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Progressivism in America: 1890s to 1920s

Progressivism in America: 1890s to 1920s. The Progressives. Believed efficient government could protect public interest and restore order to society. The Progressives. Specific issues for reform :. The break-up or regulation of trusts Killing political machines

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Progressivism in America: 1890s to 1920s

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  1. Progressivism in America:1890s to 1920s

  2. The Progressives • Believed efficient government could protect public interest and restore order to society

  3. The Progressives Specific issues for reform: • The break-up or regulation of trusts • Killing political machines • Reduce threat of socialism (by improving workers’ lives) • Improve squalid conditions in the cities • Improve working conditions for female labor & end child labor • Consumer protection • Voting reform • Conservation • Banking Reform • Labor reform (working conditions & unionization) • Prohibition of alcohol • Female suffrage

  4. The Muckrakers Term coined by Teddy Roosevelt: “In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; Who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor.”

  5. The Muckrakers • Journalists who attempted to expose the evils of society • Popular magazines such as McClure’s and Cosmopolitan (owned by Hearst), and Collier’s emerged

  6. Progressive Activists • Jane Addams (Hull House) • Florence Kelley (child labor reforms)

  7. Political Reforms • Robert La Follette(R)-Wisconsin • Regulated public utilities, esp. railroads • Direct primary • Initiative, referendum, recall • Direct election of senators (led to passage of 17th Amendment in 1913) • State income tax • Civil service reform • Australian ballot (secret ballot) • Commission System • Cities run by 5 commissioners w/a city manager; reduced the power of machine politics

  8. Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive Legacy “Square Deal” for capital, labor, & the public A. Regulation of Corporations (distinguished good trusts from bad trusts) 1. Anthracite Coal Strike-TR pressured end to strike; threatened to seize mines & operate them with federal troops if owners refused compromise -owners consented to arbitration 2. Created Department of Commerce & Labor 3. Attacked Northern Securities Company to break up alleged railroad trust; TR seen as “trustbuster” 4. Elkins Act: railroad co’s had to keep to advertised rates; no rebates 5. Hepburn Act: expanded power of the ICC which could now set max. RxR rates & restrict rebates

  9. Teddy R. Taming the Trusts

  10. Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive Legacy B. Consumer Protection 1b. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle prompted TR to support federal regulations 2. Meat Inspection Act 3. Pure Food & Drug Act C. Conservation 1b. Gifford Pinchot 2. Newlands Reclamation Act: federal gov’t more active in water management & land reclamation 3. Forest protection

  11. Election of 1904

  12. Panic of 1907 Causes: speculation & mismanagement in Wall St. banks & trusts; overextension of credit Results: showed need for elastic money supply -paved way for est. of Federal Reserve Act of 1913

  13. Taft Becomes President • Roosevelt chose not to run for reelection in 1908; supported his Sec. of War, William Howard Taft for Republican nomination • Taft defeated Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan

  14. President Taft • More cautious progressive agenda than T.R. • Continued as a trustbuster -1911, US v. American Tobacco Co. • Was much more passive toward Congress than T.R.

  15. Split in the Republican Party Payne-Aldrich Tariff, 1909: most important cause for split ofRepublican Party. 1. Taft pushed to reduce tariff (key reform for progressives & a campaign promise) 2. House passed moderately reductive bill but Senate revised it back upwards 3. Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff thus betraying his campaign promises to support a lower tariff

  16. Split in the Republican Party Ballinger-Pinchot controversy(1910) • Secretary of Interior Ballinger opened public lands in WY, MT, Alaska to corporate development • Gifford Pinchot, chief of Agriculture Department's Division of Forestry and strong TR supporter criticized Ballinger • Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination. • Storm of protest arose from conservationists & Roosevelt’s friends. -- A congressional committee ruled Pinchot not guilty of wrong-doing. • Contributed to growing split between Taft and TR.

  17. Split in the Republican Party Ballinger-Pinchot controversy (1910)

  18. Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” • Teddy’s domestic program which sought continued consolidation of trusts & labor unions, & growth of powerful regulatory agencies in Washington; taxation of businesses & more efficient government

  19. Split in the Republican Party • Split over conservation & tariff issues, Republicans lost control of the House of Reps in the 1910 midterm elections (1st time in 18 years the Dems gained control) • Taft also pushed an anti-trust suit against J.P. Morgan’s U.S. Steel Co., infuriating TR

  20. Split in the Republican Party • 1911, National Progressive Republican Leagueformed • TR becomes its candidate for 1912 presidential election -he reasoned that the 3rd-term tradition applied to three consecutive terms “My hat is in the ring!”

