Municipal/State
Government Reform
by Eric Vignola, Borjan Aritonovski, and Zack Pine
Robert LaFollete
He was a peoples’ person. He wanted to change all the corruption and help out the community. He was a Senator and the governor of
Wisconsin. He took ideas from the people and made them into policies. He was a big part of the Government reform.
During his first term as a governor he:
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proposed to set up a railroad commission
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imposed an ad valorem tax, is a tax based on the value of real estate or personal property, on the railroad companies
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established a direct primary system
All of the things he did as a governor were that he:
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championed numerous progressive reforms, including the first workers' compensation system
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railroad rate reform
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direct legislation
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municipal home rule
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open government
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the minimum wage
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non-partisan elections
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the open primary system
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direct election of U.S. Senators
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women's suffrage
Robert LaFollete
As a Senator he:
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spent the remainder of his life, from January 2, 1906, until his death
in 1925
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strongly opposed American involvement in World War I
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campaigned for child labor laws and social security
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women's suffrage and other progressive reforms.
He opposed the prosecution of Eugene V. Debs and other opponents of the
war and played a key role in initiating the investigation of the Teapot Dome
Scandal, bribery incident, during the Harding Administration.
Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones
Famous for his advocacy of the Golden Rule. Which is one should treat others as one would like others to
treat oneself.
When he was mayor he wanted to improve the conditions of the working class by:
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opening free kindergartens
developing a park system
establishing playgrounds for children
establishing free public baths
instituting an eight-hour day for city workers
to took away truncheons from the police
refusing to enforce blue laws
reforming the city government
Because of these policies he was not popular with Toledo’s business community.
City Reforms
City Commissioner Plan - Cities were to hire experts
in different fields to run a single aspect of city
government
City Manager Plan - A professional city manager
would be hired to run each department of the city
and report directly to the city council
State Reforms
Australian Ballot - In 1884, there was a new voting system which allowed voters to vote for
their candidate in private.
Direct Primaries - This made sure that candidates were picked by the people instead of big
officials who had power. This is similar to the Direct Election of Senators, where senators
were chosen by popular vote instead of officials.
State Reforms
Initiative - Allowed voters to petition state legislatures in order to consider a bill desired by
citizens.
Referendum - Allowed voters to decide if a bill or proposed amendment should be passed.
Recall - If there is a mayor or senator in the office that the people feel are not doing their jobs
right or are not popular. The people can get that mayor or senator out of office by getting a
petition signed.
The Wisconsin Idea
The Wisconsin Idea was a philosophy where Wisconsin politicians went to the professors of
the University of Wisconsin-Madison and asked them for ideas for policies.
It was used an idea to connect the people of the community to the politicians.
Not all the time did politicians know what they were doing so it was good to get an expert
opinion every once in a while.
Some policies that were proposed because of this were:
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Primary elections
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Workers’ compensation
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State regulation of railroads
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Direct election of U.S. senators
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Progressive Taxation
Robert LaFollete was big supporter.
Amendments
For the first time in over 40 years the Progressive Era added 4 amendments to the U.S.
Constitution
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16th created income tax (1913)
17th direct election of US Senators (1913)
18th Prohibition (1919)
19th Women’s Suffrage (1920)
Acts
Smithsonian Museum