US History 202-071 (Chapter 21)

The Progressive Era : 

The Progressive Era An Introduction

Progressivism: An Overview : 

Progressivism: An Overview Challenged laissez-faire approach. Aim: reform existing system via government intervention while preserving traditional political, economic, & social institutions. Curb class tensions by standing against tenements, child labor, & harsh working conditions.

Progressivism: An Overview : 

Progressivism: An Overview Reform Darwinism: evolution could be sped up by altering one’s environment. Notion of progress & belief in science. Moral reformers tried to improve society. Targeted immigrant drinking. Black voting targeted Eugenics influenced progressive laws.

Origins of the Progressive Movement : 

Origins of the Progressive Movement It began at the grassroots level. The Settlement House Movement Political action to improve urban problems. Improve housing, end child labor, fund playgrounds. Find compromises between management & labor, and improve working conditions.

Origins of the Progressive Movement : 

Origins of the Progressive Movement Social Gospel countered Gospel of Wealth. Social purity movement: targeted prostitution & alcohol. Studies linked alcohol and prostitution to STDS, poverty, crime, and broken families. Reformers pushed for Mann Act; Ant-Saloon League pushed to end sale of liquor.

Origins of the Progressive Movement : 

Origins of the Progressive Movement Progressives teamed up with labor unions. Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL): joined women workers & middle class. WTUL aided women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Fire showed unsafe working conditions. Spurred efforts for protective legislation. (Muller v. Oregon)

Progressives in City and State Governments : 

Progressives in City and State Governments Republican & Democratic politicians used progressive ideas. Tom Johnson (D) mayor of Cleveland. Fought for fair taxes, initiative, referendum, and recall. City ownership of street railways & public utilities. Remember the People’s Party?

Progressives in City and State Governments : 

Progressives in City and State Governments Robert M. La Follette (R). Governor (1901-1905) and Senator (1906-1925) from Wisconsin. Took advice from scientists and professors. Lowered railroad rates and raised railroad taxes as governor. Also pushed for factory regulation, workers’ comp., conservation, and better education.

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House President Theodore Roosevelt (R) strengthened power of presidency. Used the Sherman Antitrust Act against 43 trusts, but preferred regulation. Distinguished between “good” & “bad” trusts. Believed large corporations were beneficial when they met his standards of conduct.

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House Elkins Act: penalized railroads offering rebates. Bureau of Labor watched corporations. Intervened in the anthracite coal strike and brought strikers and owners to negotiations. Birth of the “Square Deal” Conclusion: Roosevelt was not a passive spectator like his Gilded Age predecessors.

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House Roosevelt won presidential election in 1904. Roosevelt urged passage of Hepburn Act (gave ICC power to set railroad rates.) Understood how to use publicity to gain passage of progressive legislation. Muckrakers helped with passage of Pure Food & Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House 105 million acres under federal control. Worried about reckless exploitation. TR favored the efficient use of resources. Favored mindful grazing, mining, lumbering. No private monopoly of water or electric power. Gifford Pinchot (Federal Bureau of Forestry)

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House TR believed he should head foreign affairs. Big Stick Diplomacy: combined military strength with skillful diplomacy. Believed In in Monroe Doctrine. Intervened in Venezuelan crisis. Got Panama Canal Zone after “Panamanian Revolution.” (Naval power doubled)

A Progressive at the White House : 

A Progressive at the White House Roosevelt Corollary made US policeman of Western Hemisphere. Mediated disputes between world powers. Negotiated end of Russo-Japanese War. Curbed Japanese expansionism to protect Asian interests of the US. Sent Great White Fleet to show the Japanese that America was powerful.

An Unhappy President : 

An Unhappy President Trained as a lawyer. Philosophy: courts should decide social issues. (Conservative Republicans liked this) Supported Payne-Aldrich Tariff Withdrew federal control of hydroelectric power sites and fired Gifford Pinchot. These actions alienated TR.

