The Populist and
Progressive
movement
POPULISM AND AGRARIAN
UNREST
Response to abuses
 Political issues of the Gilded
Age:

 Labor
unrest
 Government reform
 Third-party movements
DEVELOPMENT OF POPULISM
The
Grange
 Farm
movement against
Railroad
Deflation
 Farm
prices fall
 Farmers unable to pay debts
THE POPULIST PARTY
 Leaders
Thomas E. Watson
 Mary Elizabeth Lease
 Members
 Farmers
 Led by lawyers and other
professionals
FARMER DEMANDS
 Cheap
money
 Establish postal savings banks
 Federal loan programs
 Graduated Federal income tax
 “Free Silver”
1896 Election
 Bryan
vs McKinley
 Free Silverites vs Goldbugs
 Bi-metallism vs Gold Standard
Agriculture
vs Manufacturing
South and West vs North
1896 Election Politicians
 William
Jennings Bryan
 “Cross of Gold” Speech
 “Stump” for votes – 1st to do
 William McKinley
 “Front Porch” campaign
 Stable appearance and backing
from Marcus (Mark) Alonzo Hanna
 Middle class feared inflation
Successes of the Populists
 Graduated
income tax
 Government loans to farmers
 Direct election of US senators
 Secret ballot, recall, initiative
 Shorter workday
 Agriculture prices rose
THE PROGRESSIVES
 White
collar workers joined the
farmers demand for reform
 Movement from three sources
 Religion
 The Press
 Radical political groups Socialists
POLITICAL REFORM UNDER
THE PROGRESSIVES
 started

at the local level
Tactics
 “throw the rascals out”
Institutional changes
–“gas and water socialism”
–Commission government
–Council-manager government
PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL
REFORMS
 State
Government reforms
 “Fighting Bob LaFollette”
 attack “interests”
Taxes
regulations
OTHER POLITICAL REFORMS
 Secret
Ballot - end vote fraud
 Initiative - citizens introduce
bills by petition - state and
federal
 recall - removed officials before
the end of their terms
 referendum - people vote on
bills after passed by legislature
OTHER POLITICAL REFORMS
 Direct
primary - candidates
selected by popular election
instead of machines
 Direct election of senators popular election rather than
legislatures - 1913 Seventeenth
Amendment
MUCKRAKERS
Investigative journalism to expose
disturbing conditions
“Yellow Journalism” – simple
sensationalism to boost sales
Lincoln Steffens – city corruption
Ida Tarbell – Standard Oil corrupt
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle
PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS
 THEODORE
ROOSEVELT
 “Square Deal”
 Belief that all people should have
equal opportunity to succeed
through strong personal ethics, a
sense of fairness and adherence
to the spirit of the law.
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
 “Trust
Busting”
 Northern Securities Company
 Hepburn Act passed
stricter controls over railroads
increased power of the ICC
 Coal Strike 1902 - set precedent
used office prestige to settle strike
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
 Pure
Food and Drug Act
 allowed government inspection
for purity and safety
 1906 Meat Inspection Act
 Conservation
 1902 Newlands Act
 used the Forest Reserve Act
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
 Conservation
continued
 Unpopular alignment with the
“Old Guard” (Conservative
Republicans)
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
 Roosevelt’s
successor
 Problems
 Payne-Aldrich
Tariff
 Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
 SUCCESSES
 the
REAL “Trust-buster”
 shaped a federal budget
 gained support for the 16th and
17th Amendments
 New Mexico and Arizona
statehood
WOODROW WILSON
 WILSON’S
“NEW FREEDOM”
 Monopolies were evil
 Federal power should be used
to ensure equality of
opportunity
WOODROW WILSON
 WILSON’S
REFORMS
 the Underwood Tariff
 the Federal Reserve Act
Central banking system with 12
district banks
created a “flexible” money
supply -AKA“elastic currency”
WOODROW WILSON
 Wilson’s
Reforms Continued
 Anti-Trust Legislation
Federal Trade Commission Act
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
 Keating- Owen Child Labor Act
 1908 National Conference on
Conservation
 National Conservation Commission
 Enforced existing laws against illegal
occupation of public lands