Warm-up

1.
2.
3.
4.
Answer the following questions:
What was 1 political problem that America
faced at the turn of the century?
Give 1 problem with business practices at
this time
What problems were there in factories?
What other issues did cities face during the
turn of the century?
Happy Tuesday!!!

I need to do a couple things before we
get started:
I
need to check your study guides from the
test last class
 I need to collect your Industrialization
stamp sheets

Did you know: There is more real lemon
juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish
than in Country Time Lemonade
Progressivism
Muckrakers and Woman Suffrage
Problems at the Turn of the
Century
Politically: Political Machines
 Business practices: trusts, monopolies
 Working conditions: child labor, low
pay, long hours
 Other stuff: drugs, gangs, drinking,
women still can’t vote

Enter Progressivism
Progressivism: movement to improve
American life in politics, society and the
workplace.
 Progressives were optimistic and
forward looking and accepted the
changes industrialization brought forth
 Wanted to limit the power of big
business, improve democracy and
strengthen social justices

Where did the movement
come from?


New political groups- populists and socialists
Farmers- gained ideas from populists, hurt by
the railroads
 Labor-unions
 Religion- to be a better person


YMCA, YWCA, Salvation Army to improve lives of
the poor
Muckrakers- writers, mostly magazines, who
wrote about the corrupt side of business and
public life


People wont change society unless they know about
the conditions and get angry about it
Many magazines started at this time: Cosmo,
McClures
Muckrakers

Ida M. Tarbell- wrote “The History of
the Standard Oil Company”
 Exposed
the company’s cutthroat methods
of eliminating competition
Upton Sinclair- wrote “The Jungle”
about stockyard workers and meat
packing industry
 Jacob Riis, Lincoln Steffens

Local Reforms

Cities faced some of the most obvious social
problems
 1900, Galveston, TX adopted the
“commission” idea as a form of government
after a botched hurricane relief


Commission is a group of experts-each takes
charge of a different city department
1913, Dayton, OH- adopted the councilmanager form of gov’t

People elect a city council to make laws
State Reforms

Gov. Robert M. LaFollette- Rep. Wisconsin


Progressives worked to regulate child labor


Targeted RR industry- regulated rates, and forbade
free passes
Keating-Owen Act 1916- prohibited the
transportation across state likes of goods produced
with child labor (eventually deemed unconstitutional)
Made efforts to limit working hours and workers
compensation
Election Reform
Adoption of the secret ballot (aka
Australian ballot)
 Initiatives and referendums- gave citizens
the power to create laws

 Citizens
could petition to place an initiative (a
bill originated by the people) on the ballot
 Voters instead of legislatures accepted or
rejected the initiative by referendum (vote on
initiative)
Election Reform cont.
The recall enabled voters to remove
public officials from elected positions by
forcing them to face another election
before the end of their term
 17th Amendment- Direct election of
Senators

 Started with the primary election
 Forced Senators to focus more on
people not businesses
the
Women’s Role
At the turn of the century, 1 in 5 women
held jobs (25% in manufacturing)
 Faced dangerous conditions

 1911
fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Women’s clubs popped up and grew
into reform groups that addressed
issues like temperance and child labor
 Women began going to collegeseparate from men

Women in Reform
1896, African-American women founded
the NACW (National Assoc. of Colored
Women) led by Josephine Ruffin
 Susan B. Anthony led a campaign for
woman suffrage (right to vote)

 Founded
the National Women Suffrage
Assoc. (NWSA)
Strategy for Suffrage

Tried 3 approaches to achieve objective

Tried to convince state legislatures to grant women
the right to vote


Women pursued court cases to test the 14th
Amendment- women citizens too!


Won in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho
Supreme Court ruled in 1875 that women were citizens but
that that didn’t mean they had the right to vote
Women pushed for a national constitutional
amendment to grant women the right to vote


Amendment introduced in CA but it was killed later
For 41 years, women lobbied to have it reintroduced but it
continued to be voted down
Happy Wednesday!!

Take out your jungle worksheet so I can
check it and we can talk about it!

Did you know: In Utah, birds have the
right of way on all highways
Progressivism
Progressive Presidents
Political Leaders
Teddy Roosevelt- Republican
 William H. Taft- Republican
 Woodrow Wilson- Democrat
 PROGRESSIVES CAME FROM BOTH
PARTIES!!! MOVEMENT WAS
BIPARTISAN!

