Why were the late 1800s called
the Gilded Age?
Chapter 22
The Progressive Era
Chapter 23
Progressive Politics
Progressivism
6 Traits:
• Concerns over industrial conditions
• Optimism about human nature and our ability to
solve problems
• Intervention/coercion if needed
• Calling on governmental authority to create
changes
• Combination of evangelicalism and social
sciences
• Widespread and far-reaching
The Progressive Movement
• Began with the middle class in the late 1800s
• The “Social Gospel”
• Looking for purpose; feelings about wealth
and poverty
• Rejected Social Darwinism in favor of
pragmatism – solving problems
• Informed by “muckraking” journalists who
reported on industrial dangers, corruption in
government, unprincipled businessmen
• Rise of the professions – law, medicine, social
work, teaching, business, religion
-More stringent licensing requirements
-Formation of associations and advocacy
groups
Jacob Riis, “How the Other Half Lives,” 1895
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
“ … and as for the other men, who worked in
tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which
there were open vats near the level of the floor,
their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the
vats; and when they were fished out, there was
never enough of them left to be worth
exhibiting—sometimes they would be
overlooked for days, till all but the bones of
them had gone out to the world as Durham's
Pure Leaf Lard!”
The Triangle Shirtwaist
Fire
1911 – New York
• 146 deaths
• Average age 19
• Mostly immigrants
Major goals of Progressivism
Help the urban poor
Jane Addams and Hull
House
Settlement Houses
• Education for immigrant families – basic child
care, etc.
• Education for children
• Community enrichment
Women’s reforms
• Woman Suffrage (voting rights) movement led
by Jane Addams and Florence Kelley
• Specific tactical efforts at changing federal
suffrage rights – Alice Paul (Congressional
Union) and Carrie Chapman Catt (NAWSA)
• Women’s trade unions
Working Conditions
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•
•
•
Basic safety
10-hour work day
Child labor addressed
Due to union involvement, every industrial
state enacted insurance laws that would cover
workers injured on the job
Political Reform
• Political machines had too much power; they
bought votes, embezzled funds, and took
bribes. They also had too many corporate
friends.
Robert LaFollette
• fought the Republican machine in Wisconsin,
was a leader of political reform
• Became governor of Wisconsin
Political Reforms
• Direct primaries – the people vote to
nominate a party candidate, taking the
decision out of the hands of political bosses.
• Initiative – allows voters to place an issue up
for vote (starting with a petition)
• Recall – allowed voters to remove officials
who had lost their confidence.
Civil Rights- Washington v. DuBois
• Booker T. Washington had
been a slave;
• Believed that blacks must
work with whites to gain
equality, and must not
alienate them;
• “Atlanta Compromise”
speech seemed to say that
blacks were content to be
second-class citizens. (1895)
• Established the Urban
League in 1911.
• W.E.B. DuBois was Harvardeducated;
• Took a more aggressive
stance toward equal rights;
• Called together the Niagara
Movement in 1906:
• Encouragement of black
pride;
• Demand for equal rights
• Founded National Assoc. for
the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP)
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• The “trust-busting”
president (although
more of a pragmatist)
• Mediated a coal mining
strike – “The square
deal” for workers and
management
• Mixed record on racial
issues
Roosevelt
• Born and lived in NY; highly athletic and rugged; for
three years he left politics and ran a cattle ranch, also
becoming a deputy sheriff in North Dakota.
• Wrote several books on history, botany, ranching etc.
• Ran the NYC police department in the late 1800s
• Secretary of the Navy when the Spanish American War
started; resigned to lead a regiment called the Rough
Riders in Cuba.
• Governor of New York State
• President 1901-1909; the youngest ever to assume the
presidency (stepped up to replace Pres. McKinley)
• In 1912 he ran again for president, under the Bull
Moose Party, but lost.
• 1904 election was a landslide for TR
• Hepburn Act allowed the ICC to set rates,
standardize bookkeeping practices (1906)
• Meat Inspection Act 1906
• Pure Food and Drug Act followed
• Conservation a personal passion; established the
Public Lands Commission for the purpose of
conservation of natural resources; Forest Service
expanded
• National Commission on the Conservation of
Natural Resources (Gifford Pinchot)
William Howard Taft
• Roosevelt’s choice to succeed him as Pres.; he
promised to carry on TR’s progressive reforms
• Beset by conflict between conservative and
progressive Republicans; tariffs an issue
• Taft supported the Aldrich Act, which raised
tariffs in most areas; lost credibility with
progressives.
• Conservation: Pinchot v. Ballinger
• Taft’s record on conservation and trusts
Taft (cont.)
• Mann-Elkins Act had something for everyone:
– Commerce Court for appeals process
– ICC had broader authority; telephone and telegraph
companies fell under ICC
– AZ and NM supported for statehood
• Taft campaigned against Progressive
Republicans in 1910; they were elected over
his candidates in many cases; more
importantly, Democrats won control of the
House and Senate.
Taft’s last two years
• Safety regs in mines and railroads
• Children’s Bureau formed
• Employer liability for government-contracted
work’
• 8-hour workday for government employees.
• Amendment 16 – federal income tax (1909)
• Amendment 17 – direct election of senators
(1913)
• Bucked Roosevelt by challenging a U.S. Steel
purchase.
Roosevelt decides to run again in 1912
• Taft – Republican
• Wilson – Democrat
– The New Freedom: small government, big
business; decrease “special privilege”; states’
rights
• Roosevelt – Progressive “Bull Moose Party”
– The New Nationalism: national approach to issues
and a strong executive
– Women played more of a role in the party
• Eugene Debs – Socialist Party
Wilson’s landslide
• Wilson – 435 electoral
votes; 6,296,547 PV
• Roosevelt – 88 EV;
4,118,571 PV
• Taft – 8 EV; 3,486,720 PV
• Debs – 900,000 PV
• Democrats win control of
both houses.
Wilson’s New Freedom
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•
•
•
•
Bookish and intellectual
Considered highly effective as a president
Underwood Tariff Act, 1913
Graduated income tax
Federal Reserve Act – created 12 regional banks (privately
owned) that answered to the Federal Reserve Board
(government-run)
• Clayton Antitrust Act – reaction to the Morgan-Rockefeller
cartel
– Outlawed “interlocking directorates”
– Gave labor more power
• Established Federal Trade Commission
Wilson’s Changes of Heart
• Republicans re-surged in 1914
• Wilson began working with big business
• Blocked several progressive bills (child labor,
woman suffrage, etc.)
• Initially supported segregation of govt. offices,
then backed down.
• 1916 began more reform-minded push –
started to look like TR’s New Nationalism
• Appointed first Jewish Supreme Court Judge,
Lewis Brandeis
• Farm-Loan Act, 1916
• Established Labor Department with a labor
leader as the head
• Supported collective bargaining
• Adamson Act (1916) – 8-hour day on
interstate railways
• Federal Workmen’s Compensation Act
• Keating-Owen Act – child labor (struck down
by SC)
• Won 1916 election as the “President who kept
us out of war” and for his progressive
achievements.
• (Charles Hughes as Republican candidate)
• Wilson the anti-Progressive: