Victory (1902) was costly for both side but in the end the US maintained bases on the Islands. • Philippines Indep. 1946

Roosevelt Corollary • In 1904, Germany pressed the Dominican Republic for a port on its shores in compensation for an unpaid loan. • President Roosevelt announced the Monroe Doctrines was still in effect. • The US would intervene in the affairs of any Caribbean or Central American Nation. • Panama Canal (1903) “Speak softly and carry a big stick”