(1890s to 1920)
Part I:
Basics of
Progressivism
scientific analysis
eradicate sin &
improve morals
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Progressive Beliefs
Government should…
A. be accountable to its citizens
B. curb the power and influence of the
very wealthy
C. be given expanded power so it could
become more active in improving the
lives of its citizens
D. become more efficient and less corrupt
so that they could competently handle an
expanded role
They focused on those who….
A. lived in urban areas and
B. worked in industrialized plants
1. PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE
• industrialization in the late
19th century was largely
unregulated
& expert opinion
power &
authority
did not all share the same views
mostly middle class
influenced by Darwinism
the first modern reform movement
2. PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT
• some Progressives
proposed limiting
immigration as a way to
protect “American” moral
interests
• employers felt little
responsibility toward their
workers
• other groups wished to
ban alcohol included the
Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union
(WCTU)
• as a result, religious-based
institutions developed to
serve their communities
“Onward Christian Soldier”
3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM
• Panic of 1893 prompted
some to question the
capitalist system
some workers
embraced socialism
• Eugene V. Debs
organized the American
Socialist Party in 1901
Debs encouraged workers to reject
American Capitalism
Frances
Willard
MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE
BIG BUSINESS
• most progressives
disagree with laissezfaire capitalism
• “muckrakers” exposed
corruption in business
and politics
• Ida Tarbell exposed
Standard Oil Company’s
cut-throat methods of
eliminating competition
1
“The Bosses of the Senate” (1889)
ENDING CHILD LABOR
FOSTERING EFFICIENCY
• why did reformers seek to
end it?
• why did others defend it?
• nearly every state limited or
banned child labor by 1918
• “Taylorism” or scientific
management became an
industry fad as factories
sought to complete each
task quickly
• conclusions included:
divide work between
Frederick
managers (planning) and
Taylor
workers (labor)
scientifically select train
employees
What are the implications for
clear methods/rules
• federal actions:
Keating-Owen Child
Labor Act (1916)
Sup. Ct. overturned this
law in Hammer v.
Dagenhart (1918)
social reforms???
ADULT LABOR REFORMS
• reducing women’s hours of work
the Supreme Court (case???)
state laws followed
• HOWEVER…
Adkins v. Children’s Hospital
(1923) overturned this, saying that
women no longer entitled to
“special protection”
trigger incident???
• Progressives also succeeded in
winning worker’s compensation
to aid families of injured workers
trigger incident???
FEDERAL REFORM
• Progressives pushed
for the popular
election of senators
force senators to
be more responsive
to the public
Congress passed
the 17th Amendment
(1913)
STATE REFORMS
4. ENACT POLITICAL REFORMS
• WISCONSIN MODEL
MUNICIPAL (local) GOVERNMENT
• cities begin to control public utilities
gas lines
power plants
transportation systems
• City Commissions and managers:
heads of city departments elected
Galveston, TX was first
What’s the trade off?
–
1st
workers' compensation
system
railroad rate reform
direct legislation
municipal home rule
“open government”
the minimum wage
non-partisan elections
the open primary system
direct election of U.S.
Senators
– women's suffrage
– equalized taxation
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–
–
Robert
“Fightin’
Bob”
La Follette
- Repub.
Governor
ELECTION REFORM
• Initiatives
voter-proposed laws
• Referendums
approval of legislatureproposed laws
• Recall
removal of elected officials
• Australian (secret) ballot
MA first state to use
privacy curtain
Part II
Progressives
and Women
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DOMESTIC WORKERS
• in late 19th C., women
without formal
education often met
their families’ economic
needs by doing
domestic work
• altogether, 70% of
women employed in
1870 were servants
WOMEN AND REFORM
WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE
• opportunities for women
increased especially in
the cities
• by 1900, one out of five
women worked
• the garment trade was
popular as was office
work, department stores
and classrooms
• Women’s Garment
Workers Trade Union
Strike in 1913
By 1890…
• married women could
buy and sell property
• working women were
more active in unions
• women became more
vocal about their right to
vote
• women reformers strove to
improve conditions at work
and home
• in 1896, black women
formed the National
Association of Colored
Women (NACW) because
NAWSA wouldn’t allow
black women
WOMEN LEAD REFORM
• middle and upper
class women also
entered the public
sphere as
reformers
• many of these
women had
graduated from
new women’s
colleges
SUFFRAGE AND THE
3-PART STRATEGY
Suffragists tried 3 approaches
to winning the vote
1) convince state legislatures
to adopt vote (succeeded in
WY, UT, ID, CO)
2) pursue court cases to test
14th Amendment
3) push for national
constitutional amendment
SUFFFRAGE OPPONENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Would women become “too masculine”?
Would they be easily manipulated by politicians?
Would politics distract them from their duties?
Would women even vote?
