Transcript Progressivism

Progressivism
If you could change one aspect of
American life, whether it be in
politics, moral beliefs, social
standards of acceptance,
education or
the economy,
law etc…
WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
From The Ram’s Horn, 1896
• Make gun ownership illegal
for non-military citizens
• Take speed limit away
• Make definite age limit
for a person to be
considered a minor.
•Lower the drinking age
• Raise minimum
wage
• Legalize Marijuana
A symbol for the American Reform Party (see the
Umbrella does work..).
The Progressivism Umbrella
•Progressivism
touched every part of
American Life.
•REFORM REFORM
REFORM!!!
•The Government
became active in a
national and federal
sense.
•“Public Interest”
instead of “special” or
“private” interest.
The Progressive Era
Reform shifts from the farm to the
city and climbs the ladder of
government from the local to the state
and then to the national level.
The Problems of the 1890’s
• Huge Gap between
rich and poor
• Tremendous economic
and political power of
the rich
• Wealthy were
insensitively flaunting
their wealth before a
poorer public
Problems of the 1890’s (cont.)
• Industrial workers
hideously poor, living
in squalor and
working in dangerous
conditions
• Jacob Riis’ How the
Other Half Lives
(1890)
• Little concern for
Black America
The Power of the Pen
Writers exposed the American public to corruption and injustices in politics,
business and society. Because of the influence, many government reforms were
enacted, and amendments were added to the Constitution.
Theories
Populism
Scared Middle
Class and Business
Progressivism
Consensus: Now
possible to
improve society
Differences
1.
2.
3.
4.
Centered in rural areas
Poor, uneducated
Considered radical ideas, like socialism
A failure, too radical.
1.
2.
3.
Centered in the cities
Middle class – well educated
Political mainstream, wanted existing
system to work better (moderate)
An overwhelming success
4.
* The Populist
Party brought
success to
Progressivism
because it
exposed the
corruption in
business and the
desperate
conditions of
farmers and
factory workers.
Progressive Reformers
Streams of Reform
• The “Social Gospel”
movement
• Settlement House
Workers
• Americans of “Old
Wealth”
Social Reform
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Jane Addams – Hull House
Ida B. Wells – anti-lynching
crusade
Carrie Chapman Catt – president
League of Women Voters
Ida Tarbell – expose of Standard
Oil
Streams of Reform (cont.)
• Young, sociallyconscious lawyers
• Investigative
Journalists
-- “Muckrakers”
-- Upton Sinclair
• Small businessmen
Muckrakers
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Lincoln Steffens – political corruption &
graft
John Spargo – abuses of child labor
(poverty)
Frank Norris – The Octopus RRs bad
treatment of farmers
Theodore Dreiser – Sister Carrie city life
Jim Crow Laws
Ida B. Wells
• 1892 three of her good
friends were murdered
in Memphis, TN
• World wide antilynching campaign
Booker T. Washington
Founded Alabama’s
Tuskegee Institute (1881) to
train African Americans in
30 trades. Washington
argued that equality would
be achieved not through
campaigns of reforms, but
when African Americans
gained education and
vocational skills to become
valuable members of
society.
W.E.B. Dubois
• Harvard educated
professor
• Niagara Movement –
led to NAACP
• Equal rights now
Fighting the lasting effects of Plessy vs. Ferguson
(1896) and Jim Crow laws
4 block wide area – wiped clean
Bodies laid out in line
Result of Galveston Hurricane
• City Council form of government
• City Managers
• Departments with “expertise”
• Political machines begin to lose power
Features of Progressive Reform
• Desire to remedy problems
through government initiative
• Reliance on “experts”
-- Robert Lafollette’s “Wisconsin
Idea”
• Wanted reform not revolution
• Stressed the importance of
efficiency in reform
--Frederick W. Taylor (efficiency)
LaFollette reforms
“Fighting Bob”
Direct primaries – public votes
directly for candidates they want on
the ballot
 Initiative – citizens can introduce new
legislation
 Referendum – citizens vote on
legislation proposed
 Recall – voters can vote an elected
official out of office
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Features of Progressive
Reform (cont.)
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Desire to make society
more moral and more
just
Desire to distribute
income more
equitably
Desire to broaden
opportunities for
individual
advancement
Women were active in
progressivism
Political Reforms
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More power into the hands of the people
Innovative changes in city government
--city managers and commission model
The Direct Primary
Initiative, Referendum and Recall
The Secret Ballot
Direct Election of Senators and the Vote
for Women
“The pen
(again) is
mightier
than the
sword”
From Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
“There would be meat that had tumbled out on
the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the
workers had trampled and spit uncounted
billions of germs. There would be meat stored in
rooms and thousands of rats would race about
it..A man could run his hand over these piles of
meat and sweep handfuls of dried rat dung.
