The Progressive
Era
1900-1920
Road to Progressivism
Greenback Labor Party of 1870s sought to
thwart power of "robber barons"
 Populism: ideas geared to rural life, many of
its ideas appealed to progressives who sought
to regulate trusts, reduce power of political
machines, and remedy social injustice

Rise of Progressivism

Mugwumps (reform-minded Republicans of
late-19th c.) desired a return to pre-monopoly
America

Protestant/Victorian ideals of hard work =
success were now threatened by “nouveau
riche”

Emerging middle class sympathized with
Mugwump views ("3rd great awakening")
Political reformers, intellectuals, women,
journalists, social gospelites
 Saw themselves being unrepresented

The Progressives

Believed efficient gov’t could protect public interest
and restore order to society


Government is an agency of human welfare
Specific issues for reform





The break-up or regulation of trusts
Killing political machines
Reduce the threat of socialism (by improving workers’
lives)
Improve squalid conditions in the cities
Improve working conditions for women and end child
labor
Continued…








Consumer protection
Voting reform
Conservation
Banking reform
Labor reform (working conditions and unionization)
Prohibition of alcohol
Female suffrage
Thus, Progressive crusaders created a reform
movement not seen since the 2nd Great Awakening
Early Progressive writers and
social critics

Henry Demarest Lloyd -- Wealth against
Commonwealth (1894)
Criticized Standard Oil
 Beginning of investigative journalism


Thorstein Veblen -- The Theory of the Leisure
Class (1899)

Criticized the nouveau riche for its flaunting of
wealth

Jacob A. Riis -- How the Other Half
Lives (1890)
Photojournalist who exposed the dirt,
disease, vice, and misery of ratinfested New York slums
 Heavily influenced progressives such
as Theodore Roosevelt

JACOB RIIS: DOCUMENTED POVERTY AND
HOPELESSNESS
Jacob Riis
Evicted

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Woman and
Economics (1898)
Considered a classic of feminist literature
 Called on women to abandon their dependent
status and work outside the home


Socialists criticized existing injustices

Many were European immigrants who hated
excesses of capitalism
Social Gospel Movement (late
19th century)

Emphasized role of church in improving life
on earth rather than in helping individuals get
into heaven

Settlement house movement and Salvation
Army
Muckrakers
Name coined by Theodore Roosevelt
as criticism of their journalism
 Journalists who attempted to expose
evils of society


Popular magazines such as
McClure’s, Cosmopolitan (owned
by Hearst), Collier’s, and
Everybody’s emerged

Lincoln Steffens -- Shame of the Cities
(1902)


Detailed the corrupt alliance between
big business and gov’t
Ida M. Tarbell: published devastating
expose on Standard Oil Co
Detailed Rockefeller’s ruthless tactics to
crush competition
 In 1911, Standard Oil trust was broken
up; seen as a “bad trust”

IDA TARBELL
CARTOON SHOWING
THE “OCTOPUS”
STANDARD OIL
SEIZING THE NATION’S
OIL BUSINESSES

Upton Sinclair -- The Jungle (1906)
Graphic depictions of unsanitary conditions in
packing plants sparked a reaction to the meat
industry and led to regulation under TR
 Inspired Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food
and Drug Act (1906)

UPTON SINCLAIR
HIS BOOK, THE JUNGLE DESCRIBED THE
FILTHY CONDITIONS IN THE MEAT
PACKING INDUSTRY AND LED TO THE
PASSAGE OF THE FEDERAL MEAT
INSPECTION ACT OF 1906
EXCERPT FROM THE JUNGLE
“…old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy
and white – it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and
dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home
consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on
the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had
tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs.
There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the
water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of
rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage
places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these
piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of
rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put
poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats,
bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together… the
meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the
shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he
saw one – there were things that went into the sausage in
comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.”

