Alan Brinkley,
AMERICAN HISTORY 13/e
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

The Progressive Impulse
– Varieties of Progressivism
 “Antimonopoly”
 Faith in Knowledge
 American Society can Improve
– The Muckrakers
 Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens
 Investigative Journalists
 McClure’s Magazine
 Standard Oil Trust
2
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

The Progressive Impulse
– The Social Gospel
 Father John Ryan
– The Settlement House Movement
 Jane Addams and Hull House
 Social Work
“One could hear human virtue cracking
and crashing all around.”
Walter Rauschenbusch
3
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

4
Women and Reform
 Key Role of Women in Reform Causes
– The “New Woman”
 Socioeconomic Origins of the New Woman
 “Boston Marriages”
 10% Divorce Rate-1916
– The Clubwomen
 GFWC
 A Public Space for Women
 Women’s Trade Union League
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives
The Colored Women’s
League of Washington
(Library of Congress)
5
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Women and Reform
– Woman Suffrage
 Radical Challenge of Women’s Suffrage
 NAWSA
 Conservative Arguments for Suffrage
 Suffrage in the Far west
 Nineteenth Amendment
 Equal Rights Amendment
Suffragette Banner
(Library of Congress)
6
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

The Assault on the Parties
 Reforming Government
– Early Attacks
– Municipal Reform
 Middle-Class Progressives
– New Forms of Governance
 Commission Plan
 City-Manager Plan
 Tom Johnson
7
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

The Assault on the Parties
– Statehouse Progressivism
 Initiative and Referendum
 Weakened Power of the State Legislatures
 Direct Primary and Recall
 Weakened Power of the Political Parties
 Robert La Follette
 Governor of Wisconsin
 Helped Approve the Direct Primary, Initiative, and Referendum
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

The Assault on the Parties
– Parties and Interest Groups
 Decline of
Party Influence
Voter Participation in Presidential
Elections, 1876-1920
9
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Sources of Progressive Reform
– Labor, the Machine,
and Reform
 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
– Western Progressives
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
(Library of Congress)
10
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Sources of Progressive Reform
– African Americans and Reform
 W.E.B. Du Bois
 NAACP Founded
11
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives
“Is it possible and probable that nine millions of men can
make effective progress in economic lines if they are
deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and
allowed only the most meager chance for developing
their exceptional men?”
W. E. B. Du Bois
12
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Crusade for Social Order and Reform
– The Temperance Crusade
 WCTU
 Largest Women’s Organization
 Temperance Movement Gained Momentum After W.W.I
 Eighteenth Amendment
– Immigration Restriction
 Eugenics and Nativism
 Supported Restricted Immigration of “Undesirables”
13
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Challenging the Capitalist Order
– The Dream of Socialism
 Eugene Debs-Leader of Socialist Party
 Increased Membership during the Progressive Era
 “Wobblies”
 Socialism’s Demise
 World War I Generated National Anti-Radical Views
– Decentralization and Regulation
 The Problem of Corporate Centralization
 “Good Trusts” and “Bad Trusts”
15
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency
– The Accidental President
 Roosevelt’s Background
 Youngest President in U.S. History
Assassination of McKinley
(Library of Congress)
16
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

17
Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency
– Government, Capital,
and Labor
 Roosevelt’s Vision of
Federal Power
 Northern Securities
Company
Theodore Roosevelt in
Hunting Attire
(Library of Congress)
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency
– “The Square Deal”
– Election of 1904
 Hepburn Act-1906
 Pure Food and Drug Act
 Upton Sinclair-1906
 Exposed the Meatpacking Industry
18
Advertising The Jungle
(Library of Congress)
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern
Presidency
– Roosevelt and Conservation
– Roosevelt and Preservation
Establishment of National
Parks and Forests
19
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern
Presidency
– The Hetch Hetchy
Controversy
 Competing
Conservationist Visions
Theodore Roosevelt and
John Muir in Yosemite
(Library of Congress)
20
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern
Presidency
– The Panic of 1907
 Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
 Roosevelt Promised Not to Seek Another Term
21
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Troubled Succession
 William Howard Taft
 Hand-picked by Roosevelt
– Taft and the
Progressives
 Payne-Aldrich Tariff
 Ballinger-Pinchot Dispute
William Howard Taft
(Library of Congress)
22
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Troubled Succession
– The Return of Roosevelt
 “New Nationalism”
– Spreading Insurgency
– Roosevelt versus Taft-1912
 The Progressive Party-”Bull Moose Party”
 Roosevelt Unhappy with the Taft Administration
(Taft has) “…completely twisted around the
policies I advocated and acted upon.”
23
Theodore Roosevelt
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
– Woodrow Wilson-1912
 Wilson’s
“New Freedom”
 Wilson Wins a Plurality
 Trusts Should be Destroyed
24
Election of 1912
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives

Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
– The Scholar as President
 Lowering the Tariff
 16th Amendment-1916
 Graduated Income Tax
 Federal Reserve Act-1913
 Major Banking Reform
– Retreat and Advance
– Election of 1916
 Child Labor Laws
 New Round of Progressive Laws
Woodrow Wilson
(Library of Congress)
25
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives
Where Historians Disagree:
Progressive Reform
26
Chapter Twenty:
The Progressives
America in the World:
Social Democracy
27
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