Progressivism and
the Republican
Roosevelt
1901 - 1912
Progressive Roots
Middle class --- addressed problems causing social upheavals
◦ Social Gospel = Christian teachings
Journalists and writers exposed unsafe working conditions
Progressive Movement
◦ Restore economic opportunities
◦ Correct injustices
Muckrakers
Muckrakers = 1906
◦ Journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of business
◦ Mass circulated magazines
◦ McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s & Everybody’s
◦ “The Shame of the Cities”
◦ Corrupt alliance between big business and municipal government
◦ Ida Tarbell = Standard Oil
◦ David G. Phillips = Senate
Political Progressivism
Modernize American institutions = 2 goals
1.
2.
Use the state to curb monopoly power
Improve the common persons conditions
Reforming Elections
◦ Secret ballot
◦ Initiative --- Bill originated by the people
◦ Referendum --- Vote on the initiative
◦ Recall --- Removal of public official from elected positions
by forcing them to face another election before the end
of their term
Election of Senators
Primary System
◦ Allowed voters instead of political machines to choose candidates for
public office
◦ Special popular election
17th Amendment --- 1912
◦ Each States Legislature had chosen its own senators
◦ Gave power to the party bosses and wealthy corporations
◦ Progressives pushed for popular election of senators
◦ Ratified in 1913
Progressivism in the Cities/
States
Texas = 1901
◦ Expert staff commissions to manage urban affairs
◦ City Manager System
◦ Took politics out of municipal administration
◦ Attack slum lords
Clean up water, light streets, trolleys, sanitation
◦ Regulating public utilities
Wisconsin / California
◦ Regulate R.R. / Utilities
◦ Southern Pacific RR
Women
Settlement House Movement
Suffrage
“Moral and Maternal Issues”
◦ Child labor, sweatshops, TB = tenements, food, alcohol, & factory reform
Activist Groups emerged
◦ National Consumers League = 1899
◦ Women’s Trade Union League = 1903
◦ Women / Children’s Bureau = 1912
Women Cont.
Florence Kelley
◦ Factory inspector =
Illinois
◦ National Consumers
League
◦ Child labor
Muller v. Oregon = 1908
◦ Laws protecting women
workers
◦ Effects on women’s
bodies
Lochner v. New York
◦ 10 hr. = Bakers
Women Cont.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire = 1911
◦ 146 women – immigrant
New York
◦ Laws passed regulating hours and conditions of sweatshops
Women Cont.
1917
◦ 30 states enacted workers compensation laws
◦ Insurance to workers injured on the job
Anti Liquor Campaigns
◦ Women’s Christian Temperance Union
◦ “Dry Laws”
◦ “Wet Laws” = cities / immigrants
TR’s Square Deal
Square Deal
◦ Demanding a fair deal for capital, labor, and the
public
◦ 3 C’s
1. Control of Corporations
2. Consumer Protection
3. Conservation
Coal Strike
1902 - Pennsylvania
◦ 140,000 coal miners went on strike
◦ 20% raise, 9 hr workday
◦ 5 months into strike --- reserves running low
◦ Roosevelt called both sides to White House
◦ Settled strike --- arbitration
◦ 10%, 9 hr workday
Set new grounds
◦ When strike threatened public welfare --- federal
government will intervene
◦ Department of Commerce / Labor = 1903
TR Corrals Corporations
Goal was Federal Regulation
◦ ICC had little power --- Interstate Commerce Commission
Elkins Act = 1903
◦ Illegal for railroad officials to give and shippers to receive rebates for using
particular railroads
◦ Could not change set rates without notifying the public
Hepburn Act = 1906
◦ Limited distribution or free railroad passes
◦ Gave ICC power to set maximum railroad rates
Cont.
Trust-busting
1902
◦ Went after railroads --- Northern Securities Company
◦ J.P. Morgan / James J. Hill
◦ Monopoly over N.W. Railroads
1904
◦ Roosevelt administration filed 44 antitrust suits
◦ Winning a number of them
“Regulating not Fragmenting”
Caring for the consumer
Regulating Foods And Drugs
The Jungle --- Upton Sinclair
Appointed a commission of experts to investigate the
meatpacking industry
Meat Inspection Act --- 1906
◦ Dictated strict cleanliness requirements
◦ Federal meat inspection
Pure Food and Drug Act
Manufacturers claimed products accomplished
everything
Children's medicines / opium, cocaine, or alcohol
Harmful preservatives in food
1906
◦ Pure Food and Drug Act
◦ Halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines
◦ Called for the truth in labeling
Earth Control
Wasteful Americans
◦ Ranchers, Timbermen = destructive
Desert land Act = 1877
◦ Sold land cheaply
◦ Irrigate thirsty soil = 3 yrs
Forest Reserve Act = 1891
◦ Set aside public forests as national
parks / reserves
Carey Act = 1894
◦ Gave federal land to states = irrigated
and settled
Newlands Act = 1902
◦ Western states – sale of land
◦ Funds used to develop irrigation
projects
◦ Roosevelt Dam = Arizona's Salt River
Conservation
John Muir – Naturalist
◦ 1903
◦ Set aside 125 million acres of forest reserves
◦ Yosemite National Park
1.5 millions acres of water power sites
80 million acres - Survey for mineral and water
resources
50 wildlife sanctuaries - National Parks
Conservation
Cont.
Conservation
◦ Some areas would be preserved = others developed
◦ Multiple-use resource management
Hetch Hetchy Valley
◦ San Francisco = Dam for municipal water
Preservationists = Sierra Club
Roosevelt Panic - 1907
Short Panic on Wall street
“Theodore the Meddler”
◦ Unsettled industry
Paved the way for overdue fiscal reform
◦ Currency shortage
◦ Aldrich-Vreeland Act = 1908
◦ Issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of
collateral
◦ Leading to the Federal Reserve Act
Taft
Election 1908
◦ Republican = William Howard Taft
◦ Secretary of War
◦ Democrat = William Jennings Bryan
◦ Taft easily won
◦ 321 - 162
Pursued a cautiously progressive agenda
◦ Did not expand – consolidated Roosevelt’s Reforms
Taft Cont.
Trustbuster
◦ 90 trusts in 4 years
◦ 1911
◦ Standard Oil
◦ U.S. Steel Corporations
Platform = Lowering Tariffs
◦ Payne Bill
◦ Lowered rates on imported manufactured goods
◦ Senate proposed alternative bill
◦ Aldrich Bill
◦ Made fewer cuts and increased many rates
◦ Taft signed = Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Conservation
Appoints a wealthy lawyer to be his Secretary of the
Interior
◦ Richard Ballinger
◦ Disapproved of conservation controls on western land
◦ Removed 1 million acres of forest / mining lands
◦ Returned it to the public
◦ Taft angers progressives
Party splits
1912
◦ Roosevelt decided to run for 3rd term
◦ Republicans wanted Roosevelt
Primary Election
◦ Taft supporters maneuvered to replace Roosevelt delegates with Taft
delegates
Republican progressives refused to vote
◦ Formed a new third party
◦ Progressive Party --- nominated Roosevelt
◦ Bull Moose Party