Chapter 19: Progressive Movements, Progressive Politics, 1879-1917
1) Revolt of the Intellectuals
a. Wanted new ways of ordering economic and political life
b. Utopian Idealists
i. Henry George
1. journalist in California
2. troubled by railway strike of 1877
3. published Progress and Poverty
4. proposed:
a. 100% tax on value increase of land and rents
b. Would reduce the value and cost of land
i. Allowed workers to turn to farming as backup
c. Create labor shortage
d. Raise wages
e. Improve factory conditions
5. “single tax movement”
a. Beginning of single tax clubs
ii. Edward Bellamy
1. Journalist from MA
2. Looking Backward- 1888
a. Described new perfect society
i. Class and class warfare had disappeared
ii. Lived in country of prosperous citizens
iii. Enjoyed life w/o poverty or wealth
iv. Free of lawyers and politics
iii. Ignatius Donnelly
1. Ceasar’s Column- 1891
a. Described rigid country
i. Divided by classes
ii. Lived brutal lives
iii. Comfortable elite
iv. Some started community w/ ideals of:
1. Greenback Party
2. Knights of Labor
3. Farmers’ Alliance
iv. Visions seemd romantic
c. Professors
i. “social Darwinism”
1. Idea that classes who were fit were meant to survive
2. Most likely to survive
a. Business owners
b. Dominant class of society
3. “unfit”
a. Laborers
b. Workers
4. Interference w/ system would destabilize economy and weaken nation
ii. Professors wanted to change society and its ways
iii. Saw that class divisions were unfair
d. The Muckraking Journalists
i. New newspapers
1. Banner headlines
2. Comic strips
3. Investigative journalism
a. Wanting to expose misconduct of important people
ii. Duty to expose corruption
iii. Wrote to motivate people
1. If people saw the ills of society
2. They would be motivated to change it
2) The Transformation of the Cities
a. High birth rate during this period
b. Rise of Machine Politics and Progressive Response
i. Cities grew
1. Politics adapted to it
2. Rise of urban politics
3. Shaped by the fact that cities were places with lots of immigrants
ii. Tammany Hall
1. NY’s Democratic political machine
2. Provided direct aid to supporters
3. Met needs for poor and working class constituents
4. Political favoritism
5. Closed-door deals
6. Shut many out of office
7. Increased cost of municipal gov’t
c. Progressive Challenge to City and State Gov’t
i. Many saw this as effort by Old Protestants and native born elites to reclaim
power
ii. Candidates wanted to clean up urban corruption
iii. Provide more efficient urban services
iv. More democracy in states
1. Initiative
a. Propose a petition
b. Put new laws on ballot
2. Referendum
a. Review legislation already present
3. Recall
a. Recall of publicly elected official
4. Wanted to limit power of political elites
5. Give voters chance to change gov’t policy
6. Give information to the public
v. Other reforms:
1. Worker compensation for injury
2. Length of work day
3. Regulate safety of working conditions
4. New York
a. Required sprinklers in facoties
b. Fire-drills
c. Unlocked exits
d. Department of Labor
vi. Wagner Act
1. Gave labor unions right to bargain effectively
d. Progressive Education
i. The School and Society
1. John Dewey
2. 1899
ii. Shift emphasis of curriculum to needs of child
iii. Recognize schools to be business-like
1. Centralized admin
2. Top-down modes of decision making
iv. Restructure schools to give teachers more voice and influence
1. Better pay
2. Teaching smaller classes
v. Make education scientific
vi. Use standardized testing to improve schools
e. Jane Addams and the Settlement House Movement
i. Hull House
1. Jane Addams
2. 1913- living there for 20 years
ii. Settlement houses
1. Organized social services
2. In poor urban neighborhoods
3. Medical help
4. Took side of poor in labor/legal disputes
5. Support of housing
3) Religious Responses to the Gilded Age
a. Temperance and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
i. Began in 1870s
ii. Protestants look stnd against liquor
iii. Women
