Bell Ringer
What is going on in this
picture?
Who is holding the gun?
What is the difference
between “good” and “bad”
trusts?
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
1890-1920
The Drive for Reform
• The Progressive movement was made up of
lots of different types of people
• These people believed that industrialization
and urbanization had created most of the social
problems and injustices
– Wanted laws to help the poor
– Religious motivations sought social justice
• The Progressive Movement was very similar to
the Populist Movement
– End government corruption and abusive big business
• Where they differed:
– educated leaders- Progressives
– farmers and workers were leaders- populists
The Drive for Reform
• First on the Progressives agenda was political
reforms
– For women it was getting the right to vote
– honest government
• Political bosses (or Party bosses) were the
prime target
– They stole money from public funds for personal use
• The corrupt businesses and public officials
controlled public services (water, sewer, etc.)
– They would exchange access to these services for
votes
The Drive for Reform
• Many turned their
focus to big
business instead of
government
– monopolies
• Progressives called
for officials to
“bust the trusts”
– break up
monopolies and
create more
opportunities for
small businesses
– Sherman AntiTrust Act was
inadequate
The Drive for Reform
• The last group of Progressives wanted to deal
with economic inequality
– They attacked the harsh conditions faced by the
miners, factory workers, and other laborers
• They sought improved working and living
conditions
– Wanted social welfare laws to help children
– Government regulations to aid workers and
consumers were also desired
Muckrakers Reveal the Need for Reform
• A new type of journalism arose out of these
issues
– Social conscious journalists who were focused on
exposing the worst parts of society were called
muckrakers by Theodore Roosevelt
• These writing soon appeared in common
magazines in everyone’s homes
• One of the best known muckrakers was
Lincoln Steffens
– Published The Shame of Two Cities which detailed
the corruption in Philadelphia
Muckrakers Reveal the Need for Reform
• Jacob Riis was
another muckraker
and photographer
– He wrote How the
Other Half Lives
which shocked the
nation
Muckrakers Reveal the Need for Reform
• Ida Tarbell wrote The History of Standard Oil
in which she exposed John D. Rockefeller
• Novelists also jumped in on this type of
writing
– Theodore Dreiser published Sister Carrie about a
small-town girl struggling to survive in Chicago and
New York
– Upton Sinclar’s The Jungle is the most well known
muckraking story from this era
• The book describes life in Chicago’s stockyards with
the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry
Reforming Government
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire spurred
reformers to call for safer work conditions
• Progressives also pushed for election reforms
• Wisconsin, known as the laboratory for
democracy, tried out these new reforms
–
–
–
–
Direct Primaries
Initiative
Referendum
Recall
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901
after McKinley was assassinated
• T.R. was energetic and opinionated
– He served as Sec. of the Navy but then stepped
down to lead a cavalry unit in the Spanish American
War
– He pushed progressive reforms on NY while he was
governor
– They got him selected as V.P. under McKinley so he
would leave them alone
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• He extended the power of the President
• His ideas, collectively known as the Square
Deal, were supposed to keep wealthy,
powerful people from taking advantage of
small business owners/poor
• His expansion of the President’s power - trusts
and industry
• In PA coal miners went on strike
• Since coal is needed for heat, etc. T.R. knew
the strike could lead to a national crisis
– Tried to bargain, then threatened federal troops to
take over and work
– This was the first time the federal government had
helped during a labor dispute
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• Since the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) was not successful in regulating the
prices of railroad freight
• T.R. pushed for the Elkins Act
– It imposed fines for RRs giving preferred rates to
favored shippers
• He also pushed for the Hepburn Act
– Gave ICC enforcement powers and set a maximum
price for ferries, etc.
• Finally, he called for Trust-busting
– He did not want to tear down large companies, but
he did was to prevent them from bullying smaller
companies or cheating customers
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• The Jungle had exposed the horrible conditions
in the meatpacking plants
– Meat Inspection Act which inspected all meat that
went across state lines
– Pure Food and Drug Act (today called the Food
and Drug Administration-FDA)
• T.R. also pushed for a protected environment
• He wanted the environment to be protected for
future generations, but he did support using the
resources
– Water was another resource being fought over
• National Reclamation Act -federal government
power to decide how/where water could be distributed
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• T.R. stepped down at the end of two terms
– He helped William Howard Taft into office
• Taft was not the Progressive that T.R. thought
he’d be
– Payne-Aldrich Act which lowered tariffs, but not
enough for T.R.’s liking
– Mann-Elkins Act which allowed the federal
government to control telephone and telegraph
• Most importantly, he dropped the idea of
“good trusts” and “bad trusts” going with all
trusts are “bad trusts”
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• The final straw for T.R. was when Taft went
after U.S. Steel, which T.R. had approved its
creation
• T.R. came back to the US from Africa and
started doing tours for New Nationalism
– He said he was “strong as a bull moose” and so
people began calling his splinter party from the
Republicans the Bull Moose Party/Progressive
Party
Wilson’s New Freedom
• The 1912 election had three candidates
– Republicans: William Taft
– Progressive (Bull-Moose): T.R.
– Democrats: Woodrow Wilson
• Bull-Moose split Republicans- Democrats
were guaranteed the win
• Wilson’s collective ideas were called New
Freedom
Wilson’s New Freedom
• Wilson focused on the “triple wall of
privilege”
– Tariffs, banks, and trusts he said prevented
businesses from being free
• Underwood Tariff Act
– This also set into motion the Sixteenth Amendment
which instituted a graduated income tax
• Banks
– The Federal Reserve Act was created which set up
The Fed, divided the country into districts, and these
banks hold on to reserves for the commercial banks
• Trusts- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
– They watched out for monopolies and false
advertising