Chapter 20
The Progressive Era
• Chapter 22 Questions
1. Evaluate and discuss Wilson’s decision to
enter WWI.
2. Why was WWI considered a Total War?
3. How did the war affect economic and
social affairs at home?
4. How and why did Wilson attempt to shape
the treaty of Versailles?
5. How did the war impact African Americans
and Immigrants?
I.A
The Course of Reform
• Problems stemming from
Industrialization and
Urbanization?
–Economic
–Political
–Social
–Environmental
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/res
ources/graphic/xlarge/38_00392.jpg
Joseph Keppler, Puck Magazine
I.A
The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
• There was no such thing as a “Progressive” nor
was there a “Progressive” movement
• Widespread effort to build a better society:
– No agreed upon agenda
– No uniform membership, may be a reformer
on one issue/conservative on others
– Intellectual in Nature – placed faith in
academic expertise
I.A
The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
• Scientific Management (Taylor) of society
possible
• Laissez-Faire rejected – unregulated market
does not end in “perfect competition” but rather
strong devouring weak
I.A
The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
• Law should reflect social reality – Legal
Realism
• Law should not claim false neutrality, but rather
be an agency for human betterment –
Pragmatism
• Lochner v. New York, Oliver Wendell Holmes
dissents
I.A
The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
• Idealists – many had roots in evangelical
Protestantism - Social Gospel
• Religion more than just personal salvation
• Middle Class
I.A
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The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
Literature Roots:
Progress and Poverty, Henry George
Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy
Wealth against Commonwealth,
Henry Lloyd
I.A
The Course of Reform
The Progressive Mind
• Muckrakers – Magazines like
Collier’s and McClure’s
• Investigative Journalism sells
• “The man with the Muckrake”
Jacob Riis – Hoe the Other Half
Lives
Exposed the slums through
magazines, photographs, and a bestselling book
His fame helped spark city reforms.
Ida Tarbell – History of Standard Oil
Exposed the corrupt Standard Oil
Company and its owner, John D.
Rockefeller
Appealed to middle class scared by
large business power
• Lincoln Steffens
• Shame of the Cities (1904)
exposed corrupt city governments
• Frank Norris
• Exposed railroad monopolies in a
1901 novel
Upton Sinclair - The Jungle
• Exposed working and sanitary
conditions in the meat packing
Industry.
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• MC women – humanitarian history
• Josephine Shaw Lowell – National Consumers
League, assistance to poor not enough, only
state had resources to combat growing problem
• Florence Kelly – Consumer’s league becomes
powerful lobby for legislation
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• National Consumers League
• Achievements –
• Muller v. Oregon (1908) – upohlds law limiting
women’s workday
• Clears way for protective laws across nation
• Public assistance for mothers with dependent
children
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• National Consumers League
• Achievements –
• Public assistance for mothers with
dependent children (Illinois, 1911)
• Women’s minimum wage law (Mass.,
1912)
• Child Labor laws in many states
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• Settlement Houses – Model was Hull House
(Jane Addams) in Chicago
• Community centers in poor neighborhoods
• Fought for better lighting, playgrounds,
garbage removal
• Purpose twofold – help poor, provide
experience for MC
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• Suffrage Movement
• Women’s Labor movement – National Women’s
Trade Union League
• Changing views of Women
• State by state route too slow – constitutional
amendment needed
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• Feminism – New younger educated
generation comes forward
• Not content with the “separate” sphere
• Considered themselves equal to males
• More Radical – Margaret Sanger
I.B
The Course of Reform
Women Progressives
• More Radical – Margaret Sanger
openly (against the law) promoted
birth control – birth control to tied to
woman’s rights
• Differed from Addams – women DO
NOT need “special protection
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Robert M. LaFollete – fought Republican
machine in Wisconsin and won governorship on
campaign of regulation and higher corporate
taxes
• Advocated Primary elections (popular vote) to
deny party bosses power of choosing
candidates
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Initiative – enabled citizens to have issues
placed on the ballot
• Recall – enables citizens to recall
officeholders who have lost publics
confidence
–Still require power, money and
organization
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Urban Liberalism – Advocates of
using state power to uplift laboring
poor
• Ex. New York State Factory
Commission after Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire (1914)
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Cultural Pluralism Embattled – Attempts to
impose moral code on immigrant classes takes
cloak of progressive reform – prohibition
• Immigration restrictions advocated, particularly
of S and E Europeans – Immigration Restriction
League
• Some fought this!
