Transcript The Progressive Reform Era

PERIOD 7: 1890–1945
An increasingly pluralistic United States
faced profound domestic and global
challenges, debated the proper degree of
government activism, and sought to
define its international role.
4/1/2015
Period 7
1890 – 1945,
comprises 17% of
the AP exam
Key Concept 7.1:
 Governmental, political, and social
organizations struggled to address the
effects of large-scale industrialization,
economic uncertainty, and related social
changes such as urbanization and mass
migration.
The Progressive Reform Era
Chapter Ch. 21
The Origins of Progressivism
Goals of Progressives
• Improve working conditions
– Wages
– Hours
– Safety
• Improve sanitation
• End corruption of government
“use the government as an agent for human
welfare “
Example:
“The sudden rise of cities in the United States left little
time for rational urban planning, development of building
codes, creation of police or fire departments, resolution of
waste disposal challenges, and many other attendant
issues.
By 1900, New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia had
populations in excess of one million, yet the
infrastructures of these cities were ill-equipped to support
this growth.
For instance, by 1890 horses in New York City deposited
daily 500,000 pounds of manure and 45,000 gallons of
urine on congested streets with no sanctioned method of
disposing of the dung.”
Why did we need to be reformed?
In other words, what was wrong with
turn-of-the-century America?
The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920)
 Industrial
1909 Ford Model T
revolution led to
new industries and
products everything from
automobiles to
skyscrapers
Flat Iron Building
 Located at
Broadway, 23rd, and
5th Avenues
 Built in 1902
 Designed by Daniel
Burnham
 It is the oldest
surviving skyscraper
in NYC
Key Concept 7.1
(1890 – 1945)
I. The continued growth and consolidation
of large corporations transformed
American society and the nation’s
economy, promoting urbanization and
economic growth, even as business cycle
fluctuations became increasingly severe.
Industrial Revolution led to:
 Great social changes
– Immigration
– Urbanization
– Government less responsive to ordinary
people
 Foreign policy
– Arrogance
– Jingoism
Key concept 7.1, I.
 A. Large corporations came to dominate the U.S.
economy as it increasingly focused on the production of
consumer goods, driven by new technologies and
manufacturing techniques.
 B. The United States continued its transition from a
rural, agricultural society to an urban, industrial one,
offering new economic opportunities for women,
internal migrants, and international migrants who
continued to flock to the United States.
 C. Even as economic growth continued, episodes of
credit and market instability, most critically the Great
Depression, led to calls for the creation of a stronger
financial regulatory system.
The Progressive Era
 Laissez-faire economics – Little or no
government interference in business
– Few building codes
– Few labor laws for safety, child labor, minimum
wage
 The gap between the rich and the poor
widened
 The top 1% of the population controlled 50%
of the nation’s wealth
One of several Vanderbilt mansions
Pictured is one of
many parties in
this 70 room
mansion. The
central hall,
pictured below, is
a 50’ cube, with
marble imported
from Italy and
the finest
craftsmanship
available
Completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5
million (61 million today)
The Great Gatsby was filmed in the back of
Rosecliff; True Lies was filmed in its ballroom.
Vanderbilt mansion located on the Hudson River.
Vanderbilt mansion located in North Carolina.
Vanderbilt townhouse on 5th avenue in Manhattan.
Progressive Movement
 While the railroad and mining tycoons lived
in luxury…..
How The Other Half Lived
turn of
ThisMining
hydranttown
wasinthePennsylvania,
only water source
forthe
25century
families.
II. Progressive reformers responded
to economic instability, social
inequality, and political corruption
by calling for
 government intervention in the
economy
 expanded democracy
 greater social justice
 conservation of natural resources.
Scene of a
Cave-in,
January,
1902.
(Four
houses, a
barber-shop
and a hotel
were
swallowed
up within
an hour of
the first
warning.)
on Lackawanna Street, Olyphant
Labor
 Coal miners, textile, steel and railroad
workers were underpaid for dangerous,
difficult work
 Unions met with resistance from state and
local governments, as well as owners
 Wages were below the poverty line
Children as young as 9 worked in the
coal mines and textile mills.
Breaker boys in Pa mine
Textile Worker – Approx. Age 12
Immigrants were particularly
vulnerable
Progressive Reform Organizations
The Labor Movement
– collective bargaining was goal
– organized and used strikes
– owners often able to get
injunctions to stop strikes
Anthracite Coal Miner Strike
May 12 – October 23, 1902
Families were evicted from their companyowned housing.
Coal miners and their
families attempted to
survive on dandelion
soup and by picking
waste coal for heat.
Many did not
survive.
Arbitration – a 3rd party listens to both
sides and makes a decision on a settlement
Owners refused to go to arbitration until
President Roosevelt threatened to
nationalize the coal mines if they refused.
The coal miners won improved wages
and hours but the owners refused to
recognize their union.
Coal Miners Salary
1902
 According to the Citizen’s Voice (Wilkes-
Barre) Coal miners earned $500 a year
 Expenses for housing and first aid were deducted
 Varied by location of mine, method of payment,
and company expenses
 Result of strike was10% raise
 Reduced hours to 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, 52
weeks a year
• (2011 ) Approximately $12,900 a year when
adjusted for inflation
• (2011 ) Poverty level for family of 4– $22, 350
Social Darwinism
Popular belief that by helping
the disadvantaged, you hurt
society as a whole.
Social Gospel
True Christianity requires a
commitment to social justice
and responsibility for your
fellow man.
Key concept 7.1, II.
A. In the late 1890s and the early years of
the 20th century, journalists and
Progressive reformers — largely urban
and middle class, and often female —
worked to reform existing social and
political institutions at the local, state,
and federal levels by creating new
organizations aimed at addressing social
problems associated with an industrial
society.
What types of people were
“Progressive”?
 Belonged to all political parties, including
Republican, Democrat, and Socialist
 Tended to be:
» Middle class****
» Well-educated
» Professionals
» Native born
» Women
What types of people were
“Progressive”?
 Middle class “squeeze”
– Upper class unchecked political power
– Working class unstable due to lack of sanitation &
safety
 Reforms aimed at
– Ending corruption of gov’t by big business
– Keep working class safe, healthy, productive,
and content
Muckrakers
 Person that ‘mucks’ stalls
 Journalists, authors, and
photographers that exposed the
corruption in society
 Worried about being sued, Muckraking
Magazines like McClure’s spent up to
$3,000 verifying its stories
Muckrakers
 Examples:
– Upton Sinclair – The Jungle
– Ida Tarbell – History of the Standard
Oil Company
– Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of
Cities
“….the form of our government from
one that is representative of the
people to an oligarchy, representative
of special interests.”
A New York Tenement Building
Dirt and
desolation reign
in the wide hallway, and danger
lurks on the
stairs.
— Jacob Riis
Muckrakers
 Jacob Riis - photographed NYC tenements &
mistreatment of immigrants in sweatshops
Review of economic systems:
 Capitalism – Private ownership of the means of
production
– Motivation is profit
– Requires entrepreneurs
 Socialism – Government ownership of the
means of production
– Motivation “To each what he needs”
– Voluntary, usually through elections
 Communism – Socialism by force if necessary
Progressive Reform Organizations
 Socialist Party
– formed in 1910
– many people thought only through government
owned industry would workers ever get better
conditions
– Eugene Debs most famous member
– not a popular movement then or now
– many of Debs’ positions were adopted by other
parties, such as the minimum wage
– IWW – Labor union of Socialists
Progressive Reform Organizations
 Women’s Movement
– worked for:
• better working conditions for women and children
• right to vote
• Prohibition
– Jane Addams – founder of Hull House in Chicago
– Florence Kelley – state of IL 1st chief factory
inspector (former resident of Hull House)
– Mother Jones – led coal miners on strike in PA
Mother Jones
Children in Hull House
Progressive Legislation
Reforms are often a result of
tragedy
Galveston Hurricane - 1900
Unnamed
hurricane hit
Galveston Island
Sept. 8, 1900
Category 4 winds
and a 15 foot
storm surge
6000 - 12000
people died
Wind speeds were estimated at
between 131 and 155 mph.
