COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Number: Hist110
Course Title: The Progressive Era
Faculty: Gregory M. Browne, Ph.D.
Recommended schedule for course completion
Session 1: Introduction and Background. Dr. Browne introduces the course of study
in Hist110 and provides students with an overview of the major events of the
Progressive Era. Then he (1) surveys the major political philosophies and common
ideologies during the Progressive Era; (2) briefly looks at 19th century U.S. politics; and
(3) examines the intellectual foundations of Progressivism.
Assignments:
Assigned Reading:
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 1-31
Unit 1: Lecture 1: Introduction
Unit 1: Lecture 2: Overview
Unit 1: Lecture 3: Political Philosophies
Unit 1: Lecture 4: 19th Century Politics
Unit 1: Lecture 5: Intellectual Foundations of the Progressive Era
Lecture
Lecture 1 (10 Minutes)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 1
Learning outcomes:
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Are those who call themselves “Progressives” today direct descendants of the
Progressive Era? How can you trace that heritage?
2. Of the various threads involved in the intellectual foundations of
Progressivism, which do you think is most important?
Session 2: 1st Prelude: 1870-1887; 2nd Prelude: 1887-1901. This session will cover
the first manifestations of Progressive attitudes in early policy proposals, which might be
considered "dress rehearsals" for progressivism: (1) c. 1870—1887, state level policies
such as railroad regulation, and popular legislation or views about soft money, i.e.,
greenbacks and free silver; and (2) 1887–1901, from the enactment of the Interstate
Commerce to the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), to the beginning of the Progressive Era
proper with the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.
Assignments
Assigned Reading
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 31-41
Unit 2: Lecture 1: The Preludes, 1870-87 and 1887-1901
Unit 2: Lecture 2: Regulation and Antitrust
Recorded Lectures:
Lecture 2: (34 Minutes)
Lecture 3: (34 Minutes)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 2
Learning outcomes: 4.5
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Do you think that competition was increasing or decreasing in the prelude
periods? Please be clear about what you mean by “competition.”
2. Do you think that an expansionary money policy was needed in this era?
Session 3: The Administrations of Theodore Roosevelt. This session will examine
Theodore Roosevelt's two presidential administrations. Each administration will receive
a specific lecture, corresponding to a liberal shift in Roosevelt’s politics after1906.
Assignments
Assigned Reading
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 41-62
Unit 4: Lecture 1: Roosevelt, 1901-06
Unit 4: Lecture 2: Roosevelt, 1906-08
Unit 4: Lecture 3: Ideological Evaluation
Recorded Lectures:
Lecture 4: (49 Minutes)
Lecture 5. (1:49)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 3
Learning outcomes: 4.6
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Do you think that Theodore Roosevelt's position on big business during his
administrations was, on balance, friendly or unfriendly?
2. What do you think bothered Theodore Roosevelt most about big business?
Session 4: The Election of 1908,The Administration of William Howard Taft, and
Procedural Issues. This session will cover (1) William Howard Taft’s 1908 election; (2)
Taft’s administration, from 1909 to 1913; and (3) incipient electoral procedural or
process issues that "reached a boil" in the election of 1912.
Assignments
Assigned Reading
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 62-81
Unit 5: Lecture 1: The Election of 1908
Unit 5: Lecture 2: The Taft Administration, 1909-10
Unit 5: Lecture 3 : The Taft Administration, 1911-13
Unit 5: Lecture 4: Ideological Classification of Taft
Unit 5: Lecture 5: Procedural Issues
Recorded lectures:
Lecture 6: (18 minutes)
Lecture 8: (10 minutes)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 4
Learning outcomes:
4.7
4.8
Optional Discussion Topics
1. Do you think that Taft was a conservative or not? Be sure to let us know what
your standards are for calling him a “conservative.”
2. Were the various proposed procedural reforms of the Progressive Era (i.e.,
primaries, non-partisan elections, secret ballots, etc.) democratic in their
outcomes? Were they “democratic” In their intent? What do you mean by
“democratic”?