An Unhappy President : 

An Unhappy President Taft inherited divided Republican Party he couldn’t control. Democrats swept into power. Progressives regulated safety conditions, established an 8 hour workday, and passed 16th & 17th Amendments. Dollar Diplomacy: aimed at US domination of Latin America via commercial expansion.

An Unhappy President : 

An Unhappy President TR ran against Taft in 1912. TR nominee of the Bull Moose Party New Nationalism Tariff reduction, regulation of corporations, a minimum wage, end of child labor, women’s suffrage, conservation, etc. Believed in federal planning & regulation to promote social justice and democracy.

An Unhappy President : 

An Unhappy President Democratic Party nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. New Freedom Reduce tariffs, revise the monetary system, and prosecute trusts. With the Republican Party split, Wilson won the election.

Another Progressive : 

Another Progressive Underwood Tariff lowered rates. Federal Reserve Act of 1913 established a national banking system. 12 Regional banks, privately controlled, but regulated & supervised by Federal Reserve Board. Greater government control over banking. More elastic currency and better credit.

Another Progressive : 

Another Progressive Wilson supported the creation of the Federal Trade Commission to regulate businesses. Wilson appointed a conservative businessmen to head the FTC Wilson declared that the progressive movement fulfilled its mission.

Reluctant Progressive? : 

Reluctant Progressive? Valued limited government & states rights. Opposed support for labor unions. Opposed child labor laws & women’s suffrage. Opposed giving farmers credit for nonperishable crops. Supported segregation of federal agencies.

Reluctant Progressive? : 

Reluctant Progressive? United Republicans pushed Wilson to reconsider. Appoints Louis Brandeis to Supreme Court. Supported workmen’s comp. and supported the Keating-Owen child labor law. Ordered Congress to establish 8 hour workday for railroads. Wilson won re-election with his reform and the slogan “he kept us out of war”.

Eugenics & Progressivism : 

Eugenics & Progressivism Eugenics Improve heredity by having social control of human breeding. (Sterilize if necessary) Broad-based support. Buck v Bell (1927) upheld sterilization laws. Influenced immigration policies. Influenced labor laws.

More Radical Alternatives : 

More Radical Alternatives Progressive Movement aimed to preserve American institutions and stem radicalism. Eugene Debs Socialism: cooperation over competition and opposed private ownership & wage “slavery.” Debs opposed Democrats & Republicans because they preserved the existing order. Polled 6% in 1912.

More Radical Alternatives : 

More Radical Alternatives Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) IWW organized the unskilled workers. Sweatshop workers, migrant farm workers, sharecroppers, women workers, blacks, and immigrants. Goal: organize most of the workers and call a strike which would lead to collapse of capitalism.

Problem of Racism : 

Problem of Racism Progressivism in West and South was racist. Chinese Exclusion Act and Alien Land Law. Lynchings were commonplace in South. Poll tax and literacy tests for blacks. Illiterate whites voted via grandfather clause. Jim Crow laws segregated public facilities. Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal)

Two Different Approaches : 

Two Different Approaches Booker T. Washington urged caution and restraint. Opened Tuskegee Institute to teach African-Americans vocational skills. Pursue education and economic progress. Put aside political and social equality. Blacks should accommodate themselves to segregation. (Atlanta Compromise)

Two Different Approaches : 

Two Different Approaches W.E.B Du Bois criticized Washington’s leadership in his book Soul of Black Folk. Niagara Movement: civil rights, equality in jobs and education, end of segregation, and leadership by black intellectual elite. Helped found the NAACP. Blacks and whites work together to gain political and legal rights through the courts.

Women and Progressive Era : 

Women and Progressive Era Alice Paul learned about aggressive suffrage activism while in England. Sought federal amendment for right to vote. National Woman’s Party (NWP): alternative to the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Mass marches and civil disobedience. Six month vigil outside White House.

Women and Progressive Era : 

Women and Progressive Era Carrie Chapman Catt, the leader of NAWSA, instituted a national multilevel strategy that would build support for Women’s suffrage. Some went beyond voting rights. Margaret Sanger: birth control as key to women’s independence.