St. Mary’s Orphanage
The nuns attempted to save the children by tying them
together with clothesline. Each nun had 6-7 smaller
children attached to them when the orphanage was lifted
off of its foundation and the roof collapsed. Many were
later found, still tied together. Of the 93 orphans and 10
nuns, only 3 boys survived.
Galveston Hurricane - 1900
 Local government unprepared
– No shelters
– No evacuation plans
– No warning system
– No plan for cleanup in the aftermath
 Started a new municipal government
with a city council and business manager
 Model was later picked up throughout
the country
Government Reform
 State reform: initiatives, recalls, and
referendums
 Several states passed laws setting
minimum wages, child labor restrictions,
and fair business practices
 Most of them were found
unconstitutional
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
 Saturday afternoon -
500 workers in the 10
story building.
 Fire began on the 9th
floor - quickly
erupted into an
inferno
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
 Service elevator became an inferno
 Crowded a fire escape, which tore away
from the side of the building and collapsed.
 Went to the roof and found they were
trapped
– A few women were rescued with ladders
from a nearby building
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
 Many of the
stairways and exits
were blocked or
locked.
 The NYFD did not
have the equipment
to rescue the women
 In desperation, many
jumped to their
deaths
th
9
Floor
Aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Examining the bodies
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
•146 people, mostly young
immigrant women, died that
day.
•Many were too badly burned
to be identified
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
 This tragedy helped to
gain support for the
Ladies Garment
Workers unions
 Demands were made
for political reform
and safer working
conditions
Justice?
Eight months after the fire, a
jury acquitted Blanck and
Harris, the factory owners, of
any wrong doing. The task of
the jurors had been to
determine whether the
owners knew that the doors
were locked at the time of the
fire.
Justice?
Instead of enacting building
regulations, many cities
responded by passing
legislation restricting work
for women in the garment
industry
Key concept 7.1, II.
B. Progressives promoted federal
legislation to regulate abuses of the
economy and the environment, and
many sought to expand democracy.
Required terms: Clayton Antitrust Act
Florence Kelley
Federal Reserve Bank
Theodore Roosevelt
 Gave a ‘square deal’ to miners in 1902
 Became his campaign slogan in 1904
 3 “C’s” – Consumers, Corporations, Conservation
Accomplishments:
– Trust buster
• Believed trusts made production more efficient and
were here to stay
• Broke up illegal trusts that used collusion to gain
market shares
Theodore Roosevelt
– Railroad regulations
• Elkins Act 1903 & Hepburn Act of 1906
• Ended rebates and set min. & max. rates
– 1906 Pure Food & Drug Act
• Inspections of meat
• Prevention of mislabeled pharmaceuticals
– Department of Labor established
– Added 200 million acres to our national parks ands
forests
Muller v. Oregon - 1908

Upheld Oregon law limiting work hours based
on the frailty of women

Law limiting hours previously ruled
unconstitutional in Lochner V. New York,
which applied to men

Helped women by limiting work hours to 10
per day

Hurt them by reinforcing the stereotype that
women were inferior
*Lobbied for by Florence Kelley & argued for by
Louis Brandeis at the Supreme Court
Government Reform
 Federal reforms:
– 16th – progressive income tax
• % increases as income increases
• Other income tax forms: flat %, flat $, regressive
– 17th – direct election of senators
– 18th – prohibition
– 19th – women’s suffrage
President Taft
Taft’s Presidency
Taft’s Presidency
Mistakes:
– Did not appoint a progressive cabinet
– Did not veto non-progressive
legislation
– Did not use the justice department to
enforce environmental laws
Taft’s Presidency
Tariffs
– Ran on a platform of lowering tariffs
• House passed some reductions
• Republicans added some protective
increases
• Result – overall increase in tariffs
Taft’s Presidency
 Ballinger- Pinchot Affair
– Pinchot
• Head of US Forest Service
• Major Conservationist at the
time
– Ballinger
• Secretary of the Interior
• Allowed Businesses to
acquire several million acres
of land in Alaska
Taft’s Presidency
 Pinchot
– Protested against Ballinger to Taft
 Taft
– Fired Pinchot
– Ballinger eventually resigned
Republican Party
 Midterm Elections
– Roosevelt
• Returns from safari
– Begins to campaign for the Progressives
» Business regulations
» Welfare laws
» Workplace protection
» Voting reform
NEW
» Income and inheritance taxes
NATIONALISM
 Progressive Republicans elected
 “Old Guard” less political power
The Elections of 1912
 Taft wins the Republican nomination
 Progressive Republicans leave, vowing to
create their own party.
 August 1912, The Progressive Party
nominates Roosevelt
– Nickname the Bull Moose Party
The Election of 1912
 Bull Moose Party
– Platform
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tariff Reduction
Women’s Suffrage
Regulation of Business
Child Labor Ban
8-hour work day
Workman’s Compensation
Direct Election of Senators
The Election of 1912
 Taft
– Followed many
Progressive Reforms
– Still very unpopular
with Progressive
Republicans
 Wilson
– Democrat
– Ran on a Reform
platform
– Criticized both Big
Business and Big
Government
*4 “Progressives” running against each other
Popular Vote:
1912 Election
Taft – 3,500,000
Roosevelt – 4,100,000
Wilson – 6,200,000
Other – 1,100,000
The Election of 1912
President Wilson
Wilson Presidency
Southern Democrat
Academic, scholar
Advocated small business and small
government
Opinionated and not given to compromise
Appealed directly to the public when
Congress failed to support his initiatives
Won re-election in 1916 with the promise to
keep Americans out of World War I.
Wilson Presidency
Tariffs and Taxes
– Underwood Tariff Act of 1913
• Reduced Tariffs from 40% to 25%
– 16th Amendment
• Progressive tax
• Income tax legislation signed in 1913
• Replaced tariffs as main source of revenue for national
government
Wilson’s Presidency
 Federal Reserve System
– Federal Reserve Act of 1913
• Divided the country into 12 Districts of Banking
• Member banks could borrow money from the
FRB to meet short term demands
• Chairperson “The Fed”
• Authorized to issue paper money and
increase/decrease circulation
• Clearinghouse for checks
Federal Reserve Districts
Wilson Presidency
– Federal Trade Commission
• Investigate unfair/illegal business
practices
• Ability to order firms to cease and
desist unfair business tactics
Wilson Presidency
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
–
–
–
–
Strengthened Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Outlined specific actions that were illegal
Unions were not illegal trusts
Legalized strikes and peaceful picketing
Wilson Presidency
Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916
– Gave federal Civil Service employees worker’s
compensation benefits
 Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916
– Gave farmers low-interest loans
Wilson’s Presidency
 Louis D. Brandeis
– Appointed to the Supreme Court
• Many thought Brandeis was too radical
• First Jewish person on Supreme Court
• Upheld many progressive laws
– By 1917 upheld state laws limiting hours for both men
and women
Limits of Progressivism
 Limited to certain sectors of society
– Municipal Problems
• Did little to aid tenant and migrant farmers and
nonunion workers
• Many Progressives supported
– Immigration limits
– Literacy Tests
Limits to Progressivism
 Social Justice
– Separated races in federal offices
– Wilson initially opposed women’s suffrage
– African Americans ignored
• Small group of Progressives helped form the
NAACP
 End of Progressivism
– WWI
• The preparation of war stopped much of the
reform movements