PROGRESSIVISM
AND THE
REPUBLICAN
ROOSEVELT
Chapter 28
American Pageant, 13th ed.
PROGRESSIVE ROOTS
 By
1900 America was faced with social
problems that had been mounting for 30
years but had not been affectively
addressed.
 The nation was gripped by a reform
movement called Progressivism.


Biggest period of reform since the 1840s.
Waged war on many social evils including:

monopolies, corruption in government, inefficiency,
social injustice and irresponsible corporations
PROGRESSIVISM

The heart of progressive movement:


Belief that government should be strengthened so that it
could act aggressively to tackle social ills
Government could be an instrument of positive good
Basic prescription: use government as an agency of
human welfare
 A rejection of laissez-faire

ROOTS OF PROGRESSIVISM
 Pressure
came from a number of different
groups:




Socialists from Europe—start to gain strength in US
Christians preaching Social Gospel—focused on the
needs of the poor and the workers at the mercy of
corporations
Feminists—suffrage movement included social
justice in their call for reform because women were
often those who suffered the most
Urban pioneers exposing corruption of cities and
working conditions of children and women
MUCKRAKERS
Magazines and Newspapers
began to compete with each
other to expose evil and
corruption
 TR coins term muckrakers
 Lincoln Steffens—Shame in
the Cities (big business &
municipal government)
 Ida Tarbell—expose of
Standard Oil
 David Phillips—The
Treason of the Senate
(Senators represent railroads
& trusts)

GOALS OF MUCKRAKERS
Was out-pouring of
national criticism and
exposure of ways in
which the system was
broken
 Articles had a
profound impact on
the nation
 Like progressives in
general, these articles
were long on
complaint but short on
solutions

MUCKRAKING TARGETS
Malpractice of life
insurance company
 tariff lobbies
 beef trust
 money trust
 railroad barons
 White slave traffic in
women
 Slums
 High rate of industrial
accidents
 Child labor
 Plight of blacks in the
South

GOALS OF PROGRESSIVES

Regain the power that had slipped from the hands of
the people into the hands of the special interest. Thus,
pushed for:





Primary elections
Initiatives – voter proposed legislation
Referendum – laws on ballot for final approval
Recalls - allowing voters to remove candidates who were
screwing up
Another objective was rooting out corruption



corrupt practices acts – limited campaign finances
secret ballot
direct election of US senators


17th Amendment
Woman’s suffrage
PROGRESSIVISM IN THE CITIES AND
STATES



Progressives scored
their biggest victories at
the state and city levels
City commission form of
government -Galveston
Texas
Wisconsin a test lab for
progressive proposals


Gov. Robert La
Follette
Oregon, California &
New York followed suit
PROGRESSIVE WOMEN
 Settlement
House
movement
 Social Clubs
 “Women’s issues”
 Sweat shops
 Muller v. Oregon – laws
protect women workers too
 Lochner v. New York – 10
hour workday for all
Triangle Shirtwaist Company
fire
TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
 Woman’s
Christian
Temperance Union
 Frances Willard led 1 million
members
 Some states and counties
passed laws controlling,
restricting or banning liquor
 The big cities generally stay
wet
TR’S SQUARE DEAL FOR LABOR
Roosevelt is a progressive
 Demanded a “Square Deal” for capital, labor and the
public
 Believed the government should uphold the public
interests
 He pushed control of three Cs:




corporations
consumer protection
conservation of natural resources
Intervened in the coal strike of 1902: showed
government can help the people
 Department of Commerce and Labor 1903
 Bureau of Corporations

TR CORRALS THE CORPORATIONS
RR monster still
largely untouched
 Interstate Commerce
Commission was
largely ineffective
 TR & Congress took
on railroads & trusts
together
 Gave Interstate
Commerce
Commission teeth to
impose restrictions

TR TRUST BUSTING




Northern Securities
Company
Railroad holding
company held by J.P.
Morgan – had monopoly
in Northwest
TR with help of
Supreme Court
dissolved NSC and
others
Proved that government
had power over business
CARING FOR THE CONSUMER
 TR
backed
legislation
protecting against
adulterated and
mislabeled food
 1906 Upton
Sinclair The
Jungle
 Meat Inspection
Act of 1906
 Pure Food and
Drug Act of 1906
ROOSEVELT AND CONSERVATION
EARTH CONTROL
 Americans
using up natural resources
 Corporations hungry to exploit resources
 Conservation and naturalist movement started
before TR president, but TR gave the
movement a huge kick in the pants
Set aside vast tracts of forests to prevent logging on
it
 Banned Christmas trees from the White House
 Protected coal mines

