THE PROGRESSIVE

ERAAmerican History Honors

January, 2015Ms. Costas

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS■How did the problems of industrialization lead to the

Progressive Movement?

■What were the primary goals of the Progressive Movement?

■How did the progressive presidents influence government?

■What were the political, economic, and social effects of the Progressive Movement?

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM■Progressivism = common desire to improve life in the

industrial age Diverse goals united under common label

■Mainly urban middle class

■Committed to democratic values To improve the human condition

o Honest governmento Just laws

What were the problems that needed fixing in the Gilded Age?

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM

■Five major goals of Progressivism

1. Government regulation of Big Business

2. Improving workers’ plight

3. Addressing the problems caused by urbanization

4. Minority rights

5. Improve democracy/government for people

MUCKRAKERS■Journalists who exposed “dirty” realities of party

politics “Raked the mud of society and never looked up”

■Used magazines and books

■Declined after 1910 Couldn’t top the last story Increased pressure from banks to tone down politics Corporations cleaned up

WELL KNOWN MUCKRAKERS■Ida Tarbell

The History of the Standard Oil Company

■Lincoln Steffens Tweed Days in St. Louis

■Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives

■Upton Sinclair The Jungle

POLITICAL REFORM■Major goal was government reform

Push for primarily Democratic State

■Believed in honest gov’t when given the chance

■Reform in 3 areas: Voter participation Municipal reform State reform

VOTER PARTICIPATION■Goal = increased voter participation

Secret ballot Direct primaries Direct election of senators Initiative, referendum, and recall Social welfare

MUNICIPAL REFORM

■Target city bosses and corrupt alliances

■Provide service to citizens

■Controlled public utilities Private Public

■Top down management Elected heads of city depts. Hired “expert managers”

STATE REFORM■Laws passed to regulate RR, mines, mills, and

other big business

■State reforms included Limited business in gov’t Graduated income tax

o 16th Amendment

Child labor laws Limited working hours Temperance and Prohibition

PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS

■Progressive governors and mayors battled at the state and local levels

■Three presidents broadened reform at the national level

Theodore Roosevelt

William Howard Taft

Woodrow Wilson

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901 – 1909)■“Square Deal” for labor

■Trust Buster

■Legislation: Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902 Dept. of Commerce and Labor (1903) Elkins Act (1903) Hepburn Act (1906) Pure Food & Drug Act (1906) Meat Inspection Act (1906) National Conservation Commission (1908)

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1909 – 1913)■Legislation

Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909) Mann-Elkins Act (1910) Department of Labor (1912)

RISE OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY■3rd party in favor of working class

■Party’s leader/founder: Eugene Debs Runs for president 5 times

o Peaks in 1912 with 6% of vote

■Shared commonalities with Progressives Radical vs. mild reform

ELECTION OF 1912■ Campaign dominated by reform efforts

■ Candidates: Taft (R) Roosevelt (B-M) Wilson (D) Debs (S)

■ Results: Wilson* (435) Roosevelt (88) Taft (8) Debs (0)

WOODROW WILSON (1913 – 1921)■ Commitment to “New Freedom”

■ Attacked “Triple Wall of Privilege” Tariffs, Banking, Trusts

■ Legislation Federal Reserve Act (1913) Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1913) 16th Amendment (1913) 17th Amendment (1913) Federal Trade Commission Act (1914) Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914) Adamson Act (1916) Keating-Owen Act (1916) Workman’s Compensation Act (1916) 18th Amendment (1919) 19th Amendment (1920)

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA■Most Progressives focused solely on whites

■Status declined since Reconstruction Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Jim Crow

■Most Progressives did not fight for race relations because: Shared prejudice of the time Other reforms were deemed more important

■Reform movements led by African Americans

WASHINGTON & DU BOIS

■Economic progress vs. Civil rights

■Booker T. Washington Need for economic progress through education

o Rest will follow

■W.E.B. Du Bois Political and social rights are prerequisite for economic

independence

URBAN MIGRATION

■In 1900 90% of African Americans lived in the south

■Ratio Shift

■Motivation: Poor race relations Destruction of their cotton crops Job opportunities in urban cities

■Many still faced discrimination in northern states

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS■Niagara Movement

■NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People

■National Urban League “Not Alms But Opportunity”

CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN■“Rights” were granted to white males

■Industrialization changed women’s roles in society 1 in 5 held jobs by 1900 Many require education

■Bigger part of society = demand for broader rights

WOMEN LEAD REFORM■Women’s clubs gained popularity

■Vassar College = 1st female university

■Seneca Falls Convention (1848) NACW (1896) – National Association of Colored Women NAWSA (1890) – National American Woman’s Suffrage

Association

■3 part strategy for suffrage Convince state legislature for the right to vote Pursued court cases to test 14th Amendment Pushed for Constitutional Amendment

CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE■Most Progressives do not support suffrage

movement

■Militant suffragists National Women’s Party

■19th Amendment Grants American women the right to vote

■Other reforms: Education equality, marriage and divorce laws,

reduced discrimination in the workforce, women’s right to own property

CausesGrowth of CitiesGrowth of

Industry

The Progressive Movement

• Party Primaries• Split in Republican

Party, 1912• Decline of machine

politics• Votes for women

• Laws protecting workers

• Settlement houses and social work

• Birth control for women• Beginning of civil rights

movement for African Americans

• Conservation of land and water

• Regulation of business• Lower tariffs• Reformed banking

system• Federal income tax

POLITICAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Effects