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Urban Liberals vs. “Conservatives”
• Democrats begin to side with UL for
political reasons, want Immigrant vote
• Personal Freedom vs. Moral Reform
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
Labor – begin to become more
politicized. Courts continuously side
with management orderings injunctions
and fines for strikers
• Begin to align with Democrat Party
• Become biggest advocate of social
legislation for workers
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Toward Social Insurance
• Many states pass insurance laws
covering on the job accidents
• Unemployment and health insurance ,
old age pension
–Little to no success…yet
I.C
The Course of Reform
Reforming Politics
• Southern Politics still exclusionary,
including primary (white primary)
• Great migration leads to racial tension
in North
• Northerners, Republicans,
Progressives – Blacks viewed as
inferior class
I.D
The Course of Reform
Racism and Reform
Niagara Movement – W.E.B. Du Bois and
William Monroe Trotter break with Booker T.
Washington – “compromise has failed”
• Principles:
–Black Pride
–Full political and civil equality
–Denial of Negro inferiority
I.D
The Course of Reform
Racism and Reform
• Some white support among
Progressives
• Mary White Ovington
–Formation of NAACP – 1909
–Du Bois editor of The Crisis
• National Urban League
D.W. Griffith – Birth of A Nation
II.A
National Politics
The Making of A Progressive
President
• Slow to reach National Politics
II.A
National Politics
The Making of A Progressive President
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Republican Reformer
• Spanish American War Hero (Rough Riders,
Battle of San Juan Hill)
• 1898 – Governor of NY
• Civil Service Reform, Corporate Tax, fighter of
Corruption,
• Election of 1900 – McKinley’s VP Nominee, to
neutralize him
II.A.
National Politics
• Theodore Roosevelt (R)
• Public Interest
• Conservation – Scientific management of
natural resources – Utilitarian not
preservationist
• Expands National Forrest, modernized
land management, prosecuted violators
I.B
Federal Lands Today
• Problems stemming from Industrialization
and Urbanization?
II.A.
National Politics
• Theodore Roosevelt (R)
• Labor – Intervenes in Coal Miners Strike
(1902) threatens to use federal power to
take over mine!
II.A.
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National Politics
Theodore Roosevelt (R)
Regulating the Marketplace
Trusts - goal was to eliminate competition
By 1910 1% controls 44%
Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890)
TR establishes Bureau of Corporations to
investigate abuse
• Took 45 of nations Corps. to court
II.B.
National Politics
Regulating the Marketplace
• Trustbuster – “Square Deal”
• Used HIS discretion to decide
whether or not to prosecute Trust
• Courts ruled against any Trust
regardless of public impact, he
wanted to prosecute only those that
abused their power
II.B.
National Politics
Regulationg the Marketplace
• Railroads – Already under Federal
regulation – Interstate Commerce
Commission –
• 1903 – Elkins Act
• 1906 – Hepburn Railway Act –
allowed feds to set maximum shipping
rates!!!!!!
II.C.
National Politics
Fracturing the Republican Party
TR’s Chosen Successor –Dems run WJ
Bryan….again….
• Legal mind, not political
• Repubs fractured left/right
• Raised tariff, Pinchot/Ballinger affair
• “Progressive” repubs abandon Taft
• National Progressive Republican
II.C.
National Politics
Fracturing the Republican Party
• William Howard Taft (R)
• TR and Taft have (IRONIC) falling out
over Trust prosecution (esp. U.S.
Steel)
II.B
National Politics
Fracturing the Republican Party
• Election of 1912 – TR announces
candidacy but loses Primary
• TR’s NEW NATIONALISM – The
government should become the
“steward of public welfare” even over
property rights!
–Child Labor, female minimum wage,
federal trade commission, attack on
II.D.
National Politics
Wilson and the New Freedom
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Election of 1912
3 Way Taft (R), TR (P), Woodrow Wilson (D)
Woodrow Wilson – New Jersey
“New Freedom” –
WW wins due to split in Repubs
Signifies end of Progressive Repubs
Wilson attacks Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism”
as too collectivist
• Wilson-Marshall –
6,296,284
• Roosevelt-Johnson
– 4,122,721
• Taft-Butler –
3,486,242
• Debs-Seidel –
Wilson-Marshall –
435
Roosevelt-Johnson
– 88
Taft-Butler - 8
Debs-Seidel – 0
I.D
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National Politics
Wilson and the New Freedom
New Freedom
Tariff Reform (lower)
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Federal Reserve Act (1913) – 12 district
banks controlled by member banks –
oversight by Federal Reserve Board
Federal Reserve
• The “Fed” controls money supply
• All national banks are members –
borrow money from Fed.
• Fed controls how much is borrowed
(and thus distributed into the
economy) through interest Rates
• Chairman of Fed appointed by
president – Ben Bernanke
I.D
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National Politics
Wilson and the New Freedom
New Freedom
Federal Trade Commission
Labor (Ludlow, Colorado – Fire)
Federal Child Labor Law, eight hour
workday for RR employees, Seaman’s Act
• Political realities vs. principle