Transcript The Progressive Era - St. John's High School

1. the Depression of the 1890s
› highlighted the inadequacy of the old system
 poverty – urban and agrarian
 workers’ conditions, labor strife
 further growth of giant corporations
› convinced middle class that farmers/workers had a point
2. rise of a new generation of middle-class Americans
› grew up with the urbanized, industrialized new order
› not so nostalgic, less tied to tradition of individualism
 began to turn to government to impose order
› reversal of American political tradition
› followed lead of Populists, unions – somewhat

Progressives worked within the system to reform it
› not looking to overturn the system but preserve it

feared both big business and organized labor
› sought to prevent revolution / radical change
 e.g., monopolies, socialism, class conflict, powerful
unions
1. education/publicity was key to reform
› muckrakers
› technology: newspapers & magazines, radio,
movie newsreels
2. public awareness  govt. regulation
› once an act was passed, problem was solved
› e.g., food and meat regulations
 Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
 Pure Food & Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act

Reform began locally in the 1880s and
1890s
› often with middle-class women’s social groups
› esp. in the cities

1890s-1900s: ineffective, so shifted to state,
then federal level

began in cities

public health – clean water,
sewage, parks

gambling/prostitution/prison
reform

settlement houses
› e.g., Chicago’s Hull House
(Jane Addams)
› origin of modern social work

paternalism

roots:
› rural reaction against urban vice
› nativist reaction against immigrant culture
› middle-class reaction against working-class
crime/violence (incl. domestic abuse)
› middle-class ideal of family – reaction
against saloons

Women’s Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU)
› Frances Willard
› Carrie Nation
Anti-Saloon League
 state and county laws

› Kansas (1880)

18th amendment (1919)
› Volstead Act (1919)

Goals:
› improve workers’ conditions
› uplift/improve workers intellectually
& morally
› prevent unions/radicalism



workmen’s compensation laws
10-hour day
minimum wage
› 13 states by 1920 (limited)

child- & women-labor laws
› restrict hours – Muller v. Oregon
(1908)
› minimum wage – MA (1912)
› Keating-Owen Act (1916)
 Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
› Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire (1911)
 NY labor code

anthracite coal strike (1902)

“Trustbusting”
› Northern Securities Co. v. US
(1902)
› Hepburn Act (1906)
› Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
› Federal Trade Commission
(FTC)
› Presidential styles
› Roosevelt – regulation
› Northern Securities the
exception
› Taft –
› Wilson – breaking up the giants
Goals:
 strengthen govt. power
› federal income tax
 16th Amendment (1913)
› Federal Reserve Act (1913)
 regulated banks; national currency

increase the power of the people
› direct election of US senators
 17th Amendment (1913)
› primary elections
› recall, referendum, initiative

improve efficiency & break the
machines
› commission govt., city manager
Cleveland Mayor
Tom Johnson

“Maternalism”
› domesticity as a springboard
into the public sphere

Suffrage
› Alice Paul
› Progressive emphasis on
democratic reform
› key: new role of govt./law in
reform
 now respectable/middle class
› 19th amdt. (1920)

TR as the first modern president
› actively pursued a legislative agenda
 use of public opinion – the “bully pulpit”
› made frequent use of executive orders
 esp. re: conservation
›
brought lawsuits to enforce fed. regulations
 e.g., Northern Securities
› active presidency popular
 more efficient

1912 election
› popularity of Progressivism
 WW + TR = 70%
 Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party)