These rats were nuisances, and packers would put
poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and
then the rats, bread, and meat would go into the
hoppers together…
In 1906 Sinclair’s novel The Jungle drew outrage against
the Chicago meatpacking industry for its arrogant
disregard of basic health standards. This led to
government regulation of food and drugs.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Reaction to The Jungle
Teddy Roosevelt’s Reaction to The Jungle
What impact did The Jungle have on TR and
what action did he take to address the issue?
Meat Inspection Act,
1906
Pure Food and Drug
Act, 1906
Other workplace
reforms
 Workman’s
Compensation – MD
1902
 Laws for women
 Muller
 Laws
v Oregon
for children
Politics: Presidents of the
Progressive Era
Woodrow
Wilson (D)
1913-1921
Teddy Roosevelt (R)
1901-1909
William Taft (R) 19091913
T.R and Foreign Relations
“Speak softly and
carry a big stick”
Great White Fleet
-“Strenuous life”
•At 42, the youngest
President ever.
•A man of privilege –
supports the common
man.
•The first “modern
president.”
TEDDY ROOSEVELT
“In life, as in
football, the
principle to
follow is: Hit
the line hard”
“The Steward of the people”
First Term as President (19011904)
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McKinley’s
assassination
Offered energetic
national leadership
Cast every issue in
moral and patriotic
terms
--The “Bully Pulpit”
Master Politician
“Trust-Buster”? – Big Business
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Regulation in order
to get businesses
to act right
The “Square Deal”
(1902)
Making an example
of the Northern
Securities Co.
The Elkins Act
(1903)
TR’s other noteworthy
accomplishments
 Coal
Strike of 1902 – arbitration
(threat of sending troops in)
 Negotiated peace in the RussoJapanese War – won a Nobel
Peace Prize
TRs 2nd Term as President
(1905-1909)
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Hepburn Act
(1906) – RRs & ICC
Federal Meat
Inspection Act
(1906)
Pure Food and
Drug Act (1906)
Conservation
Policy
--Preservation vs.
Conservation
st
1
President to take actions toward
conservation of the environment
(Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902)
“A Tough Act to Follow”:
William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
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The Election of
1908
Taft’s political
experience
Taft’s weight
Not a dynamic
politician
Never completely
comfortable as
President
Presidency of Taft
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Controversy over
the Tariff
More
conservative
than TR, but also
more trust suits
The “BallingerPinchot” Affair
The Election of 1912
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Republican Party split
“Bull Moose” Party
Progressive Party
Platform: “New
Nationalism”
Democrats draft
Woodrow Wilson
Democratic Progressivism:
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
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True progressive
and dynamic
speaker
Sympathetic to
small
businessmen
A stubborn,
moral crusader
and ideologue
“New Freedom”
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Recreate the
“Golden Age” of
small American
businesses
Open channels for
free and fair
competition
Jeffersonian
approach to federal
power
Wilson’s New Freedom
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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
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1914 Clayton AntiTrust Act strengthened the
Sherman Act.
Had an anti-trust
provision prevented
companies from
acquiring stock
from another
company and
supported workers’
unions.
Key Wilsonian Legislation
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Underwood Tariff
Act (1913)
Federal Reserve
Act (1913)
Clayton AntiTrust Act (1914)
Federal Trade
Commission
(1914)
Federal Trade Commission Formed
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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 Arrives
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Wilson worked
hard to lower
tariffs, however,
the lost revenue
had to be made
up and was when
the 16th
Amendment
instituted a
graduated federal
income tax.
Woodrow Wilson
and the
“Triple Wall of Privilege”
1. Banks
3. Trusts
2. Tariffs
Congressional Progressivism
After 1914
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Wilson - not a
strong progressive
on social reform
Brandeis appointed
to Supreme Court
Federal Highways
Act (1916)
Can a person’s positive
contributions to society
be overshadowed by
their negative attributes?
"It's like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that
it is all terribly true." – Woodrow Wilson
Features of Progressive
Reform
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Both political
parties
Middle-class
reform
movement
Operated on all
three levels of
government
Social Reforms
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Job safety standards
Standards for housing
codes
Food & Drug inspection
“City Beautification”
Immigration Restriction
Little Help for Blacks
--NAACP (1909)
-- “Birth of a Nation”
Feminism
Key Terms
• Alice Paul
• Carrie Chapman Catt
• National American
Women Suffrage Association
• 19th Amendment
Progressive Amendments to
the Constitution
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16th (1913)—
federal income tax
17th (1913)—direct
election of
senators
18th (1919)—
prohibition
19th (1920)—vote
for women
The Waning of the
Progressive Movement
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Progressive movement peaks by
1917
Advent of World War I hurt
progressive activism
Progressives themselves began to
weary of their reform zeal—as did the
nation as a whole
Ironically, voter participation steadily
declined since the election of 1912