AP United States History
Mr. M. Pecot
Bailey, Chapter 28: Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt, 1901-1912
I.
The Roots of Progressivism
a) America in 1900
1.
A racial "melting pot"
76 million Americans; 1 in 7 is foreign-born
1900-1914: 13 million more immigrants will arrive
b) The Progressives
1.
A broad reform movement: new crusaders
different reformers attack monopoly, corruption, inefficiency, social injustice, poverty, urban
squalor, racism, etc.
common thread: seek to "strengthen the state," call for the use of government as an agency of
human welfare
2.
Political roots of the progressive movement
1870s Greenback Labor Party
1890s Populist Movement
3.
General political/philosophical positon
seek new solutions to the problems of the industrial age; laissez-faire and rugged
individualism seen as out of place
the "intentionally feeble" Jeffersonian governmental system needs to be invigorated to
respond to the growing power of corporations and the growing problems of an increasingly
urban society
II. The Rise of the Progressives
a) Influences
1.
Politicians
William Jennings Bryan
Gov. Altgeld
Populist leaders
2.
Writers & Novelists
Henry Damarest Lloyd
−
Wealth Against Commonwealth (1894) - attack on the practices of the Standard Oil
Company
Theodore Veblen
−
The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) - a savage attack on "predatory wealth" and
"conspicuous consumption"
Jacob Riis
−
How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Theodore Dreiser
−
The Titan (1914)
−
The Financier (1912)
3.
The Muckrakers - exposé journalists & reformer-writers
New 10¢ & 15¢ journals emerge; compete in aggressive dirt-digging
McClure's; Cosmopolitan; Collier's; Everybody's
nicknamed "muckrakers" by TR - meant as an insult - reference to the "man with the muck
rake" in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
b) Significant Muckraking Works
1.
Lincoln Steffens
"The Shame of Cities" (1902) in McClure's
attacks the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal governments
2.
Ida M. Tarbell
"A History of the Standard Oil Company" in McClure's
exposed corrupt biz practices of the Standard Oil Company; Tarbell's father had been a oil
man ruined by JDR
3.
Thomas Lawson
"Frenzied Finance" in Everybody's (1905-1906)
4.
David G. Phillips
"Treason of the Senate" (1906) in Cosmopolitan
−
charged that 75 of 90 senators were representatives or railroads and trusts, not the
people…provided damaging evidence
5.
Ray Stannard Baker
Following the Color Line (1908)
−
described the condition of the 90% of Americas 9 million blacks in the south; 1/3
illiterate
6.
John Spargo
The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906)
−
exposed the abuses of child labor
7.
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley (chief chemist in the Department of Agriculture)
attacked patent medicines in numerous articles in Colliers
III. Progressives in Politics
a) Progressive Goals and Characteristics
1.
A white, Anglo-Saxon, middle-class movement
"squeezed" from above and below
−
pressure from giant corporations (loss of autonomy) and from the hordes of
immigrants & restless labor unions
2.
Two goals
use state power to curb trusts
stem Socialist threat by improving the common person's condition of life and labor
3.
Regional / political affliations
Progressives appear in all parties and all regions, and at all levels of government
b) Attempts to regain power lost to the "interests"
1.
Reforming the political system
Direct primary elections
−
undercuts power of political bosses
Initiative
−
ability for voters to directly propose legislation (and therefore bypass
legislatures)
Referendum
−
laws placed on ballot for final approval by the people
Recall
−
special elections to remove faithless public officials
Australian ballot (aka secret ballot)
Corrupt-practices Acts
−
state limitations on corporate gifts and donations to campaigns to root out
bribery
2.
Direct election of US Senators
Senate = "Millionaire's Club"
election by state legislatures (often under control of the trusts) meant that Senators were often
beholden to special interests, not the people
Works like David G. Phillips' Treason of the Senate exposed the tie between business and the
Congress
17th Amendment adopted in 1913
3.
Women's Suffrage
many progressives believe that women would "elevate politics"
19th Amendment adopted in 1920
c) Municipal Reforms
1.
Cleaning up city politics
City-manager system replaces elected city governments
−
takes politics and spoils out of city administration
−
expert-staffed commissions run city services and manage city affairs
−
Galveston, TX adopts a City Manager after a devastating hurricane in 1900.
Other communities followed its example.
2.
Cleaning up city streets: reformers tackle:
slumlords
juvenile delinquency
prostitution (often with police protection)
d) State-level reforms
1.
Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette & The "Wisconsin Idea"
an almost militant progressive leader in the Republican party
elected governor of WI in 1900
−
campaigns aggressively against the sinister alliance of the "interests" (primarily
the railroad and lumber companies) and the "bosses" (the major party leaders,
predominantly Republican) who worked together to cheat the "people"--the
small business owners, farmers, and andworkers
−
Platform planks include: open nominating primaries, equal and fair taxation of
corporate property, state regulation of railroads and public utilities charges, and
management of public resources in the public interest
The Wisconsin Idea
−
management of public resources entrusted to nonpartisan civil servants, mostly
drawn from the faculty of the University of Wisconsin.
2.
Hiram W. Johnson in California
elected Republican governor of California in 1910
helps break the grip of the Southern Pacific RR on the California legislature and politics
3.
Charles Evans Hughes
IV. Progressive Reform in Business, Industry, and Social Life
a) Sweatshops and Unsafe conditions
1.
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire (1911)
146 women workers, mostly girls, die in a factory fire caused by overcrowded & unsafe
conditions
NY and other state legislatures respond by enacting regulations on the hours and conditions
in industry
b) The Courts and Industrial reforms
1.
Lochner v. New York (1905
Supreme Court invalidates a New York law establishing a ten-hour workday for bakers
Majority opinion "The freedom of master and employee to contract with each other ... cannot
be prohibited or interfered with without violating the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of
liberty."
The dissenting opinion of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. emphasized the dangers of long
hours in the baking industry, arguing that the state could regulate private business in the
interest of health. This argument was later used in Mueller v. Oregon (1908) -- a decision
which partially overturned the Lochner ruling.
2.
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
Supreme Court ruling which upheld the constitutionality of a 1903 Oregon state law limiting
the number of hours women could work in commercial industries. The law was defended in
the SC by attorney Louis D. Brandeis, who used sociological, medical, and scientific data to
illustrate the need to protect workers, especially women.
Majority opinion concurred with the "Brandeis brief," holding that "woman's physical
structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage ... the
physical well-being of woman becomes an object of public interest and care."
A sexist ruling, but seen as a liberal triumph in 1908.
c) Anti-Saloon and Anti-Liquor Reforms
1.
Reformers attack saloons for their connection with prostitution & election corruption, as well as the belief that
alcohol abuse threatened the stability of the family.
By 1900, saloon-to-people ratio in San Francisco and NYC = 1:200
2.
Temperance Organization
Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
−
Frances E. Willard
Anti-Saloon League
3.
Dry Laws
predominantly passed in rural areas; cities with large immigrant populations remain "wet"
By 1914 (eve of WWI) almost 50% of the nation lived in "dry" territory
18th Amendment in 1919 establishes nationwide prohibition; 21st Amendment repeals it in
1933.
V. Theodore Roosevelt & the Square Deal
a) TR's "Square Deal"
1.
Caught up in the progressive wave, TR calls for a "square deal" for capital, labor, and the public at large
2.
Embraces three C's:
control of corporations
consumer protection
conservation of natural resources
b) Roosevelt and Labor
1.
Anthracite Coal Strike (1902)
1902: 140,000 mineworkers in Western Pennsylvania go on strike,
−
demand a 20% pay increase and a reduction of the workday from 10 to 9 hours.
−
Mine owners, such George F. Baer, refuse to negotiate with the strikers -- mines
are closed
Winter setting in and coal supplies dwindling; schools, factories, and hospitals threatened by
the shortage of heating coal
TR's response:
−
calls union leaders and management to the White House to negotiate
−
forces a compromise by threatening to call in federal troops to seize and operate
the mines (first time the Fed gov't ever threatened to use force against capital
instead of labor)
2.
Creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor (1903)
a recognition of the mounting antagonisms between labor and capital
Bureau of Corporations -- part of the DOC; probes businesses engaged in interstate commerce
in order to investigate cases of monopoly and dangerous trusts
c) Roosevelt and Big Business
1.
Congress, with TR's support, creates powerful new legislation to curb corrupt business practices
Elkins Act (1903)
−
places heavy fines on railroads and shippers that give and accept rebates in
exchange for their business
Hepburn Act (1906)
−
energizes the Interstate Commerce Commission by giving it enough power to
regulate the economy.
−
It nullified existing freight rates and allowed the ICC to set new maximum rates.
−
ICC's reach extended to include express companies, sleeping car companies,
pipelines
d) Controlling the Corporations: TR the "Trustbuster"
1.
TR distinguishes between "Good" and "Bad" trusts
Good Trust = had public consciences, improved efficiency, reduced prices (it also helped to be
a Roosevelt friend and a contributor to the GOP)
Bad Trust = sought to gain power by eliminating competition; artificially increased prices
2.
