Progressive Movement
• As defined by The Americans – “aimed to
return control of the government to the
people, restore economic opportunities, and
correct injustices in American life.”
• Discussion: return control of government to
people : restore…: correct imbalances.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yMPG6
a2GQ&feature=related
Camella Teoli
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/61/
Lawrence, Massachusetts Strike
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HOW TO RESOLVE THE 1912 STRIKE
In 1912, the Massachusetts state legislature passed a law ordering mills to reduce the workweek to 54
hours. In the textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the average workweek was 56 hours. Mill owners
decided to reduce the workweek by two hours and to reduce workers’ pay by two hours. They also sped
up the machinery in the textile mills in order to create the same amount of fabric in a shorter amount of
time. On Friday, January 12, 1912, a group of workers yelled, “Short pay! All out! All out!” and the strike
began. Over 30,000 textile mill workers walked out of the mills and joined the strike.
CHOICES
The owners could give in to worker’s demands.
BUT…
The owners would lose profits and possibly go out of business, and shareholders will be upset.
The workers could accept the pay cut and speed up and go back to work.
BUT…
The workers would be working harder for less pay.
The owners and workers could find a compromise that would give something to each side.
BUT…
Neither side would be completely happy.
Four Goals of Progressive Movement
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Protecting Social Welfare
Promoting Moral Improvement
Creating Economic Reform
Fostering Efficiency
Protecting Social Welfare
• Social Gospel – help the poor…community
centers…churches and social services
• YMCA – classes and physical activities
• Salvation Army – “slum brigades”
• Florence Kelley- 1859 – 1932
• Illinois Factory Act of 1893 – prohibited child
labor – cut back working hours for women.
• Muller v. Oregon 1908
Muller v. Oregon 1908
• “That woman's physical structure and the performance
of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in
the struggle for subsistence is obvious. This is
especially true when the burdens of motherhood are
upon her. Even when they are not, by abundant
testimony of the medical fraternity continuance for a
long time on her feet at work, repeating this from day
to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body, and as
healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the
physical well-being of woman becomes an object of
public interest and care in order to preserve the
strength and vigor of the race." 208 U.S. at 412.
• Justice David Josiah Brewer’s statement.
Effects of Muller Decision
• Feminists were not happy – reinforced
stereotypes on gender roles and limited
financial independence of women.
• Treated women as children.
• “The test for whether or not you can hold a
job should not be the arrangement of your
chromosomes.” ~Bella Abzug
“We can do it”
Promoting Moral Improvement –
Where do we get our moral
Talking point
Prohibition
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union - 1874
• Francis Willard – raised awareness and
membership to become largest women’s
group in history…245,000 members by 1911.
• WCTU – opened kindergartens, visited in
prisons and asylums, pushed for women’s
suffrage.
• What reasons did WCTU give for advocating a
ban on alcohol?
Prohibition
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Anti- Saloon League – founded 1895
Worked to pass laws vs. “demon rum”
Statewide referendums??
Many states in South and West become ‘dry’
Remember…most women did not work…so
what does this have to do with Prohibition
Movement???
Economic Reform
• The Panic of 1893
• In the last days of the Harrison administration, the Reading
Railroad, a major eastern line, went into receivership. That collapse
was soon magnified by the failures of hundreds of banks and
businesses dependent upon the Reading and other railroads. The
stock market reacted with a dramatic plunge. Fearing further
collapse, European investors pulled their funds from the United
States, but depression soon gripped the other side of the Atlantic as
well. An ongoing agricultural depression in the West and South
deepened, spreading the misery to those regions.
• Although thousands of businesses were ruined and more than four
million were left unemployed, Cleveland did little. He believed, like
most people of both major parties, that the business cycle was a
natural occurrence and should not be tampered with by politicians.
• Define: receivership
Panic of 1893
• Because of Panic of 1893 a number of
Americans began to question capitalism!!
Some embraced socialism. Does this sound
familiar?? How about the recession of 2008??
• Any parallels??
• Big business and government: Where might
corruption begin??
• Most progressives did not support
socialism…true today???
Eugene V. Debs
• Union Organizer
• Founder of Socialist Party
• Ran for President as Socialist 1900-1904-19081912-1920
• Read quote on page 514. Does this apply
today??
Muckrakers
• Exposed the dangers and corruption of
industrial life to the public in magazines and
publications
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNE0gc2
MyY&feature=related
Raking Muck
Fostering Efficiency
• Use science to make the workplace and
society more efficient.
• Louis D. Brandeis – “Brandeis brief”
• Louis Brandeis’s brief in Muller v. Oregon, 208
U.S. 412 (1908), is famous for being the first
so-called “Brandeis brief” — a legal brief
heavily based on social science data.
Sojourner Truth
• That man over there says that women need to be
helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and
to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever
helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or
gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?
Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and
planted, and gathered into barns, and no man
could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could
work as much and eat as much as a man — when
I could get it — and bear the lash as well! And
ain’t I a woman?
Taylorism
• Named for Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915 –
father of scientific management.