Session 5: The Election of 1912 and the Administration of Wilson: Antitrust and
the Federal Trade Commission. This session covers the 1912 election and Wilson's
policy on general business regulation and antitrust, including the legislative history of
the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the often-neglected
story of Wilson’s enforcement of the older Sherman Antitrust Act. Policies on these
issues climax the regulatory movement of the Progressive Era. There will be one lecture
on the election and a second on antitrust and the FTC.
Assignments
Assigned Reading:
Browne, The Progressive Era, p. 81-101
Unit 6: Lecture 1: The Election of 1912
Unit 6: Lecture 2: Wilson: Antitrust and Federal Trade Commission
Recorded Lectures
Lecture 9: (17 Minutes)
Lecture 10: (43 Minutes)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 5
Learning outcomes:
4.9
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Who do you think that Wilson’s regulatory policies were intended to help the
most—consumers? Small business? Big business?
2. Some have thought that Wilson was at least trying to move the country back
toward a more free market, while others think that he moved it farther away from
a free market. Who do you think is right?
.
Session 6: Wilson: The Federal Reserve and the Tariff, Drug and Alcohol Issues,
and Racial and Ethnic Issues. This session will deal with several unrelated topics that
need to be discussed before dealing with the issues that lead up to the next election
and World War I. Two topics, the establishment of the Federal Reserve System and the
Underwood Tariff acts, were passed as part of Wilson’s "New Freedom" program. The
other two topics, drug and alcohol policy and racial and ethnic policy, though not directly
related to Wilson’s administration, "came to a boil" during the period.
Assignments
Assigned Reading:
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 101-108
Unit 7: Lecture 1: The Federal Reserve System
Unit 7: Lecture 2: The Tariff
Unit 7: Lecture 3: Drug and Alcohol Policy
Unit 7: Lecture 4: Racial and Ethnic Policies
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 6
Learning outcomes:
4.10
4.11
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Whose views do you think prevailed in the establishment of the Federal
Reserve: the Hard Money Faction, the Bank Faction or the Treasury Faction?
2. Do you think that the drug and alcohol policies of Progressivism fit with other
Progressive policies, or clash with them?
Session 7: Woodrow Wilson, 1914-16: Domestic policy. This session will deal with
several economic issues during the period 1914-16–from the completion of the "New
Freedom" until the election of 1916, including the income tax, rural issues (highways
and farm loans), and labor and social welfare issues.
Assignments
Assigned Reading:
Browne, The Progressive Era: pp. 108-113
Unit 8: Wilson: Economic Issues, 1914-1916: Tax, Rural, Labor and Social
Welfare Issues
Recorded Lecture
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 7
Learning outcomes: 4.12
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. Do you think that Woodrow Wilson's policies of 1915-16 on aid to agriculture
and aid for highways embody a departure from the philosophy behind his New
Freedom policies of 1913-1914, or are they a continuation of that philosophy?
2. Do you think that Woodrow Wilson's policies of 1915-16 on labor and social
welfare embody a departure from the philosophy behind his New Freedom
policies of 1913-1914, or are is a continuation of that philosophy?
Session 8: Foreign Policy, the Election of 1916, World War I and After.
This session will examine the foreign policies of the Progressive Era and the election of
1916. Until the 1916 election, foreign policy was unimportant to this era’s presidential
elections. But during Wilson’s administration the question of whether to enter World War
I was central to the election of 1916. The session will also cover, along with the Wilson
administration's foreign policy, the foreign policy of the Roosevelt and Taft
administrations.
Assignments
Assigned Reading:
Browne, The Progressive Era, pp. 145-54
Unit 8.1 Foreign Policy
Unit 8.2 The Election of 1916
Unit 8.3 War and the Growth of Government
Unit 8.4 Aftermath 1918-21
Recorded Lectures
Lecture 7: (23 Minutes)
Lecture 8: (10 Minutes)
What You Should Have Learned
Quiz 8
Comprehensive Quiz
Learning outcomes: 4.13
Optional Discussion Topics:
1. How hard do you think Wilson tried to avoid entry into World War I?
2. Do you think that World War I was the end of Progressivism, or the fulfillment
of Progressivism?