Ch. 28 Notes:
Progressivism and the Republican
Roosevelt
The Progressive Era
1. The Progressive Era was time period when reformers
sought to use government action to solve the various
economic, political and social problems within the U.S.
2. The members of the progressive movement were a very
diverse group (militarists, pacifists, female settlement
workers, labor unionists and others) who wanted to use
the government as an agency of human welfare.
3. The progressive movement’s political roots came
primarily from the Populist Party and the movement’s
social/religious roots came from the Social Gospel
movement.
Muckrakers
1. The muckrakers where men and women who
used the media of the day to make the public
aware of society’s problems, hoping that the
public outcry would lead to change –
typically in the form of government
regulation.
2. Popular newspapers and magazines of the
day courted the muckrakers because their
stories helped increase circulation.
Muckrakers
1. In his book How the
Other Half Lives, Jacob
Riis used photographs
to show the abject
poverty faced by
people living in the
New York tenements.
2. Many New Yorkers
were shocked, having
no idea that there
were people living in
the city in such a
manner.
Jacob Riis
How the Other Half Lives
Lincoln Steffens
1. In McClure’s magazine,
Lincoln Steffens
published a series of
articles entitled The
Shame of the Cities.
2. These articles exposed
the corruption that
occurred between big
businesses and
municipal
governments.
Ida Tarbell
1. Ida Tarbell published a
scathing expose of the
business practices
used by the Standard
Oil Company in
McClure’s magazine
also.
2. Her father had been
put out of business by
Standard Oil.
The Progressive Era Political Changes
1. One main goal of the progressive movement was to reduce
the influence of big business on the U.S. government and put
the power of the government back into the hands of the
people.
2. This was done several ways:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
the initiative, which allowed voters to directly propose legislation.
the referendum, which allowed voters to place laws on the ballot
for final approval by the people.
the recall election, which enabled voters to remove corrupt
government officials.
the Australian ballot, or secret ballot, which helped remove the
influence of political machines.
the 17th Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of
Senators instead of having the chosen by state legislatures.
Public Safety
1. Many muckrakers protested the terrible
conditions within the factories of the time.
2. In 1911, a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist
Company left 146 workers dead (mostly
young women) and led to the state of New
York passing new regulations regarding
working conditions and workers
compensation laws.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Prohibition
1. Organizations continued their support of
prohibition, especially the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League.
2. Their actions will culminate in the passage of the
18th Amendment in 1919, which banned the
production, transportation and sale of alcoholic
beverages.
3. The Volstead Act was later passed to create the
methods of enforcing the 18th Amendment.
4. Unfortunately, the only thing that really
developed out of the 18th Amendment was
organized crime.
Prohibition
The Support/Non-Support of the
Courts
1. One of the major victories of the progressive
movement was the case of Muller v. Oregon (1908),
which upheld an Oregon law prohibiting women from
working move than 10 hours a day.
2. A major part of this decision was the state’s attorney,
Louis Brandeis and his Brandeis brief, which used
psychological and sociological evidence to support his
argument.
3. A set-back for the progressive movement was the
case of Lochner v. New York (1905), which declared a
state law limiting bakers to 10 hour days
unconstitutional.
Teddy Roosevelt and the Square Deal
1. Teddy Roosevelt’s political platform was known as the
Square Deal.
2. His Square Deal consisted of the Three C’s.
1. The first was corporate control – use the government to
regulate large corporations/monopolies – he wanted to
show that the government was in charge of the country,
not big business.
2. The second was consumer protection – he wanted to
protect the American public from unsafe products.
3. The third was conservation – he wanted the government
to manage the nation’s resources on behalf of the public.
Controlling Corporations
TR and the Coal Strike of 1902
1. One of the first issues TR had to deal with was the Coal
Strike of 1902.
2. Coal miners in Pennsylvania demanded better pay and
fewer hours – when the coal mine owners refused to
bargain with them, they went on strike.
3. As the strike continued, national coal reserves dwindled,
causing numerous shutdowns in all types of institutions.
4. Finally, TR stepped in and threatened to use the military
to take over the mines if the owners didn’t agree to
arbitration.