  21. Bull Moose Party

  22. Election of 1912 • Woodrow Wilson nominated by Democrats -Platform: antitrust, monetary changes, tariff reductions • Wilson’s domestic platform referred to as the “New Freedom”: -  pro-small enterprise, entrepreneurship, free competitive economy w/out monopoly; strong states’ rights  -trustbusting was a campaign promise  -wanted less gov’t interference in human affairs (social issues)  

  23. Election of 1912 B. Teddy Roosevelt nominated by Progressive-Republican party (Bull Moose Party)   • "New Nationalism":Teddy’s domestic program which sought continued consolidation of trusts & labor unions, & growth of powerful regulatory agencies in Washington; taxation of businesses & more efficient government

  24. Election of 1912 New Nationalism • Sought to set liberal agenda for next 50 years. • Like Wilson, Roosevelt favored active gov’t role in economic affairs; but favored both good trusts AND regulation. • supported women’s suffrage, graduated income tax, lower tariffs, campaign spending limits, currency reform; and broad program of social welfare: minimum-wage laws, abolition of child labor, and workers' compensation.

  25. Election of 1912 C. Taft was nominated by the Republicans -he didn’t campaign & was primarily supported by the Republican “Old Guard”

  26. Election of 1912

  27. Election of 1912

  28. Election of 1912 • Wilson won with only 41% of the popular vote • TR’s party fatally split the Republican vote and gave the election to Wilson (TR & Taft combined for over 1.25 million more popular votes than Wilson!)

  29. Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency Wilson’s Background: -Born in VA -didn't support efforts to improve rights for blacks. -worked as lawyer, history professor (!), president of Princeton University, & Gov. of NJ -”New Freedom” program included his plan to attack the trusts, tariffs, and high finance  -attacked the “triple wall of privilege”: high tariff, the banks, the trusts

  30. Wilson & Taxation -successfully lobbied Congress to cut tariff (Underwood Tariff Bill, 1913 substantially reduced tariff from 37-40% to 29% & eliminated it entirely for about 100 items; 1st tariff decrease since Civil War) -oversaw ratification of the 16th Amendment(legalized graduated federal income tax which taxed individual earnings & corporate profits)

  31. Wilson & the Federal Reserve Signed off on Federal Reserve Act of 1913: -created Federal Reserve System -sought to establish decentralized private banking system under federal control -divided nation into 12 districts w/regional central bank in each district -could issue paper currency in times of emergency, transfer funds to member banks in trouble -failed in preventing economic depressions ***still serves as basis of the U.S. banking system

  32. Wilson & the Federal Reserve

  33. Wilson’s Key Anti-Trust Legislation Federal Trade Commission Actof 1914 -Empowered presidential-appointed commission (FTC) 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.

  34. Wilson’s Key Antitrust Legislation cont. Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 Purpose: strengthen Sherman Anti-Trust Act -banned co’s from acquiring stock of another if doing so would create a monopoly; co. officers could be prosecuted if found guilty of this - labor unions & agricultural organizations wouldn’t be subject to antitrust prosecution -legalized strikes and peaceful picketing. i. AFL leader Samuel Gompers hailed act as the "Magna Carta of labor"          -- weakness: didn’t explicitly state what was and what wasn't legal union activity; Wilson refused to go further.

  35. Prohibition of Alcohol 18th Amendment: banned sale, transport, manufacture, or consumption of alcohol Volstead Act: passed to enforce 19th Amendment

  36. Women’s Suffrage during Wilson’s Presidency *By 1910, woman had federal voting rights in WY, UT, CO, WA, and ID *Carrie Chapman Cattsucceeded Susan B. Anthony as president of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) -Increased pressure on gov’t by organizing more support, lobbying, & using ladylike behavior -More radical women’s org’s used picketing & hunger strikes to increase pressure

  37. Women’s Suffrage during Wilson’s Presidency -Alice Paul’s Congressional Union -militant women’s rights protestors -Put forth Equal Rights Amendment after 1920; never succeeded in getting it passed.

  38. Women’s Suffrage during Wilson’s Presidency • Women’s support for the war effort during WWI was rewarded by increased support for suffrage • Suffrage bill put forth in House by Jeannette Rankin • 1919, Congress passed 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote

  39. Failures of Progressivism: Civil Rights • Great Migration resulted in violent race riots • Wilson spoke out against lynching in his 1912 campaign but opposed federal anti-lynching legislation once in office • Segregation in federal bureaucracy increased Lynching in 1930

  40. Civil Rights: W.E.B. DuBois • Advocated for immediate inclusion of the top 10% of African-Americans into American life • Wrote Souls of Black Folk, rejected Booker T. Washington’s gradual approach to equality • Founded Niagara Movement; advocated civil rights for African-Americans • Demanded “talented tenth” of black community get immediate access to equality • Early member of NAACP; advocated for civil rights • Editor for The Crisis; magazine intended to increase awareness of need for civil rights

  41. Civil Rights: Booker T. Washington • Advocated acceptance of segregation in the short-term; believed African-Americans should work hard and earn the respect of whites • In Atlanta Compromise speech, suggested African-Americans should forego political equality, civil right, and higher education for the time being; focus on industrial education and accumulating wealth • Founded Tuskegee Institute as school for industrial education

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