origins of progressivism state reforms from the 1890’s catapulted by teddy roosevelt continued...
TRANSCRIPT
Origins of Progressivism• State reforms from the 1890’s• Catapulted by Teddy Roosevelt• Continued through Taft and eventually
ends with the advent of World War I during Wilson’s presidency
Attitudes and Motives• Middle class alarmed at the rising
power of big business, the gap between rich and poor, the violent conflict between labor and management, and the dominance of machine politics
• Jim Crows laws in the South• Women’s suffrage
Who were the Progressives?
• Urban middle class• White collar workers• Roosevelt, LaFollette• Bryan, Wilson
• People should take a practical approach to morals, ideals, and knowledge
• Rugged individualism did not seem to apply• Scientific management as described by F.W. Taylor could
be used by the government to help people
What was their philosophy?
One historian, Paul Johnson, labeled the Progressive Movement as Un-american.
Assess the validity of the statement?What data would you use to support
The Muckrakers• Origins
– Henry Demarest Lloyd Wealth Against Commonwealth exposed corruption and greed of oil monopolies
• Magazines– McClures Magazine • Lincoln Steffens Tweed Days in St. Louis• Ida Tarbell The History of Standard Oil Company
– Collier’s & Cosmopolitan– All competed for the most shocking exposes of
political and economic corruption
Muckraker Books
• Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives (1890)
• Lincoln Steffens Shame of the Cities (1904)
Fictional Accounts: • Theodore Dreiser’s
The Titan & The Financier
Political Reforms
• Australian Ballot• Direct Primary• Direct Election of Senators• Initiative; referendum, recall(Most of these reforms first happen West
of the Mississippi River)
Municipal Reforms• Controlling public utilities• Commissions and city managers
State Reforms• Wisconsin idea• Direct primary• Tax reform • Regulation of railroad rates
Theodore Roosevelt• Square Deal– Anthracite Coal mine strike of 1902• First time President enters negotiations to settle
dispute
Theodore Roosevelt• Trust busting–Northern Securities– Standard Oil– good v. bad trusts
• Railroad Regulation– Elkins Act (1903): regulated
rebates–Hepburn Act (1906): fix
rates for railroads
Theodore Roosevelt
• Conservation– Often used Forest
Reserve Act of 1891 to set aside 150 million acres
– Newlands Reclamation– National Conservation
Commission under Gilford Pinchot
William Howard Taft• More trust-busting than Roosevelt– Mann Elkins Act gave ICC the power
to suspend new railroad rates and oversee telephone, telegraph, and cable companies
• Income tax (16th amendment) 1913• Split the Republican party in 1912– Roosevelt Progressives v. Taft
conservatives– Over Payne-Aldrich Tariff and
Pinchot-Ballinger controversy• Democratic Woodrow Wilson wins
election of 1912
Woodrow Wilson• Roosevelt’s (Bull Moose Party) New Nationalism v.
Wilson’s New Freedom• Tariff reduction• Bank reform– Federal Reserve Act of 1914
• Business Regulation– Clayton Anti-trust Act– Federal Trade Commission
• Federal Farm Loan Act• Child Labor Act (Keating Owen Act – struck down with Hammer v.
Dagenhart
African Americans in Progressive Era
• Largely ignored by progressives because they shared in general prejudice
• Other reforms considered more important because they reached more people
• Washington and DuBois shape the debate for equal rights.
• Urban migration will begin in 1910 with the better job opportunities in the North because of poor cotton crops. Also Jim Crow era raised race tensions
Civil Rights Organizations• Niagra Movement 1905 which led
to• NAACP– Included African Americans and
whites– Mission was to abolish all forms of
segregation and increase educational opportunities. By 1920, the largest civil rights organization
• National Urban League– Stressed “Not alms but
opportunity” reflecting an emphasis on self-reliance
Women and Suffrage• National Women’s Suffrage
Association NAWSA led by Carrie Chapman Catt switched from a state to federal focus for suffrage in 1900
• Alice Paul split the association and formed the National Women’s Party in 1916
• Nineteenth Amendment (1920) guaranteed women’s right to vote in all elections at all levels.