• He would analyze work and looked for the “One
Best Way”. He did time and motion studies Did
a famous study on the shovel and found the
most effective load was 21 ½ pounds. He
designed a shovel to handle that load with
modifications for different substances. For
workers who were paid for amount of shoveling
he came up with efficiency methods.
Taylorism
• Broke tasks into smaller parts – le to the
assembly line…but not all could keep up!!
• See Lucy
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztA6JCKB
4s
• Why did this cause high worker turnover even
when Henry Ford offered an eight hour day
and $5/day??
Cleaning Up Government
• Headed by party bossed who corrupted the
system with bribes and kickbacks. Reform was
motivated by a desire to be more efficient and
meet the citizens needs.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGOvMg
3zCk
City Management Reform
• Natural disasters played a big part in city
management reform.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX88xLJVfpI
• Relief and rebuilding efforts did not work. A five
member commission of experts took over. Each
headed a city department. Galveston was rebuilt
and this led to a city commission form of
government. By 1917 500 cities adopted this
form.
Dayton, Ohio Flood 1913
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8wYCwg
apc
• This brought about the council-manager form
of government.
• People elect a city council
• Council appoints a manager who runs the
city’s departments.
• 1925 – 250 of this form.
Reform Mayors
• Hazen Pingree …Detroit 1890-97
• Fair taxes, lowered fares on public
transportation, rooted out corruption, relief
for unemployed who built schools and parks.
• Tom Johnson…Cleveland 1901-1909 –
converted utilities to publically run
businesses. Held town meetings so citizens
could talk to city officials.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rytLJWaJff
8&feature=fvst
State Reform
• Governor Robert M. La Follette – 3 terms then
joined Senate in 1906 – mainly went after
railroads by setting up commission to regulate
rates and stopped free passes to state
officials. Ran for president for Progressive
Party in 1924.
Child Labor
• Why hire children??
• What were health problems for children?
• What did the National Child Labor Committee
do?
• The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 put an end to
the transportation of goods across state lines
if produced with child labor.
Limiting Working Hours
• Muller v. Oregon 1908 – limited work day for
women to ten hours.
• Bunting v. Oregon 1917 – the Court upheld a
10 hour workday for men.
• What is workers’ compensation? Started with
Maryland 1902…hurt or killed!!
Reforming Elections
• Australian ballot…it’s a secret.
• Card check
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45yi7PMY
MPY
• Initiative – a bill originated by people other
than lawmakers – put on ballot if a certain
number of citizens sign a petition.
• A vote on the initiative is called referendum
Reforming Elections
• Recall – allowed voters to force an new
election to remove a public official from office
before their term expires.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqrZw4CK
xY0&feature=fvst
• Direct Election of Senators – 17th Amendment
1913
• Why the 17th Amendment?? Accountability??
C-17 Section 3
• Make Roosevelt McKinley's VP…Why?
• A heartbeat away or six months into
McKinley’s second term.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H83vDUBi
Q-I
• 1858 – wealthy family – asthma – overcome
by exercise
Spanish-American War 1898
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cf
m?guidAssetId=E3E409A2-501F-41DC-BED3D163014C18F8&blnFromSearch=1&productco
de=US
• The Rough Riders
Teddy Roosevelt
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Harvard graduate
3 terms NY state assembly
Police commissioner
Assistant Sec. of Navy
Spanish – American War – Rough Riders
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cf
m?guidAssetId=7DA2279F-A121-44F4-8D35AAB251D65CF3
Teddy Roosevelt
• ‘federal responsibility for national welfare’
• ‘assume control when states cannot’
• “do whatever the needs of the people
demand”…unless prohibited by Constitution
• Saw presidency as a ‘bully pulpit’
Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cf
m?guidAssetId=D4225643-5F57-404A-AC84D585BE326E84&blnFromSearch=1&productco
de=US
Square Deal
• “ A simple and poor society can exist as a
democracy on the basis of sheer
individualism, but a rich and complex
industrial society cannot so exist”
• Progressive era equals an activist president
who wants federal authority intervention in
domestic affairs.
• Is this want we want and how much do we
want???
Trustbusting
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Trusts- 4/5ths
Standard Oil
Lower prices
Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890
Northern Securities Company
Could not slow the mergers
1902 Coal Srike
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What did the miners want?
What caused Roosevelt to intervene?
Do you think he should have?
Was his action Constitutional?
What precedent did this establish?
Modern day examples?
Regulation of the Railroads
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Interstate Commerce Act
Elkins Act 1903
Hepburn Act of 1906
What did this legislation do collectively?
Health
• Meat Inspection Act
• Pure Food and Drug Act
• http://www.encyclopedia.com/video/pfbakU
UgHUI-hundred-year-lie-part1the.aspxhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Xc-9Q8iQPKY&feature=related
Conservation
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List some of the problems
John Muir
148 million acres
1.5 million acres of water sires
Additional 80 million acres
50 wildlife sanctuaries and a number of
national parks
• Newlands Act
Civil Rights
• Contrast Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du
Bois.
