PROGRESSIVES
Middle class men and women
 Called for a strong federal government to fix the
problems of the Gilded Age
 Hoped to remove power from the city and
senators and return it to the people
 Believed that by helping the poor, socialism
would be avoided
 Embraced the idea of applying science to socail
problems
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MUCKRAKERS
THERE ARE, IN THE BODY POLITIC, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL, MANY AND GRAVE EVILS, AND THERE IS URGENT NECESSITY FOR THE STERNEST WAR UPON THEM. THERE
SHOULD BE RELENTLESS EXPOSURE OF AND ATTACK UPON EVERY EVIL MAN WHETHER POLITICIAN OR BUSINESS MAN, EVERY EVIL PRACTICE, WHETHER IN POLITICS, IN
BUSINESS, OR IN SOCIAL LIFE. I HAIL AS A BENEFACTOR EVERY WRITER OR SPEAKER, EVERY MAN WHO, ON THE PLATFORM, OR IN BOOK, MAGAZINE, OR NEWSPAPER,
WITH MERCILESS SEVERITY MAKES SUCH ATTACK, PROVIDED ALWAYS THAT HE IN HIS TURN REMEMBERS THAT THE ATTACK IS OF USE ONLY IF IT IS ABSOLUTELY
TRUTHFUL.- TEDDY ROOSEVELT
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Lincoln Steffens-The Shame of the Cities
Ray Baker- Following the Color Line
Ida Tarbell-The History of the Standard
Oil Company
Upton Sinclair- The Jungle
Edward Bellamy- Looking Backward
Henry Lloyd- Wealth Against
Commonwealth
Jacob Riis-How the Other Half Lives
FIGHTING BOB LA FOLLETTE
Helped draft the McKinley
Tariff
 Trustbuster
 Fought for direct election of
senators, women’s suffrage
and minimum wage,
progressive taxation, secret
ballot
 Wisconsin Idea (laboratory
for democracy)
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PROGRESSIVE WOMEN
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NAWSA, AWSA
SETTLEMENT HOUSES/HULL HOUSE
PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION
LABOR ISSUES
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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Mueller v Oregon- protect women from “men’s”
jobs
Lochner v New York- ten hour work day for
bakers (expanded to include factory workers in
1917)
TEMPERANCE
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”
TEDDY ROOSEVELT AND THE SQUARE
DEAL
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Conserve nature, control corporations, consumer
protection
“Let the watchwords of all our people be the
old familiar watchwords of honesty,
decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."...
"We must treat each man on his worth and
merits as a man. We must see that each is
given a square deal, because he is entitled to
no more and should receive no less.""The
welfare of each of us is dependent
fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us."
MEAT INSPECTION ACT AND THE FDA
"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."
- Upton Sinclair, "The Jungle"
TEDDY AND TRUSTBUSTING (GOOD VS
BAD)
ABOVE ALL ELSE, WE MUST STRIVE TO KEEP THE HIGHWAYS OF COMMERCE OPEN TO ALL ON EQUAL TERMS;
AND TO DO THIS IT IS NECESSARY TO PUT A COMPLETE STOP TO ALL REBATES. – TEDDY ROOSEVELT
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Elkin’s Act
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Hepburn Act
CONSERVATION OF NATURE
Lacey Act
 Newlands Act- irrigation
 Forrest Reserve Act
 Carey Act
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HOWARD TAFT
TAFT’S PRESIDENCY
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Taft managed to “bust”
Standard Oil and U.S
steel- over 90 anti trust
suits
Payne Aldrich Tariff
Act
Pinocht- Ballinger
controversy
ELECTION OF 1912
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
High import tariffs.
Put limitations on female and
child labor.
Workman’s Compensation Laws.
Against initiative, referendum,
and recall.
Against “bad” trusts.
Creation of a Federal Trade
Commission.
Stay on the gold standard.
Conservation of natural
resources because they are
finite.
PROGRESSIVE PLATFORM
NEW NATIONALISM
Women’s suffrage.
Graduated income tax.
Inheritance tax for the rich.
Lower tariffs.
Limits on campaign spending.
Currency reform.
Minimum wage laws.
Social insurance.
Abolition of child labor.
Workmen’s compensation
SOCIALIST PARTY AND EUGENE DEBS
Government ownership of railroads and
utilities.
Guaranteed income tax.
No tariffs.
8-hour work day.
Better housing.
Government inspection of factories.
Women’s suffrage.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
NEW FREEDOM!
Government control of the monopolies
 trusts in general were bad
 eliminate them!!
Tariff reduction.
One-term President.
Direct election of Senators.
Create a Department of Labor.
Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Did NOT support women’s suffrage.
Opposed to a central bank.
WILSON’S PRESIDENCY
“BREAK DOWN THE TRIPLE
WALL OF PRIVILEGE”
Federal Reserve Act
 Underwood Tariff
 Clayton Antitrust Act
 Warehouse Act, La
Follette Seaman’s Act,
Federal Farm Loan Act
 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th
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WILSON REELECTED IN 1916
SUCCESSES OF PROGRESSIVISM
End of child labor
 16-19th amendments
 Referendum, recall and initiative
 Trusts busted (Standard Oil, American Tobacco
Company, U.S. Steel)
 Meat Inspection, Food and Drug Act
 Beginning of conservation
 Underwood Tariff
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