3
A New Generation of Leaders
• Carrie Chapman Catt led NAWSA
1900-1904 and after 1915
• Alice Paul organized a single-issue political party
National Women’s Party
they wanted a Constitutional Amendment
A Split in the Movement
• NAWSA did not approve of
CU’s militant protests
expelled CU from the
organization
• during WWI, CU continued to
demonstrate and members
were sent to prison
During WWI…
• U.S. entered WWI in April 1917
• women volunteered to support
war effort
• war seized people’s primary
interest - not women’s suffrage
• NAWSA became the largest
volunteer organization in the
country
But AFTER the war…
Victory for Suffrage
• Congress began debate
on suffrage amendment
in 1919
TR’s SQUARE DEAL
• Theodore Roosevelt
became the nation’s
26th president
youngest president
ever at age 42
• TR called for a “square
deal” for capital, labor,
and public at large
Progressive
Presidents
• many states had also
passed laws allowing
women to vote
• 19th Amendment (1920)
was ratified
Part III:
The 19th Amendment gave women
the right to vote in 1920
THE MODERN PRESIDENT
• he quickly established
himself as a modern
president who could
influence the media and
shape legislation
the “bully pulpit”
McKinley was assassinated
by an anarchist in Buffalo
in September of 1901
TRUSTBUSTING
• by 1900, trusts – legal bodies
created to hold stock in many
companies – controlled 80% of
U.S. industries
• TR filed 44 lawsuits under the
Sherman Antitrust Act
TR distinguished between
‘good’ & ‘bad’ trusts
SQUARE DEAL in ACTION:
1902 COAL STRIKE
• 140,000 PA coal miners
struck for increased wages
and the right to unionize
• mine owners refused to
bargain
• TR called in both sides and
settled the dispute
• thereafter, when a strike
threatened public welfare,
the federal government
was expected to step in
and help
4
THE JUNGLE LEADS TO FOOD
REGULATION
PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT (1906)
• the act halted
the sale of
contaminated
foods and
medicines and
called for truth
in labeling
• after reading The Jungle TR pushed
for passage of the Meat Inspection
Act of 1906
mandated cleaner conditions for
meatpacking plants
The Pure Food and Drug Act
took medicines with cocaine and other
harmful ingredients off the market
The original….
TR & CIVIL RIGHTS
TR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• conservation was a
primary concern for TR
set aside 148 million
acres of forest reserves
set aside 1.5 million acres
of water-power sites
Roosevelt with author
John Muir
at Yosemite Park
established 50 wildlife
sanctuaries and several
national parks
Yellowstone National Park
NAACP FORMED
• Personal acts
spoke out against lynchings in
several speeches
• organized in 1909 by a
biracial group of reformers
invited Booker T. Washington
to the White House for dinner
• had 6,000 members by 1914
assured Jane Addams that he
supported women’s suffrage
• Official acts
never advocated legislation to
improve civil rights
Brownsville incident
Sample FRQ Prompt
“Theodore Roosevelt was not a true
reformer; his presidency failed to
make dramatic changes in America.
“Assess the validity of this statement
from 1901 to 1909.”
Sample Thesis
While not a radical, Theodore Roosevelt
made important reforms in American
from 1901 to 1909, including the
expansion of presidential powers, the
regulation of trusts, the preservation of
the environment, and enactment of
consumer protection laws.
• their goal is/was full equality
among the races
• the means to achieve this
was the court system
PROGRESSIVISM UNDER TAFT
• William Howard Taft
(R) easily defeated
William Jennings Bryan
(D) in the 1908
presidential election
• Taft “busted” 90 trusts
during his 4 years in
office
Taft was Roosevelt’s War
Secretary …and his
handpicked successor
5
TAFT LOSES POWER
• Taft was not as
popular with public
nor reform minded
Republicans
• by 1910, Democrats
had regained control
of the House
• TR angered by Taft’s
handling of
presidency
1912 ELECTION
• Republicans split in 1912
between Taft and TR
• Taft was named the official
nominee
• some Republicans formed a
third party – the Bull Moose
Party and nominated TR
• the Democrats nominated
reform - minded Woodrow
Wilson
Taft called the Presidency,
“The lonesomest job in the world”
WILSON’S NEW FREEDOM
• “New Freedom” stressed
individualism and states’
rights
• he planned his attack on
what he called the “triple
wall of privilege”:
trusts
tariffs
high finance
FEDERAL RESERVE ACT
• wanted financial stability
and flexibility rejected
a private national bank
• proposed national
banking system:
- 12 district banks
- supervised/regulated
by the Federal Reserve
Board
- currency is “Federal
Reserve Notes”
CLAYTON ANTITRUST ACT (1914)
• strengthened the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act (1890)
• prevented companies from
acquiring stock from another
company (anti-monopoly)
• Gompers hailed it as “the
Magna Carta of labor”
legalized strikes and
peaceful picketing
restricted the use of
injunctions
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
• formed in 1914 to
serve as “watchdog”
agency to end unfair
business practices
• protects consumers
from business fraud
FEDERAL RESERVE ACT (1913)
• influenced by Brandeis’
Other People’s Money &
How Bankers Use It and
the findings of Congress’
Pujo Committee
• Wilsonian Progressives
rejected gold standard
believed banks were
influenced by stock
speculators on Wall St.
FEDERAL INCOME TAX
• Wilson worked hard to lower
tariffs [Underwood Tariff],
however that lost revenue had
to be made up
the 16th Amendment
(1916) legalized a graduated
federal income tax
Today the FTC has been working on
protecting consumers from ID theft
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LIMITS OF PROGRESSIVISM
• Progressives did nothing
about segregation and
lynching
• no progress for Native
Americans
• considered other reforms
more important (e.g., tariffs)
“benefitted everyone,”
not just one group
• like TR and Taft, Wilson
retreated on Civil Rights
once in office
The KKK reached a membership
of 4.5 million in the 1920s
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