1. Alcohol consumed husband’s wages
2. Domestic violence
iv. Pray in local saloons
v. Closed many of the saloons
vi. WCTU
1. 1874
2. Temperance main political issue of decade
3. Demanded women right to vote
a. They could vote on temperance
4. “home protection”
vii. Laid foundation for 18th amendment in 1919
b. The Social Gospel
i. Improving society was the right thing:
1. Religious thing for people to do
2. God’s will
ii. Broadened definition of sin
1. From focus on individual flaws
2. To social institutions that oppressed others
iii. Local city missions carried out own gospel missions
iv. Catrholics
1. Defeneded labor movement
2. Role of catholics
3. Rise of monopolies
a. Wanted action against
v. Jews not interested in gospel movement
1. Focused on political reform
2. Labor movements
4) Progressive Politics on the National Stage
a. 09/14/1901
i. Pres McKinley dies
ii. Survived assassination bullet
iii. Died of following infection
iv. Killed by anarchist against labor movements
v. Teddy Roosevelt takes presidency
1. Took oath
vi. T. Roosevelt
1. Cowboy
2. Career outside and inside of politics
3. Born wealthy
4. Awkward/sickly child
5. Lifted weights
6. Boxed
7. Attended Harvard
8. War hero
9. Wanted to end corruption
10. Tax street railways
11. Provide industrial safety
12. Workers’ compensation for injury
13. Inspection of tenements
14. Age 42, youngest president ever
b. T. Roosevelt- Progressive President
i. Had lots of reforming energy
ii. Expanded size of gov’t
iii. Trustbuster and Square Deal
1. Wanted to limit power of industrial corporations
2. Sherman Antitrust Act
a. 1890
b. Break up Northern Securities Railways
i. Owned nearly all of railroads
ii. Could make prices whatever
3. Pendelton Civil Service Reform Act
a. 1883
b. Replace patronage w/ merit in selection of gov’t employees
c. Created Civil Service Commission
i. Job was to protect federal civil servants from
1. Losing jobs
2. Actively fundraising
3. campaigning
ii. Not elected officials
4. Wanted to expand gov’t power
5. Department of Commerce
a. Investigative authority
b. Ban on secret deals between railroads/ specific companies
6. Funds for Department of Justice
a. Expedite antitrust cases
iv. Conservation in Nature
1. TR had intense love for nature
2. Saved 1000s of acres of land from development
3. Avid hunter
a. Got the name of Teddy Bear
4. Thought americans needed to spend more time in outdoors
5. Not first to care about conservation
6. Started many national monuments and national parks
7. Signed a bill
a. Forests would be preserved
b. No additional forests would be created
c. Roosevelt and AA
i. Invited Booker T for a meeting
ii. TR never talked about black disenfranchisement or lynching
iii. Did the most to support AA
iv. He was lax in this topic
d. Roosevelt’s Continuing Popularity
i. TR enjoyed life
ii. Was very enthusiastic
iii. Continued his popularity growth
e. Taft Wins, Taft Loses- Elections of 1908 and 1912
i. Taft’s Admin and Policies
1. Taft removed most of Roosevelt’s cabinet
2. Raised tariffs
3. 16th and 17th amendment
4. Busted more trusts
ii. Election of 1912
1. Taft-republican
2. TR- progressive
a. Gov’t oversight of monopolies
b. New nationalism
3. Wilson-Democrat
a. Won
b. New freedom
i. Give people freedom by breaking up trusts
ii. Foster competition
4. Socialist- Debs
f. Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom
i. Conservation
ii. Access to raw materials
iii. Banking and finance
1. Create federal reserve system
iv. Tariff and taxes
1. Underwood-simmons tariff
a. Reduced tax on goods imported
st
2. 1 income tax
v. Clayton Anti-Trust Act
1. Outlawed interlocking directorates
2. Defined unfair trade practices
a. Collusion of prices
3. Exempted labor unions and farmer co-ops from unionizing charge
vi. Created Federal Trade Commission
1. Limit growth and power of monopolies
vii. Did nothing about child labor
viii. Allowed policy which didn’t support AA
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