John Spargo: The Bitter Cry of the
Children (1906)


Ray Stannard Baker: Following the
Color Line (1908)


Exposed the abuses of child labor
Attacked the subjugation of
America’s 9 million blacks, & their
illiteracy
Frank Norris: The Octopus
(1901)and The Pit (1903)

Showed how railroads and corrupt
politicians controlled California
wheat ranchers
Political Reforms

Robert La Follette & the
"Wisconsin Experiment“

Governor of Wisconsin, 1901: he
helped destroy the political
machine, take control away from
lumber & railroad trusts &
establish a progressive gov’t

Direct primary: In 1903, La Follette pressured
the legislature to institute an election open to
all voters within a party

Introduced the initiative, referendum, and recall




Initiative: allowed citizens to introduce a bill
referendum: voters cast ballots for or against
proposed laws
recall: gave citizens right to remove elected officials
from office
Direct election of Senators

Before, the state legislature chose their senator
• In 1913, approved as 17th Amendment
Adopted a state income tax; first state to do so
 Replaced the existing spoils system with state
civil service
 Other states followed Wisconsin’s lead

Australian Ballot (secret
ballot)
Introduced to counteract boss rule
 Voting now done secretly and bribers unable
to monitor voters
 Ballot also eliminated illiterate voters as party
workers could not help voters mark ballots


Hundreds of thousands of black and white
voters became disenfranchised
Commission System
For state, local governments
 Galveston, TX destroyed by hurricane, Sept.
1900- 8,000 dead
 City gov’t too corrupt, inept to rebuild
 Galveston Plan- appoint a commission to run
the city

Progressive
Activists/Crusaders
Sought improved living conditions in cities
and labor reform for women & children
 Jane Addams ("St. Jane"): Hull House


Settlement House mov’t

Women & Child Labor Reform
Child labor most successful of all
Progressive social reforms
 Florence Kelley

• Investigated and reported on child labor
while living at Hull House
• As leader of the National Consumers
League, helped organize consumer boycotts
of goods made by children or by workers in
unsanitary or dangerous jobs
• As women were primary consumers,
boycotts were often effective

Gains in women and child labor reform

Muller v. Oregon, 1906: Supreme Court upheld
Oregon law restricting women’s labor to 10hour workday; case won by Louis Brandeis
who argued that women were weaker than
men
Many states passed safety and
sanitation codes for industry and
closed certain harmful trades to
juveniles
 Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in 1911
killed 146 women workers, mostly girls

• NYC and other legislatures passed
laws regulating the hours and
conditions in sweatshops
By 1916, 32 states regulated the hours and ages
at which children could work
 Some states adopted compulsory education up
to the high school level

THEODORE
ROOSEVELT
REPUBLICAN
1901-1909
PROGRESSIVISM ON
THE NATIONAL LEVEL:
THE PROGRESSIVE
PRESIDENTS
WILLIAM
HOWARD TAFT
REPUBLICAN
1909-1913
WOODROW WILSON
DEMOCRAT
1913-1921
President Theodore Roosevelt
-- 1st "modern" president
1st president to use gov't to directly help
public
 Saw the presidency as a "bully pulpit“
 Supported progressive reform



"middle of the road" politician
Often bypassed congressional opposition (like
Jackson)
"Square Deal"

TR’s program embraced “Three C’s”:
Regulation of Corporations
 Consumer protection
 Conservation of natural
resources


Regulation of Corporations

Anthracite Coal Strike, 1902: (hard coal used
to heat homes)
• 140,000 workers of United Mine Workers union in
PA went on strike:
•
•
•
•

demanded 20% pay increase
reduction of work day
fair weighing of coal
better safety conditions
George F. Baer, president of company,
refused to arbitrate or negotiate

TR threatened to seize mines and operate them
with federal troops if owners refused
compromise

TR rationalized public in jeopardy of having no
coal during winter, duty to intervene

Owners consented to arbitration
Miners received a 10% pay boost and 9-hour
work day
 Owners got assurances that union would not
be officially recognized


Department of Commerce & Labor: created
in 1903 to settle disputes between capital and
labor

1902, Roosevelt
attacked the Northern
Securities Company


Holding company
owned by J. P. Morgan
had monopoly of
railroads in northwest
Roosevelt now seen as a
"trustbuster"
TR THE “TRUSTBUSTER”
TR VS WALL STREET
ANTI-TRUST CARTOON
THE NORTHERN SECURITIES COMPANY AND OTHER
TRUST’S “BALLOON” CRASHES

Elkins Act (1903)


Heavy fines could now be imposed on both railroads
and shippers
Hepburn Act (1906) (More effective than Elkins Act)