5. The miners ended up getting some of their demands met,
but more importantly, it was the first time the federal
government intervened between big business and labor
and didn’t automatically side with big business.
1. Roosevelt believed there
were good trusts (those
that promoted the
public’s interest) and bad
trusts (those that worked
against the public’s
interest).
2. He used the federal courts
to go after bad trusts but
left the good ones alone.
3. Again, he wanted to
demonstrate to the
American public that the
government was in
charge, not big business.
TR and Trusts
TR and the
Railroads
1. One of the first
monopolies TR went after
was the railroad.
2. He strengthened the
Interstate Commerce
Commission with the
passage of the Elkins Act
(1903) and Hepburn Act
(1906), which gave the ICC
enforcement powers over
its rulings, especially in
regard to rates and
rebates.
3. The federal government
also took over the
regulation of telegraph
and telephone companies.
1. In 1906, Upton Sinclair’s
novel The Jungle was
published.
2. The book was meant to
expose the harsh
treatment of immigrants
working in the meat
packing industry.
3. Instead, people only was
the unsanitary conditions
of the meat packing
industry itself.
4. He remarked that he
aimed for the nation’s
heart and hit its stomach.
Consumer
Protection
Effect of The Jungle
1. In 1906 the Meat Inspection Act was passed
to regulate the meat packing industry – the
federal government could inspect the meat
from “corral to can”.
2. The Pure Food and Drug Act was also passed
in 1906 to prevent the adulteration and
mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.
Conservation
1. TR was an avid outdoorsman and was appalled at the
practices of the lumber and mining operations of the
day.
2. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 had ready set aside land
for public parks and reserves but TR didn’t feel this went
far enough in protecting the nation’s resources.
3. In 1902 he signed the Newlands Act, which used the
money raised from selling public land to fund projects to
improve other public lands – primarily with dam building
to irrigate the more arid regions of the west.
4. He also created the National Conservation Commission
to catalog the nations resources and to develop a
comprehensive plan to manage them (it didn’t last).
TR’s Critics
1. TR ran for reelection in 1904 but hurt himself politically
when he announced that he would not run for reelection
in 1908.
2. He was already facing critics, even within his own party,
because of his vast expansion of the powers of the
presidency.
3. When a panic occurred in 1907, he faced even more
criticism – one positive of the panic was the AldrichVreeland Act – which allowed national banks to issue
currency during financial crises and paved the way for the
Federal Reserve Act of 1913 (Wilson).
4. In 1908, as TR was stepping aside, the Republicans chose
William Howard Taft, TR’s chosen successor.
Passing the Torch
Taft as President
1. Taft didn’t really enjoy the spotlight the way TR
did – he also was a legal scholar and believed
that TR had overstepped his authority as
president in many ways.
2. Taft continued to act as a trustbuster, breaking
up even more monopolies as TR.
3. However, TR didn’t belief Taft was doing enough
to protect the American public.
4. In foreign diplomacy, Taft also made a change –
he practiced dollar diplomacy – would use our
finances instead of our military to influence the
countries of Latin America.
The Payne-Aldrich Tariff
1. In 1909 Taft called a special session of Congress to
lower the tariff.
2. Instead, Congress passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff,
which actually increased the tariff in many areas –
especially goods needed in manufacturing.
3. Taft, who’s own party had opposed him in passing this
tariff, didn’t like the law but signed it.
4. The tariff ended up splitting the Republican party
between the progressives and the Old Guard/probusiness Republicans.
5. It also caused Taft to fall out of favor with TR.
The Ballenger – Pinchot Affair
1. In 1910, Taft’s Secretary of the Interior, Richard
Ballinger opened up some western lands for
corporate development (these lands had been
protected by TR).
2. The Division of Forestry leader, Gifford Pinchot,
criticized Ballenger over his actions and Taft ended up
firing Pinchot.
3. TR and Pinchot were big buddies and this will cause
TR to begin publicly speaking out against Taft.
4. In 1912, TR will end up actively seeking the
Republican nomination for president (over Taft).
TR v. Taft