• NAACP
The Jungle
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cf
m?guidAssetId=931EA6FB-68BF-4CEF-A455AA470AEC91FA&blnFromSearch=1&productco
de=US
More on the Muckrakers
• Read page 532 – 533
• Are investigative reporters as needed now as
they were in the late 19th century?
• What scandals have investigative reporters
uncovered recently?
Gifford Pinchot
• Head of U.S. Forest Service under Roosevelt
• ‘middle ground’
• Scientific management of land with private
development
• Developers want it all – apply pressure
• Fired by Taft??
Taft and Progressivism
• 1908 Election – “Vote for Taft this time, You
can vote for Bryan any time”
• 90 trusts busted
• First problem – conservation and tariffs
• Lower or raise taxes on imports??
• Protect U.S. products??
• Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Taft
• Richard A. Ballinger – 1 million acres removed
• Pinchot fired
• What are the pros and cons of each position?
Republican Split
• Two wings – progressives and conservatives
• Joe Cannon – House Speaker – ignored
seniority on committees – progressive bills
ignored – along with Dems he lost
chairmanship of Committee on Rules –
decides when bills will come to floor
Mid-Term Election of 1910
• GOP split – progressives vs. conservatives
• High cost of living blamed on Patne-Aldrich
Tariff
• Voters believed Taft was against conservation
• Democrats win control of House 1st time in 18
years.
Election of 1912
• Roosevelt runs as 3rd party candidate – Bull
Moose Party – platform
• Direct election of senators
• Recall, initiative, referendum for all states
• Women’s suffrage, minimum wage for women
• Eight hour workday
• Federal law vs. child labor
• FTC to regulate business
Woodrow Wilson
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Former President of Princeton
Gov. of new Jersey
Program called ‘New freedom’
“ Don’t interfere when your enemy is
destroying himself”
Election of 1912
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Wilson – New Freedom
Taft –conservative
Roosevelt – progressive
Debs – end capitalism
Wilson – 42% of vote…but 435 electoral votes
Wilson – What should be the relationship
between government and big business?
New Freedom
• Attack the triple wall of privilege – trusts,
tariffs, high finance
• Magna Carta for labor - according to Samuel
Gompers president of the AFL – The Clayton
Antitrust Act of 1914
• Corporations could not acquire stock from
another corporation and thereby create a
monopoly.
Clayton Antitrust Act 1914
• What did it do for labor?
• Labor unions not subject to antitrust laws
• Strikes, picketing, boycotts, strike benefits all
legal
• Injunctions against strikers illegal unless
disruption causes damage.
• Recent examples???
Federal trade Commission 1914
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent
agency of the United States government, established in
1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal
mission is the promotion of consumer protection and
the elimination and prevention of what regulators
perceive to be harmfully anti-competitive business
practices, such as coercive monopoly.
• The Federal Trade Commission Act was one of
President Woodrow Wilson's major acts against trusts.
Trusts and trust-busting were significant political
concerns during the Progressive Era.
Underwood Act of 1913
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Fledgling president Woodrow Wilson summoned a special session of Congress in April 1913. His
immediate objective was to confront the perennial tariff question and he brought special attention
to the matter by deciding to appear in person before Congress to make his appeal. He was the first
president since John Adams to do so.
The joint session was a spectacular event. A huge crowd gathered and every seat in the House
chamber was taken. Newspaper coverage was intense. Wilson spoke only briefly, but made it clear
that tariff reform was needed and that he would not be a party to a repeat of the embarrassment
of the thwarted reform of 1894. The burden was clearly on Democratic shoulders because they
controlled both houses of Congress for the first time in 18 years.
Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama guided a reform measure through the House, but his counterpart
in the Senate, F.M. Simmons of North Carolina, reverted to form and allowed numerous increases in
rates to be added. Wilson, unlike many of his predecessors, took the offensive. He went to the
Capitol and twisted the arms of backsliding Democrats; he also warned the public of the invasion of
Washington then underway by scores of lobbyists. The president was successful with generating a
public reaction. Angry constituents wrote their congressmen and demanded tariff reform.
Success came in October 1913 with the first meaningful tariff revision since the Civil War. The
Underwood-Simmons measure vastly increased the free list, adding woolens, iron, steel, farm
machinery and many raw materials and foodstuffs. The average rate was approximately 26 percent.
The Sixteenth Amendment
• Lost revenue due to lower tariffs
• Ratified in 1913 – graduated income tax
• 1% on family making $4000 up to 6% on
incomes above $500,000
• Money came pouring in to become the
number 1 source
Federal Reserve System
• Bottom line – increase money in circulation
and make money available for loans.
• Private banking system under federal control
• 12 districts – called “bankers banks” – served
banks in their districts
• 1923 70% of banks part of Federal Reserve
System – A Wilson legacy.
Nineteenth Amendment 1920
• Carrie Chapman Catt – president of NAWSA
1915 returned
• More radical – Jucy Burns/Alice Paul – picket
line around White House
• Emmeline Prankhurst – English counterpart
• 72 years later
Disappointed Progressives
• Civil Rights
• Federal anti-lynching legistation
• Desegregation of federal employees–
Wilson…segregation is just
• Second term dominated Wilson’s second term
and brought an end to progressivism.