BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Hist 168b—Fall 2014
T, F 9:30-10:50
PROF. MICHAEL WILLRICH
willrich@brandeis.edu; 6-2292
Office Hours: T, 2-4; Olin-Sang 117
AMERICA IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA, 1890-1920
H.C. White, View of Homestead Steel Works, Pennsylvania, ca. 1907
This course examines the history of the United States during the pivotal decades when
America became a modern urban-industrial society. Turn-of-the-century Americans
struggled to define the ideas and institutions appropriate to the great social challenges of
their times. They reinvented democratic politics, reimagined liberalism, and remade the state,
laying the foundation for the nation’s development over the next half century.
The era opens amid the industrial strife and agrarian discontent that came to a head during
the Great Depression of the 1890s. It closes with the nation’s cultural and political
retrenchment after World War I. In the intervening decades, sweeping historical forces—
mass industrialization, rapid urbanization, corporate consolidation, global migration, and
overseas expansion—transformed American society, culture, and politics and gave rise to
broad-based movements for social justice and social control. Americans of different classes
and persuasions challenged the old political logic of laissez-faire individualism and called upon
their local, state, and national governments to achieve their diverse and often conflicting
purposes. Populism, muckraking journalism, direct election of senators, trust-busting, the
social sciences, alcohol prohibition, Jim Crow laws, immigration restriction, eugenics, social
insurance, environmental conservation: all of these first appeared on the American scene or
assumed their distinctively modern forms during this “Age of Reform.” Many politically
active Americans called themselves and their era “progressive,” an optimistic and openended slogan that expressed their sense that they were living through a time of intense
historical change, cultural ferment, and reform aimed at achieving a more efficient, moral,
and socially just democracy. In our own era of globalization, rising economic inequality, and
great environmental challenges, we have much to learn from the Progressive Era, when
Americans first confronted many of the pressing questions that we still wrestle with today.
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Learning Goals:
1. To develop a strong historical knowledge of the social and political history of the United
States during the pivotal period between 1890 and 1920.
2. To foster critical thinking and analytical skills.
3. To strengthen oral communication, written expression, and research skills.
Requirements and Grading:
1. Regular attendance & informed class participation. This course is organized around
discussion of assigned readings. Each student is expected to read all texts by the assigned
date, bring the texts to class, and to be prepared to actively discuss them. Students cannot
pass this course without attending class regularly.
25 % of the final grade
2. Essay (4-5 pages), due Tues., Sept. 23 in my mailbox, Olin-Sang 2d floor. Topics will be
posted on Latte.
10 % of the final grade
3. In-class Midterm Exam on Tues., Oct. 21.
15 % of the final grade
4. A primary-source research paper (10-12 pages) on some aspect of American history during
the period from 1890-1920. The essay must be grounded in the student’s own research in
primary and secondary sources. Papers with thin bibliographies (fewer than six items, not
counting reference works) or which do not make use of the sources listed in the bibliography
are unacceptable. The essay must present a well-supported historical argument; it must not
be purely descriptive. A one-page statement of the research topic and a preliminary
bibliography are due on Nov. 10. The final paper is due on the last day of class, Dec. 5.
25 % of the final grade
5. A comprehensive, three-hour final exam. Tentative date is Tues., Dec. 16, 6-9 PM.
25 % of the final grade
Course Rules:
1. You must complete all assignments to receive a passing grade.
2. Late papers will automatically be marked down.
3. If you have a question about a grade, please come to my office hours. I will not discuss
grades over the phone or via e-mail. I am happy to discuss questions about the course
material via e-mail.
4. Academic Honesty: The Brandeis University policy on academic honesty is distributed
annually as section 4 of the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. I take this policy very
seriously. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be reported to the appropriate university
authorities. http://www.brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/srcs/index.html
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5. Accommodations: If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University
and wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately.
Please keep in mind that accommodations cannot be provided retroactively.
6. Electronics: Because they detract from the educational environment, laptops and tablets
are not allowed in this class without an accommodation. No cell phones, texting devices,
recorders, etc.
Required Readings:
Documents Packet: on sale in the History Department Office, Olin-Sang 215.
Copies of the required books are available for purchase in the Brandeis Bookstore:
Daniel T. Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (1998)
George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male
World, 1890-1940. (1994)
Karl Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History
of American Conservation (2001).
Sidney M. Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American
Democracy (2009)
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
F, Aug. 29
A Trip Down Market Street: America in the Progressive Era
T, Sept. 2
Industrialization and Work
Reading: Gilmore, “Overview of the Progressive Era” (2002), pp. 3-18
Edwards, “Work,” in New Spirits (2006), pp. 60-79
Sinclair, The Jungle (1906), Chapter 3
F, Sept. 5
The Farmers Revolt
Reading: Kazin, The Populist Persuasion (1998), pp. 27-49
Postel, The Populist Vision (2007), pp. 3-22
Weaver, Call to Action (1892), preface
The Omaha Platform of 1892
T, Sept. 9
The Great Depression of the 1890s
Reading: Painter, “The Depression of the 1890s” (1987)
White, “Strike,” in Railroaded (2011), pp. 414-452
Debs, “Proclamation to American Railway Union” (1895)
F, Sept. 12
The Election of 1896
Reading: “Issues and Prospects of the Campaign,” North Am. Rev. (1896)
Bryan, The “Cross of Gold” Speech, 1896
Republican Party Platform of 1896
* Political Cartoons from 1896: ON LATTE
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T, Sept. 16
The Spanish-American War and the Philippine Question
Reading: Keller, “Spanish American War” (1991)
Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987)
McKinley, “Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation”
Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1899)
Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)
Bryan, Speech at the Democratic Convention (1900)
Senator Beveridge Defends U.S. Imperialism (1900)
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine (1904)
F, Sept. 19
The US Colonial State in the Philippines
Reading: Kramer, “The Philippine-American War as Race War” (2006)
Willrich, “War Is Health,” Pox (2011), Chapter 4
T, Sept. 23
“Brandeis Thursday”—No Class
Essays Due in Prof. Willrich’s Mailbox, 2d Floor of Olin-Sang
F, Sept. 26
Rosh Hashanah Holiday—No Class
T, Sept. 30
The Problem of the Color Line
Reading: Holt, “Ragtime,” in Children of Fire (2010), pp. 185-236
Wells-Barnett, Southern Horrors (1892-1894)
Washington, Up From Slavery (1901), Chapters 13-14
DuBois, Souls of Black Folk (1903), Chapters 1 and 3
F, Oct. 3
The Transatlantic Origins of Progressive Social Politics
Reading: Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, Prologue and Chapters 1-3
Rauschenbusch, “Christianizing the Social Order” (1912)
T, Oct. 7
Progressivism and the Modern City
Reading: Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, Chapter 4
Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House ( 1910), Chapters 5-6
F, Oct. 10
Urban Social Control: Epidemics, Vice, and Crime
Reading: Willrich, “The Politics of Tight Places,” Pox (2011), Chapter 6
Darrow, “Address to the Prisoners of Cook County Jail” (1902)
Chicago Vice Commission, The Social Evil in Chicago (1911), pp. 25-47
T, Oct. 14
Amusing the Million: The Rise of Mass Consumer Culture
Reading: Chauncey, Gay New York, Intro + Chapters 1-3, 5, and 7
F, Oct. 17
Sexuality and the City
Reading: Chauncey, Gay New York, Chapters 9, 11-12, and epilogue
T, Oct. 21
In-Class Midterm
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F, Oct. 24
Research Workshop
Reading: TBA
T, Oct. 28
Taming the Octopus: Anti-Trust
Reading: Dawley, “Progressive Statecraft” (1991)
Northern Securities Co. v. United States (1904)
Roosevelt, “Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal” (1911)
Brandeis, “Breaking the Money Trust” (1913)
Clayton Anti-Trust Act, 1914
Lippmann, “The Magic of Property,” Drift & Mastery (1914), Ch. 3
F, Oct. 31
Socializing the Wage Earners’ Risks
Reading: Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, Chapter 6
Eastman, Work Accidents and the Law (1910), excerpt
T, Nov. 4
Engendering the State
Reading: Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers, pp. 373-423
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
F, Nov. 7
“Keep the Life Stream Pure”: The Eugenics Movement
Reading: Jacobson, “Anglo-Saxons and Others, 1840-1924” (1998)
Willrich, “The Two Percent Solution” (1998)
Ross, The Old World in the New (1914)
M, Nov. 10
Research Topic Due by 12 Noon in Prof. Willrich’s Mailbox
T, Nov. 11
Decommodifying Nature: The Progressive Conservation Movement
Reading: President Roosevelt’s Conservation Message, 1907
The Hetch Hetchy Dam Debate, 1913
Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature, Preface, Introduction, + Chapters 1-3
F, Nov. 14
The Hidden History of Conservationism
Reading: Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature, Chapters 4-6 and Epilogue
T, Nov. 18
TR!
Reading: Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt . . ., Chapters 1-3
F, Nov. 21
The Election of 1912
Reading: Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt . . ., Chapters 4-6
The Progressive Party Platform of 1912
T, Nov. 25
The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson
Reading: Hofstadter, “Woodrow Wilson—The Conservative as Liberal (1948)
F, Nov. 28
Thanksgiving Holiday—No Class
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T, Dec. 2
The Great War
Reading: Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, Chapter 7
President Wilson’s War Message (1917)
Senator LaFollette, “Free Speech in Wartime” (1917)
Creel, How We Advertised America (1920)
Headquarters 92d Division, Bulletin No. 35 (1918)
“To the Colored Soldiers of the United States Army” (1918)
F, Dec. 5
1919
Reading: President Wilson’s Fourteen Points (1918)
The Sedition Act, 1918
Research Paper Due
* T, Dec. 16, 6-9 PM Final Exam
* Exam date is scheduled by the Registrar’s Office and is subject to change.