ROOSEVELT EMBOLDENS ENEMIES
 Roosevelt
is easily elected in
his own right in 1904
 TR’s big mistake:


announces that he will not run
for a “third” term.
makes him a lame duck
ROOSEVELT PANIC OF 1907

Sharp but short-lived panic on Wall Street in 1907
Speculation ends in run on banks
 Currency in short supply

Conservatives blame TR – too much government
intervention
 Aldrich-Vreeland Act


National banks can issue emergency currency if needed;
sets the stage for Federal Reserve Act of 1913
THE ROUGH RIDER THUNDERS OUT
 TR
used his political clout to
engineer nomination of
William H. Taft in 1908
 Taft platform were TR’s
policies
 Dems nominate William
Jennings Bryan
 Taft wins easily
 Socialists manage nearly a
half-million votes
CONTRIBUTIONS OF TR
Enlarged the power and prestige
of the presidency
 Began the process of taming
capitalism ensuring that it would
survive rather than being
replaced
 Developed technique of using
publicity as a political weapon
 Helped shape the progressive
movement and to lay the groundwork for later liberal reforms
 Opened Americans, eyes to world
affairs and America’s role and
potential influence on world
events

TAFT: A ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE HOLE
 Taft
was initially
very popular
 Taft was passive
with no jovial
personality like TR
 Poor judge of public
opinion
 Foot-in-mouth
disease (a little too
honest)
DOLLAR DIPLOMACY
 Extra
dollars can go to foreign investments
where the US has a stake in country’s success
 Success for them=success for US
 Leads to investment in Caribbean
 Causes US entanglement in these countries
 US Marines land in Cuba, Nicaragua,
Honduras and the Dominican Republic to
restore order and to protect US investments

Continues the distrust of Caribbean and Central
American countries toward US
TAFT THE TRUSTBUSTER
Taft brought antitrust suits at nearly four times the
rate of TR; 90 in his 4-year term
 Supreme Court decision in Standard Oil case

Dissolution of company
 Said company restricted trade & violated Sherman antitrust act


Taft also went after US Steel

Angered TR because he liked US Steel
TR BUSTS TAFT



TR increasingly annoyed
with Taft
 TR expected and
wanted Taft to be
progressive in his mold
 TR was not ready to
leave the stage
TR moving from Taft’s
mentor to his antagonist
The progressive wing
longed for the return of TR
TAFT SPLITS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
Lower tariff one of the primary progressive aims;
protective tariff viewed as the mother of all Trusts
 Payne-Aldrich Bill passed

Taft: the “best bill ever passed by the party”
 Increased tariffs on many items


Taft relieves Gifford Pinchot of duties as chief of
Agriculture because he spoke up about opening lands
in West to corporate development
REPUBLICAN SPLIT
 By
1910 the progressive wing of
Republican party moved into open
revolt
 Taft being pushed into the camp
of the conservatives
 Osawatomie, Kansas, speech

Doctrine of “New Nationalism” or
increased government power
 Mid-term
elections showed
Democratic gain
THE TAFT-ROOSEVELT RUPTURE
National Progressive
Republican League;
LaFollette at the head
 TR lets it be known
that he will accept a
third term if
nominated by
Republicans
 He seizes the
progressive banner
 Wins a number of the
new primaries

TR is more popular
with voters, but
doesn’t win the
nomination because
Taft was more
conservative
 Roosevelt is outraged
& forms the Bull
Moose Party

CITATION

Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt. (2001). Retrieved on
February 13, 2011 from www.theindependentschool.com/cmsassets/.../3840-576790.ch28.ppt

Images

http://rkijewski.edublogs.org/
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http://eslnotepad.blogspot.com/2010/04/ida-tarbell-reporter-whotook-on.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/theodore-roosevelts-squaredeal.html
http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/walter.sargent/public.www/web%201
04/week%205_104_08.htm