Teddy Roosevelt

Roosevelt took office after President
McKinley was assassinated

Was the youngest president ever (42 years old)
Saw the presidency as a “bully pit” from
which he could influence the news media and
shape legislation
 Believed the American people deserve a
“square deal” from government


Term was used to describe the progressive
reforms sponsored by his administration
Trust Busting

By 1900, trusts (legal bodies created to hold
stock in many companies) controlled about 4/5 of
the industries in the US


Sherman Antitrust Act wasn’t working
TR didn’t believe all trusts were harmful, he didn’t
want to “bust the trusts” just regulate them

Believed in the 3 C’s:
 Controlling corporations
 Consumer protection
 Conservation
TR’s Square Deal

1.
Included 6 items:
Increase Federal Power: to keep society running
well and to get rid of corruption the gov’t needed
to be more involved

Fed. Gov’t needed to get involved in state problems
2. Mediating Strikes: before TR, the gov’t sided with
business not strikers

TR didn’t want to totally change to ALWAYS siding with labor
but he believed that gov’t needs to step in when strikes effect
the common people


EX: Coal strike in PA 1902- workers want an 8 hr work day,
higher wages, workers/owners didn’t agree for months, winter
came and people needed coal for heat. TR threatens to seize the
mines if a decision isnt made, TR sends the gov’t in to mediate
TR establishes a precedent of saying gov’t can intervene in
strikes if the public welfare is involved
TR’s Square Deal cont.
3. Regulate Trusts: tries to regulate businesses
if they were oppressive to the people

Sometimes the businesses were destroyed, others
were guided towards better business practices
 Sued the companies
4. Regulating Transportation (mainly RR)

Elkins Act 1902: cant change rates w/o notifying
the public
 Hepburn Act 1906: Interstate Commerce
Commission now sets RR rates
TR’s Square Deal cont.
5. Protecting Health: influenced by “The
Jungle”
 Pure
Food and Drug Act 1906: must put
ingredients on the label
 Meat Inspection Act 1906
6. Conserving Natural Resources: set up
state parks, wildlife sanctuaries,
national forests; first to recognize the
issue of pollution
Progressivism Under Taft

TR hand picks William H. Taft (R) as his
successor
 Taft pursued a cautious progressive agenda


Sought to consolidate rather than expand TR’s
reforms
Was able to bust 90 trusts in a 4 year term
 Taft runs into a great deal of problems in his
presidency
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Taft campaigned on a platform of
lowering tariffs
 He tries to get the Payne-Aldrich tariff
passed, which, when it entered the
House was lower. But the Senate,
under pressure from big business,
actually increased tariffs

 Taft
signed it thinking it was the initial bill
and angered progressives
Conservation
Does some good things- Appalachians
added to national forests, set aside
federal oil lands
 BUT…he causes problems:

 Begins
selling off some land/water
conservation areas
 Places Richard A. Ballinger as Sec. Of
Interior
 He
starts selling land set aside for parks to
corporate developers
Problems in the Republican
Party

Taft Supported the political boss, “Uncle Joe” Cannon



As Chairman of the House Rules Committee, Cannon often
ignored progressive bills
Stripped him of his power
TR returns from Africa promoting “New
Nationalism” in which the fed. gov’t exerted its
power for the welfare of the people

TR ran for a 3rd term in a new (progressive) party: The Bull
Moose Party


Platform called for the direct election of senators and the adoption in
all states of the initiative, referendum and recall.
The split gave the Democrats their first chance at the White
House since 1892…Woodrow Wilson wins in 1912
Wilson’s New Freedom
From Staunton, VA, was the president
of Princeton and the polit. machine
wanted a candidate they could control
 Says that he will attack the Triple Wall
of Privilege: tariffs, banks and trusts
 Felt as TR did that the President had to
play an active role in obtaining change
in the country

Breaking down the Triple Wall
of Privilege: Tariff Reform

Underwood- Simmons Tariff 1913:
lowered tariffs down to 29-41%
 Did
this by telling the people to hold their
Congressmen accountable
 Changed the revenue of the Fed. Gov’t
 US
no longer gets the majority of its revenue
from tariffs
 16th Amendment: INCOME TAX!!

This is how the US makes up the difference
Breaking Down the Triple Wall
of Privilege: Banking Reform
Need the gov’t to oversee the actions of
the banking industry more
 Set up the Federal Reserve Board

 Decentralizes
the private banking system
Breaking Down the Triple Wall
of Privilege: Trusts

Establishes the Federal Trade Commission Act:
5 member committee that had the power to
investigate unfair business (trade) practices
including unlawful competition, fake advertising,
mislabeling, bribery


If found unlawful, the commission will tell them to
“cease and desist” and turn them over to the courts
Clayton Anti-trust Act: designed to strengthen
the Sherman Anti-trust Act


Declared more business practices illegal (Ex: cant but
stocks in another company if it will eventually give you
a monopoly)
Helped laborers: legal to strike, peacefully picket,
boycott and collect strike benefits
Other Wilson Acts





LaFollette Seaman’s Act (1915): improves
working conditions on American merchant
ships
Adamson Act (1916): 8 hr. work day for RR
Federal Farm Loan Act (1916): low interest
loans for farmers
Warehouse Act (1916): loans on the security
of staple crops
Workingman’s Compensation Act (1916)
grant assistance to federal civil service
employees during disability
Woman Suffrage and African
Americans

The movement gained strength with collegeeducated women
 Carrie Chapman Catt took over the NAWSA
 The efforts of women in WWI led to the
passage of the 19th Amendment granting
women the right to vote
 Wilson didn’t make any progressive moves
concerning African Americans due to his
southern roots