Taking on the Railroad Trusts
By 1906, nearly 2/3 of all railways under the control of 7 companies
1902 - TR goes after JP Morgan and John J. Hill's Northern Securities Company for violating
anti-trust statutes
−
Northern Securities Company appeals, and loses in 1904; forced to dissolve
3.
Other industries
1905 - Supreme Court declares the beef trust illegal
sugar, fertilizer, harvesters, etc. follow
4.
Assessing TR's "trustbusting"
Popular mythology has inflated TR's reputation as a trust-buster
TR saw combination and integration as part of the economic progress of the age; bigness did
not necessarily mean badness
Favored regulation of big business, not outright dissolution
−
attacks on "bad" trusts were strong statements of federal power
−
encouraged business cooperation with federal regulations
TR = more of a "trust-tamer" than a "trustbuster"
−
W.H. Taft will actually break up more trusts than TR did
e) Consumer Protections
1.
Reforming the meatpacking industry
European nations refusing to buy American meat -- finding tainted products
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906)
−
novel attempts to create sympathy for socialism by illustrating the plight of the
workers in Chicago's meat-packing industry
−
public is appalled by descriptions of unsanitary conditions in the meat packing
industry
−
Sinclair claims "I was aiming for the people's hearts, but instead hit them in the
stomach"
1906 Meat Inspection Act
−
Sinclair's work prompts TR to form a commission to investigate Chicago's meat
industry
−
MIA passed in 1906: requires all meat shipped over state lines to be inspected
"from corral to can" - carries USDA seal of approval
1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
−
companion to MIA, prevented the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and
medicines
f) Conservation
1.
The assumption that natural resources were inexhaustible had led to widespread destruction of the
environment, especially in the West
2.
Early conservation efforts
Desert Lands Act (1877)
−
authorized cheap sale of arid land to purchasers willing to irrigate it within 3
years
−
an early attempt at land management
Forest Reserve Act (1891)
−
authorizes the president to set aside public forests as national parks and reserves
−
46 million acres set aside throughout the 1890s
Carey Act (1894)
−
distributed federal land to the states on the condition it be irrigated and settled
−
leads to the irrigation of about 1 million barren acres
3.
TR's approach to conservation
An avid outdoorsman, TR was a lover of nature and appalled at the pillage of the nations
resources
Newlands Reclamation Act (1902)
−
authorizes sale of public lands in arid western states
−
funds used to construct dams and irrigation projects
−
1911 Roosevelt Dam constructed on the Salt River in AZ
−
dozens of dams on the west's major rivers follow over the next decades
Protection of national forests
−
by 1900, only about 1/4 of virgin timberlands remain
−
old-growth forests from Maine to Michigan had been decimated: lumber
interests began eyeing the Pacific forests
−
TR sets aside 125 million acres (3 times as many acres as had been set aside by
his three predecessors!!) as national forest reserves
−
1902 TR bans Christmas trees in the White House
4.
Conservation v. Preservation
Preservationists argue that wilderness areas should be left untouched
−
John Muir and the Sierra Club (founded 1892)
Conservationists argue for land-management of wilderness resources
−
Gifford Pinchot and the National Forest Service
−
call for intelligent use and "multiple-use resource management" including
recreation, sustained-yield logging (selective cutting), watershed protection, and
summer stock grazing on federal land
leads to a cooperative relationship between big resource users and the federal
management agencies
Hetch Hetchy Valley controversy
−
illustrates the preservation v. conservation argument
−
1913, federal gov't authorizes the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in
Yosemite to create a dam for San Francisco.
VI. The End of the Roosevelt Presidency
a) The Panic of 1907
1.
A short but punishing Panic hits the US in 1907
financial world blamed TR, claiming his "boat-rocking" had upset industry
brand TR as "TR the Meddler" and called the downturn the "Roosevelt Panic"
2.
Leads to long-overdue fiscal reforms
1908 Aldrich-Vreeland Act: allows national banks to issue emergency currency backed by
collateral. A means of increasing the money supply during a contraction
−
paves way for a larger reform: The Federal Reserve Act of 1913
b) Election of 1908
1.
TR had stated in 1904 that he would not seek a third term, but was popular (and powerful) enough to handpick a successor: William Howard Taft
2.
Candidates:
GOP: Taft
Democrats: William Jennings Bryan
Socialist: Eugene V. Debs
−
polls 420,793 votes
3.