Expanded the power of the Interstate Commerce
Commission
"good trusts" and "bad trusts"
Consumer Protection

Meat protection

European markets threatened to ban
American meat
• Upton Sinclair: The Jungle

Meat Inspection Act (1906)
• Pushed by TR, Congress passed bill
• Preparation of meat shipped over state lines would
be subject to federal inspection

Pure Food & Drug Act (1906)
• Prevented mislabeling of foods and drugs
MEAT INSPECTION
ACT 1906
TR GOES AFTER THE MEAT TRUST
Conservation

TR set aside 125 million acres of forests in
federal reserves
About 3X as much as his 3 predecessors
 Also earmarked millions of acres of coal
deposits, as well as water
resources useful for
irrigation and power

Election of 1904

Roosevelt wins reelection in 1904
Elected "in his own right" by large electoral
margin
 Made himself a "lame duck" president by
announcing after his election that he would not
run for a third term

President William H. Taft

Election of 1908

Taft d. Bryan 321-162
• Third time Bryan defeated in 12 years

Socialist party under
Eugene Debs
received fraction
of PV

Taft as trustbuster
Brought 90 suits against trusts during four
years in office; 2X that of TR
 1911, Court ordered dissolution of Standard
Oil Company
 1911, Taft pressed an anti-trust suit against
U.S. Steel Corp

• J.P. Morgan
Taft-Roosevelt split
Both Republican
 1911, National Progressive Republican
League formed


TR reasoned that the 3rd-term tradition
applied to three consecutive terms
1912 Republican convention in Chicago gave
Taft nomination although Roosevelt clearly
had a majority of Republican votes
 Progressives left the party to form a third
party: TR’s "Bull Moose Party”

Election of 1912

Woodrow Wilson (D)
Platform: antitrust legislation, monetary
changes, and tariff reductions
 Wilson’s "New Freedom": Favored small
enterprise, entrepreneurship, and return to a
free competitive economy without monopoly
 Regarded social issues as state issues


Progressive-Republican party (Bull Moose
party)

Party consisted largely of cultured, middleclass people: journalists, social workers,
settlement house workers, young lawyers

TR’s "New Nationalism": Sought continued
consolidation of trusts and labor unions, plus
growth of powerful regulatory agencies in
Washington; more efficient government

Quintessential Progressive platform: set liberal
agenda for next 50 years

Results

Wilson defeated Roosevelt & Taft: 435-88-8
• Wilson got only 41% of popular vote

TR’s party fatally split the Republican vote,
thus giving Wilson the victory
WOODROW WILSON THE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT IS
ELECTED
WILSON’S INAUGURATION
WILSON THE
PROGRESSIVE
"Sometimes people
call me an idealist.
Well, that is the
way I know I am
an American.
America, my fellow
citizens—I do not
say it in
disparagement of
any other great
people—America is
the only idealistic
nation in the
world."
Wilson’s Presidency
Serious student of gov’t; professor; later,
president of Princeton University
 White-supremacist
 Very successful in appealing directly to people



Not willing to go as far as TR in government
activism
Moral righteousness made him often
uncompromising

Wilson came to office with a clear plan few
presidents have rivaled
First four years: more positive legislation at
any time since Alexander Hamilton
 Attacked "triple wall of privilege": the tariff,
the banks, and the trusts


Underwood Tariff Bill, 1913
(Underwood-Simmons Tariff)

Provisions:
• Substantially reduced tariff to 29%
• Enacted a graduated income tax
• Rate of 1% on incomes over $4,000; 7% on incomes over
$500,000
• By 1917, revenue from income tax exceeded tariff
revenues

Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Created Federal Reserve System
 Nation’s existing National Banking Act (from
Civil War) showed weakness during Panic of
1907

Republican solution: a huge national bank (in
effect, a "third BUS")
 Wilson appeared in Congress pushing a
sweeping reform of banking system

• Endorsed Democratic proposals for decentralized
bank in gov’t hands instead of huge private bank
(Republican idea)

Federal Reserve Act of 1913

Most significant economic legislation between
Civil War and New Deal
• Carried U.S. through financial crises of WWI

Provisions:
• Federal Reserve Board appointed by president
oversaw nationwide system of 12 regional reserve
districts, each with its own central bank
• Federal Reserve Board guaranteed public control
• Board empowered to issue paper money "Federal
Reserve Notes"
Wilson Attacking Trusts

Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
Presidential-appointed commission to monitor
industries in interstate commerce (e.g. meat
packers)
 Cease and desist orders: Commissioners could
end unfair trade practices: unlawful
competition, false advertising, mislabeling,
adulteration, & bribery
 Lacked enforcement

Henry Clayton
Representative from
Alabama was the
driving force behind
the Clayton Antitrust Act

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914
Purpose: Implement Sherman Anti-Trust by
increasing list of business practices deemed
objectionable
 Legalized strikes, peaceful picketing

• Samuel Gompers hailed act as the "Magna Carta of
labor"

Other progressive reforms during Wilson's
presidency:

In order to win election of 1916, Wilson signed
other reforms
• Keating Owen Child Labor Act, 1916 restricted
child labor on products in interstate commerce
• Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hr day for all
employees on trains in interstate commerce, with
extra pay for overtime, & maximum 16-hr shifts
• Minimum wages
• Prisons and "reform" schools forced to shift from
punishment to rehabilitation
African Americans In the
Progressive Era
African Americans made few gains
 Great African American migration
northward resulted in violence


By 1920, 2 million blacks lived in the North
• To escape poverty and discrimination in South

Race riots

Chicago Race Riot: Lasted 5 days
• Black workers and returning WWI veterans
clashed
• 23 blacks & 15 whites dead
• Over 1,000 left homeless
• Federal troops called in

Lynchings continued between 1890 and 1920

Ida B. Wells-Barnett
• A leader antilynching movement
• 25% decrease in lynchings within 3 years during
1890s
Organizing for Increased
Rights

W.E.B. Du Bois opposed Booker T.
Washington’s accommodation policies and
demanded immediate social and economic
equality for blacks

Differences in backgrounds

His opposition to Washington led to formation
of Niagara Movement (1905-1909)
Demanded immediate end to segregation and
discrimination in labor unions, courts, and
public accommodations
 Demanded equality of economic & educational
opportunity


NAACP formed

After Springfield Race Riots in 1909, a group
of white progressives including Jane Addams
& John Dewey formed NAACP in 1910
• Du Bois: director of publicity & research; editor of
their journal, Crisis
• By 1914, 50 branches and 6,000 members

Activism of Washington, Du Bois and others
led to some advances
Black illiteracy rate cut in half between 1900
and 1910
 Black ownership of land increased 10%

Women’s Suffrage
Seneca Falls, NY, 1848, led by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Lucretia Mott: beginning of
women’s suffrage movement
 National American Woman Suffrage
Association grew from 13K in 1893 to 75,000
in 1910 led by Carrie Chapman Catt


Most effective leader of the new
generation of women suffrage
proponents

Alice Paul’s Congressional Union used
militant tactics to gain attention: picketing
White House in 1916 and hunger strikes
Put forth Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
after 1920
 19th Amendment passed in 1920 granting
women full suffrage

• Bill put forth in House by Jeannette Rankin: first
women in Congress
NEW SUFFRAGE LEADERSHIP LED BY ALICE PAUL AND
CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT BROUGHT NEW TACTICS TO THE
FIGHT FOR A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO VOTE.
INCORPORATING TECHNIQUES USED BY THE BRITISH
SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT,THEY ACHIEVED THEIR GOALS
WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT IN 1920.
NOT ALL WOMEN WERE IN FAVOR OF VOTING
THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT,
UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
LAUNCHED AN ALL OUT
CAMPAIGN TO WIN THE
VOTE
ALICE PAUL AND LUCY BURNS ORGANIZED A PROTEST
PARADE TO COINCIDE WITH PRESIDENT WILSON’S
INAUGURATION IN MARCH 1913
Prohibition of alcohol
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU)
 Several states and numerous counties passed
"dry" laws which controlled, restricted, or
abolished alcohol


By 1914, 1/2 U.S. population lived in "dry"
territory

18th Amendment (1919) banned sale,
transport, manufacturing, or consumption of
alcohol


Volstead Act passed in 1919 to enforce 18th
Amendment
Eventually, one of great failures of
Progressive era— gone too far in trying to
regulate society and personal behavior
Progressive
Supreme Court
Cases
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