The Progressive Era
1901-1918
Accompanying the economic growth of the
United States were the old and new concerns
about the lives of many Americans.
Progressivism came to define the works of
these reformers.
Origins of Progressivism
• State reforms of the late 1800s
(Greenback and Populist
Party)
• Industrialization, immigration
and urbanization
• Middle class Americans felt a
need to adjust to changing
times
• Lasts through the
administrations of President
Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson
(1901-1917)
• Ends with U.S. entry into WWI
Attitudes and Motives
• Once a rural population of
farmers, now fast becoming
industrialized with mixed
ethnicities
• Middle class alarmed by power
of big businesses and gap
between rich and poor
• African-American plight in the
South
• Women’s suffrage
• Progressives were diverse:
Protestant church leaders,
African-Ams., labor leaders,
women
• CHANGE is needed!
Who were the Progressives?
• Mostly middle class and urban
dwellers
• This social class had steadily
grown in the late 19th century
• White collar office holders
along with lawyers, ministers
and shopkeepers
• Worried about America and
what could happen to
democracy: unrest among the
poor, excesses of rich and
corruption in government
• Social Gospel
What was the Progressives’
philosophy?
• Reform impulse was hardly
new
• They way people thought and
reasoned was challenged
• Charles Darwin
• People should take a
pragmatic or practical
approach to morals, ideals and
knowledge not a
fixed/changeless approach
• Experiment with new laws and
ideas – More Democracy!
• Govt. as agency of human
welfare
The Muckrakers
• Before the public took action, it
had to be well informed
• Newspapers and magazines
published investigative stories
• T. Roosevelt called these
reporters muckrakers
• Photojournalist Jacob Riis
published How the Other Half
Lives (1890)
The Muckrakers
The Muckrakers
• Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle,
exposed the conditions of the
meatpacking industry
• Lincoln Steffens’ The Shame
of The Cities, described in
detail the corrupt deals that
characterized big city politics
• Muckraking exposed inequities
and educated the public
• Sensationalism tended to get
out of hand
• Declines after 1910
Voter Participation
• The cornerstone of
Progressive ideology was
democracy
• Advocated reforms to increase
voter participation
• Secret ballot
• Direct primaries
• Direct election of senators (17th
Amendment – 1913)
• Initiative
• Referendum
• Recall
Theodore Roosevelt’s
Square Deal
• TR believed the president
should do more - set
legislative agenda for
Congress
• Activist, reform minded
president
• “Square Deal” for all (labor and
business)
• Trust-busting: “bad trusts” and
“good trusts”
• Directed his attorney general
to take antitrust action against
Standard Oil
Theodore Roosevelt’s
Square Deal
• Enforced the Sherman
Antitrust Act
• Strengthened the Interstate
Commerce Commission
• After Upton Sinclair’s book the
Jungle, Congress passed two
regulatory laws:
• 1.) The Pure Food and Drug
Act
• 2.) The Meat inspection Act
Theodore Roosevelt’s
Square Deal
• Conservationist
• Perhaps his most lasting and
original domestic policy was
his efforts to protect our natural
resources
• Set aside 150 million acres of
federal land to be protected
• White House Conference,
established a National
Conservation Commission
• U.S. Forest Service
• TR increased power and
prestige of presidency
William Howard Taft
• Roosevelt stepped down and
Republican Party nominated
Taft
• Taft will continue TR’s
Progressive policies –
trustbusting and conservation
• 16th Amendment (1913)
authorized U.S. government to
collect an income tax (Populist
platform in 1892)
• Foreign policy – dollar
diplomacy
Socialist Party
• Third party developed in first
decade of 1900s, dedicated to
welfare of working class
• Called for more radical reforms
then the Progressives
• Eugene V. Debs, was the
party’s candidate in five
elections
• Critic of business and
champion of labor (Pullman
strike)
• Seen by many as too radical
• In 1912 Debs received
900,000 votes – 6% of total
Election of 1912
• Taft renominated by
Republicans
• Progressive (Bull Moose party)
nominated T. Roosevelt
• Democrats nominated
Woodrow Wilson
• Came down to Roosevelt vs.
Wilson
• Roosevelt called for New
Nationalism
• Wilson pledges a New
Freedom
Election of 1912
• Republicans voters split their
vote (Taft and Roosevelt)
• Wilson wins!
• Like Roosevelt he believed a
president should lead
Congress and appeal directly
to the people for support
• He pledged to bring back fair
competition in the economy
• Fought against “the triple wall
of privilege” - tariffs, banking
and trusts
Woodrow Wilson’s
New Freedom
• Clayton Antitrust Act:
strengthened the Sherman
Antitrust Act
• Federal Trade Commission:
investigated “unfair trade
practice”
• Federal Farm Loan Act – loans
with low interest rates
• Child Labor Act – on interstate
commerce products
• Underwood Tariff Bill –
reduced tariff rates
African-Americans in the
Progressive Era
African-Americans in the
Progressive Era
• Largely ignored by Progressive
presidents
• Thousands lynched by racist
mobs
• Segregation still widespread
• At turn of the century, roughly
9 out of 10 blacks lived in the
South
• Population begins shifting
North
• Jobs in northern cities
• During both World Wars the
migration will increase
Women, Suffrage and the
Progressive Movement
• Anthony and Stanton passed
the torch to next generation
• At first Wilson refused to
support a national amendment,
until late in his presidency
• NAWSA
- Carrie Chapman Catt
• Nineteenth Amendment
passed in 1920