Taft wins easily, TR heads off to Africa to hunt lions
c) The TR legacy
1.
maintained a middle road between unbridled individualism (laissez-faire capitalism) and paternalistic
collectivism (socialism)
2.
enlarged the power and prestige of the presidency
3.
helped shaped progressivism and liberal reform movements
Square Deal is the granddaddy of FDR's New Deal
4.
TR helped awaken American's to the recognition that they were players in world affairs (and that they
inherited certain responsibilities as a result)
−
VII.
The Taft Presidency
a) Taft's pluses and minuses
1.
Pluses
capable administrator (proved this in the Phillipines)
bright lawyer (second in class at Yale) and fair-minded judge
plus-sized!!
2.
Minuses
a poor politician (lacked the force of personality that TR had); poor judge of public opinion
recoiled from controversy; adopted a generally passive attitude toward Congress
b) "Dollar Diplomacy"
1.
Taft's foreign two-fold policy
use foreign policy to protect American investments abroad
use American money to uphold foreign policy
−
encourages investment in areas of strategic concern for the United States, e.g.,
Far East and regions bordering the Panama Canal
2.
Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean
1909 - Taft attempted unsuccessfully to establish control over Honduras by buying up its debt
to British bankers.
In Nicaragua, American intervention included funding the country's debts to European
bankers.
the State Department persuaded four American banks to refinance Haiti's national debt,
setting the stage for further intervention in the future.
3.
Dollar Diplomacy in China
Secretary of state, Philander C. Knox, became convinced in 1910 that America's free access to
trade there was threatened by European financing of the new Hukuang Railroad. With some
difficulty, the Taft administration arranged for American bankers to be included in the project
and then prevailed on J. Pierpont Morgan to create an American syndicate for the purpose
Taft was also concerned about Russian and Japanese railroad activities in Manchuria and
managed to persuade American bankers to join a six-power consortium that would give
China the money instead.
4.
Effect of Dollar Diplomacy
Revolutions in the Caribbean led to numerous armed interventions by the US
−
Cuba, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua (2500 Marines land there in 1912)
c) Taft the Trustbuster
1.
A more vigorous anti-trust prosecutor than TR
TR: 44 anti-trust suits in 7 ½ years
WHT: 90 anti-trust suits in 4 years
2.
Key anti-trust activities
1911: Standard Oil Trust dissolved
1911: Taft goes after the United Steel Corporation
−
infuriates TR, who had given his imprimatur to JP Morgan's merger with
Tennessee Coal & Iron -- one of the merger's that prompted the suit
d) Taft and Roosevelt Part the Party (I should write for the American Pageant, huh?)
1.
The Tariff Issue prompts an intra-party showdown
Progressives favored lowering the protective tariff (the Mother of all Trusts)
Taft, in his 1908 campaign promised tariff reduction and convened a special session of
Congress in 1909 to do so
Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909)
−
begins as a moderate tariff reduction in the House
−
the more conservative (and business driven) Senate amends the House version
adding hundreds of revisions (all pushing rates upward).
−
Only insignificant items (such as hides, sea moss, and bird seed remained dutyfree)
Taft signs the bill anyhow
−
violates campaign promise and outrages progressives (especially in the
Midwest)
−
makes matters worse by calling the Payne-Aldrich Tariff the "best bill that the
Republican party ever passed."
2.
The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy
As a conservationist, WHT had many praiseworthy accomplishments
−
established the Bureau of Mines to control mineral resources
−
rescued millions of acres of western coal lands from exploitation
−
protected water-power sites from private development
1909 - Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger opens public lands in WY, Montana, and Alaska
to private developers, prompting sharp criticism from chief of the Division of Forestry of the
USDA, Gifford Pinchot (a friend of TR's)
Taft dismisses Pinchot for insubordination, evoking a storm of protest from conservationists
and TR's friends
3.
The Split of the GOP
TR returns from Africa in 1910, takes to the stump, and outlines a new and improved vision
of government: New Nationalism
Congressional elections of 1910
−
House: divided GOP loses big to the Democratic Party, 161 seats to 228; with
Victor Berger elected as a Socialist from Milwuakee
−
Senate: GOP retains its majority 51-41
1911 National Progressive Republican League formed, intends to challenge Taft's nomination
in the 1912 election
−
Sen. Robert La Follette (R-WI) is the likely progressive nominee…until TR
announces he's willing to serve a third term
1912 GOP convention
−
Taft wins the nomination (TR was about 100 delegates short of getting the nod)
−
TR's delegates challenge the right of about 250 Taft delegates to be seated; when
they are, they claim fraud and refuse to vote
TR will lead a third-party challenge: The Progressive Party (aka the Bull Moose Party) in the
election of 1912.