Transcript The Progressive Era - Phoenixville Area School District

The Progressive Era
What is a progressive?
 Promoting or favoring progress toward
better conditions or new policies, ideas,
or methods.
 Positive change.
Progressive Presidents
 1901-1909 Theodore Roosevelt (R)
became Pres when McKinley was
assassinated; TR elected 1904
 1909-1913 William Howard Taft (R)
elected 1908; lost reelection bid in 1912
 1913-1921 Woodrow Wilson (D)
elected 1912; reelected 1916
Populist Influence??
Problems Leading to
Progressive Reforms
Political?
Social?
Economic?
Progressivism was a result of the dark
side of the Gilded Age.
Goals of the Progressives
 Political: restore control of the gov’t to
the people
 Social: correct abuses and injustices
brought into lives of people by
urbanization and industrialization
 Economic: restore greater equality of
economic opportunity; draw up new
rules for the conduct of business
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Roots of Progressivism
 1880’s-90’s –debates on how to reform
society-nature v. nurture, James,
Addams, etc.
 Journalists, Socialists, labor leaders and
city gov’t reformers offered ideas
 Muckrakers investigated and exposed
abuses; alerted public to wrongdoing in
politics and business and raised social
issues
Leading Muckrakers and
their works
 Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives; The
Battle with the Slum (urban issues)
 Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (consumer
protection – abuses in meatpacking)
 Ida Tarbell – A History of the Standard Oil
Trust (monopolies and trusts)
 Lincoln Steffens – Shame of the Cities (political
machines, corruption, voting fraud)
 Lewis Hine – photographs exposed child labor
Article/questions
Jungle clip
Local Political Reforms
 Machines work with voters: registration;
improved city services; public health
programs; enforced tenement codes
 Cities take over utilities: efforts to
regulate or dislodge monopolies
providing city services; provided
residents w/ more affordable utilities
 City-supported welfare services created
State Level Political
Reforms
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Direct primary
Initiative
Referendum
Recall
Australian Ballot – standard ballot
printed by gov’t at public expense; cast in
secret
 Reduced “vote buying” and fraud in elections
National Level Political
Reforms
 17th Amendment (1913): direct popular
election of U.S. Senators; previously
chosen by state legislatures
 19th Amendment (1920): women’s
suffrage
Social Reforms:
Consumer Protection
 Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): medicine and
food must be safe; contents must be labeled;
FDA established
 Meat Inspection Act (1906): The Jungle
influenced Roosevelt and Congress to act;
strict sanitary conditions set; rating system for
meat; fed gov’t given authority to inspect meat
crossing state lines (interstate commerce)
Social Reforms: Labor
 State Level: labor depts created;
workers’ compensation laws; child labor
laws (by 1914, all states except 1); min.
age laws
 National Level: U.S. Dept of Labor
created (1913); 8 hr day for federal gov’t
workers
Social Reforms:
Conservation Measures
 Roosevelt interested in conservation
 Congress created U.S. Forest Service
 Gifford Pinchot (expert forester) appointed
head of Forest Service
 Set aside 200 mill. acres of land for nat’l
forests, mineral reserves & water projects
 National (Newlands) Reclamation Act passed
(1902): set aside $ from sale of public lands to
fund construction of irrigation systems in arid
states
Social Reforms:
Prohibition
 18th Amendment (1919): outlawed
manufacture, sale, transportation of
intoxicating liquor
 Reformers believed would protect society from
poverty and violence associated with alcohol
consumption
 Miserable failure; led to bootlegging;
widespread lawbreaking; speakeasies; rise of
organized crime
 Repealed in 1933 (21st Amendment)
Economic Reforms: Tariff
Reform
 Progressives wanted to lower tariffs (reform);
Conservatives opposed reform
 Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909): failed attempt to
lower tariff rates; actually raised rates on more
items than lowered
 Taft sided with conservatives in Rep. Party
 Signed bill; this began rift between Taft and
progressives in his party
 Underwood Tariff Act of 1913: tariff reform
finally achieved; lowered tariff rates on
thousands of items: lowest tariff since Civil War
Economic Reforms:
Banking Reform
 Federal Reserve Act (1913): created
the Federal Reserve System –
 Created a decentralized nat’l banking
system; 12 district banks distributed
throughout country (see $1 bills)
 Established a flexible currency – Fed
controls amount of $ in circulation by
controlling district banks’ lending-how?
Economic Reforms:
Business Reform
 Hepburn Act of 1906: ICC could
regulate RR rates; made ICC effective for
1st time
 Mann-Elkins Act of 1910: gave ICC
power to regulate lines of communication
such as telephone and telegraph rates
Business Reforms (con’t)
 Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): finally created
effective law gov’t could use to prosecute
monopolies; specified illegal business activities
& contained protections for unions
 Federal Trade Commission Act (1914):
created FTC to set up fair trade laws and
enforce antitrust laws; could punish companies
for unfair business practices
Roosevelt as Trustbuster
 Did not believe gov’t should attack all trusts,
only those that were “bad”
 Even those that were “good” should be
controlled / regulated
 Directed his Attorney General to file antitrust
suit against Northern Securities Co. – 1904
gov’t won case & company dissolved
 42 antitrust suits were filed during TR’s
presidency
Split in the Republican
Party - 1912

Taft did not continue to vigorously push
progressive reforms
 Progressives in Republican Party
became upset with Taft: major causes:
1. Tariff – Taft signed Payne-Aldrich Tariff
2. Taft’s firing of Gifford Pinchot
3. Taft’s support of conservative Speaker
of the House Joe Cannon
Impact of the Split
 1912 Election – Progressive Republicans
did not want to support Taft
 Split from the party and formed a 3rd
party called the Progressive Party
 Nominated T. Roosevelt (“Bull Moose”
Party)
 This split the Republican vote in 1912;
Wilson won (42% the popular vote)
1912 Election: Wilson v.
Roosevelt
 Wilson (D) – New Freedom
 Roosevelt (P) – New Nationalism
 Roosevelt called for stronger, more active role
on part of federal gov’t
 Wilson portrayed Roosevelt’s ideas as “radical”
(more like socialism)
 Wilson’s platform more conservative, but still
focused on reforms – enforce antitrust laws
without threatening free economic competition
Evaluating the Progressive
Era: Political Pros / Cons
Accomplishments:
 Voting rights protected & participation
expanded
 Some success against polit. Machines
Outstanding Issues:
 Machines & corruption still existed
 African Americans rights still denied
Social Pros / Cons
Accomplishments:
 Labor reforms (esp. child labor laws and workers’
compensation)
 Consumer protection
 Conservation – TR considered this his greatest
achievement
Outstanding Issues:
 Little done to address plight of farmers
 Non-union workers saw little change
 Nativism still existed
 Jim Crow system continued (segregation)
Economic Pros / Cons
Accomplishments:
 Tariff, tax, banking reform achieved
 Stronger, more effective antitrust laws
enacted
Outstanding issues:
 Trusts continued to dominate economy
The End of Progressivism
 For most part, WW I ended Progressive
Era; nation’s attention shifted to foreign
affairs (war began 1914; US declared
war 1917)
 Final reform of Progressive Era was the
19th Amendment – women’s suffrage
(1920); changing roles of women due to
WW I gave suffrage its final momentum