1890 - 1919

Learning Targets
• Students will be able to discuss the origins of Progressivism
• Students will be able to explain the successes and failures of the
Progressive Movement
• Students will be able to describe the administrations’ successes and failures of the Progressive Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

Roots of Progressivism
• The Progressive Era
 In the period 1890-1920, many groups sought rights and reform in both society and government
 Progressives were not a single group with a single goal – there were many groups each seeking different things
 Progressives tended to be middle-class, educated, and urban
 Progressives were against laissez-faire, believed government should do more for people

Roots of Progressivism
• Muckrakers
 Journalists who exposed social and political problems like poverty and corruption
 Magazines often the venue of these muckraking articles
 Ida Tarbell – published a series of articles exposing the Standard Oil
Trust
 Lincoln Steffens – exposed vote stealing and other corrupt practices of urban political machines

Roots of Progressivism
 Jacob Riis – former police reporter wrote and took pictures about poverty of immigrants; wrote book
How the Other Half Lives
 These muckraking stories caused the American public to call for change

Roots of Progressivism
• Progressive reforms took place first in cities and in government
• They believed scientific management would be more honest and efficient
• After hurricane destroyed
Galveston, TX, progressives installed the commission plan – mayor replaced by city departments all reporting to a board of commissioners or a city manager

Roots of Progressivism
• The state leading in Progressive reform was Wisconsin (“Laboratory of
Democracy”)
• Governor Robert M. LaFollette pressured legislature to make political parties choose candidates based on direct primaries – where all party members could vote for a candidate
• Other states voted in initiatives – where citizens could propose legislation; referendums – where proposed legislation could be voted on by public; and recall – where voters could demand a special election to remove an elected official

Roots of Progressivism
• Direct Election of Senators
 US Constitution allowed state legislatures to choose the two state senators
 Public believed this caused corruption
 17 th Amendment – people of the state now directly elected state senators
 16 th Amendment – income tax authorized

Roots of Progressivism
• Women’s Suffrage Movement
 1848 Seneca Falls, NY – first women’s rights convention
 Suffrage – right to vote
 Women worked hard for abolition of slavery – felt betrayed when
14 th and 15 th Amendments gave rights to blacks but not women
 1890 Two major women’s groups join into National American
Woman Suffrage Association

Roots of Progressivism
• Suffrage movement grew – large middle-class support
• Women gained right to vote in several states but wanted a Constitutional amendment to make it a national right
• 19 th Amendment – passed in 1920, gave all women right to vote

Roots of Progressivism
• Campaign Against Child
Labor
 Children had always worked in America but factory work unhealthy and exploitive
 Muckraker articles exposed abuses in child labor
 Many states began passing compulsory education laws
 By early 1900’s child labor began to decline

Roots of Progressivism
• Condition sunder which laborers worked were often unhealthy and/or dangerous
• 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – nearly 150 workers, mostly young girls, were killed in fire
• Public outrage resulted in new safety regulations and worker’s compensation laws
• Building codes and restaurant health codes also established

Roots of Progressivism
• Prohibition Movement
 Progressives believed alcohol cause of many social problems
 Temperance Movement – wanted to moderate or eliminate alcohol consumption
 Women’s Christian Temperance
Movement – established by women to end the consumption of alcohol
 18 th Amendment – prohibited sale and consumption of alcohol

Roots of Progressivism
• Progressives Against Big Business
 Some Progressives wanted to regulate big business
 Some wanted to bust up trusts and monopolies (Sherman Anti-Trust Act)
 Some wanted to regulate monopolies
(Interstate Commerce Commission)
 Some advocated Socialism – political idea where government owns and operates industry for benefit of all
 Eugene V. Debs – Socialist leader of railway union; Socialist Party nominee for president in several elections

Roosevelt in Office
• Youngest president at 42
• Ascended to presidency upon assassination William McKinley
• Theodore Roosevelt (TR) wanted
US to become world power; TR also a Progressive
• TR’s reform programs known as the
Square Deal
• Known as a “Trust-Buster” he was actually more of a Trust Regulator

Roosevelt in Office
• Coal Strike of 1902
 United Mine Workers (UMW), a mining union, called a strike seeking better pay and fewer hours of work
 Stoppage of coal production impacted US economy causing TR to intervene
 TR wanted to arbitrate the disagreement – management refused
 TR’s threat to use US Army to run mines caused mine owners to cave – strike ended

Roosevelt in Office
• TR believed corporations actually provide a public good but wanted to regulate them
• Congress established Department of Commerce and Labor and a division called Bureau of
Corporations
• Bureau investigated complaints against corporations and allowed corporations to fix problems – called Gentlemen’s Agreement by
TR

Roosevelt in Office
• 1906 Hepburn Act – strengthened powers of the ICC
 ICC given power to set railroad rates
• Upton Sinclair – wrote book, The
Jungle, exposing unsanitary meat packing industry
 Caused TR to seek Meat
Inspection Act
 Also passed was Pure Food and
Drug Act

Roosevelt in Office
• Conservation
 TR was avid hunter and outdoorsman – wanted to preserve pristine American wilderness areas
 Gifford Pinchot – friend of
TR; appointed head of US
Forest Service; added over
100 million acres to parks, created 5 new national parks, and 51 wildlife reservations

Taft Administration
• William Howard Taft handpicked by TR to succeed him as president
• Had no desire to be president – wanted to be Chief Justice on
Supreme Court
• Taft honest, competent but not energetic and aggressive like TR

Taft Administration
• Ballinger – Pinchot Controversy
 Taft angered many Progressives with his stance on the tariff
 Taft replaced Sec of Interior Garfield with lawyer Ballinger
 Ballinger opened up some wilderness lands to development
 Pinchot charged him with corruption -
Taft’s investigation showed Ballinger innocent
 Pinchot leaked story to press – Taft fired him for insubordination
 Many now believed Taft was traitor to the Progressive cause

Taft Administration
• TR was nicknamed “Trustbuster” but Taft busted more than TR
• Under Taft child labor was investigated and regulated
• Congress passed Mann-Elkins Act which increased powers of ICC
• Taft initiated anti-trust lawsuit against US Steel – TR turned against him as TR had approved US
Steel deal
• TR broke with Taft publicly and criticized/insulted him constantly

The Wilson Years
• Election of 1912
 TR not happy with Taft – sought
Republican nomination for president
 Taft did not want to be bullied by
TR – got Republican nomination
 TR became nominee for the
Progressive Party aka Bull Moose
Party
 NJ governor, Woodrow Wilson received nomination for
Democratic Party

The Wilson Years
• TR campaigned on program called
New Nationalism – more powerful federal government; regulation of monopolies, and other progressive policies
• Wilson campaigned on program called New Freedom – against all monopolies and too much federal power
• Wilson won election – less votes than Taft and Roosevelt combined

The Wilson Years
• Wilson’s Administration
 Signed Underwood Tariff into law – reduced tariff to about half of 1890’s tariff
 Income Tax – allowed after 16 th
Amendment
 US had not had central bank since
1830’s.
 Wilson signed Federal Reserve Act establishing Federal Reserve System – central bank
 Federal Reserve controlled interest rates and amount of money in circulation

The Wilson Years
• Anti-Trust Action
 Congress established Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) – could control competition through courts; acted against unfair trade practices
 Clayton Anti-Trust Act – banned tying agreements and price discrimination
 Act exempted unions

The Wilson Years
• Federal Aid and Social Welfare
 Wilson retreated from
Progressivism after completion of
New Freedom
 By end of Progressive Era, public expected government to protect workers, regulate the economy, and solve social problems
 Progressives failed to help minorities – W. E. B. DuBois helped found National Association for Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP)