the progressives good politics or meddlesome control?
TRANSCRIPT
The ProgressivesGood Politics or Meddlesome Control?
Origins of the ProgressivesProblems associated with industrialization,
immigration and urbanizationBelief that these problems can be
addressed and solvedBelief that government is the agency to
address these illsIncreased use of scientific theory, formal
education, expertise, and use of data
Who were progressives?Middle Class
◦Civic Involvement, $, and Time◦Sympathy for the lower classes but not among
themEducatedAcross geopolitical boundariesAcross political partiesGrassroots orientedExposure of issues needing reform
Socialism = againstpolitical machines = againstTrusts = againstConsumers protectionsvoting reformsworking conditions (+child labor and living
Conservationwomen’s rightsFederal Reserve SystemProhibitionIncome tax
Progressive Reforms needed..
Social Progressive Reforms
Local codes, state regulationsTemperance (eventually national WCTU)Poverty, DiseaseProstitution
Social Reformers
Margaret Sanger – Educated urban poor about the benefits of family planning through birth control.
Booker T Washington – Trade skills to earn a living
W.E.B. DuBois – founder of NAACPMuckrakers – members of the press that
investigated corruption in order to expose problems to the American people.
Muckrakers
Magazines◦McClure’s◦Collier’s
NewspapersBooks
(Newspaper series collected into Books)
Exposing corruption
Thomas Nast – exposed abuses of the NYC political machine called Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed – used political cartoons
MuckrakersIda Tarbell (Standard Oil)Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of CitiesJacob Riis, How the Other Half LivesThorstein Veblen, (Conspicuous
Consumption)Upton Sinclair (The Jungle)
◦"I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident hit its stomach."
*emotive, empathetic, short on policy*
Prominent Local Progressives
Welfare Services for the
people Hiram Johnson,
Governor of CAPingree (DTW)Jones (TOL)
UtilitiesTo regulate - Water,
gas, electricityHazen Pingree, Mayor
of Detroit“Golden Rule” Jones -
Toledo Woodrow Wilson,
Governor of New Jersey
City ReformsSettlement houses – workers, professionals,
club members could pressure for changes Jane Addams - created Hull House Women targeted slums, tenements, wages
& hours, child labor, alcohol abuses and prostitution
Prominent Local Progressives
Political Reforms start at state level move to federal 17th Amendment – election of senators 1913Direct Primary – LaFollette – gives voters more
voice in government and limit the political bosses power. By 1916 only 3 states did not have a direct primary
Initiative – citizens propose laws via petitioning, then placed on next election ballot
Referendum – citizens demand a law be “referred” to voters for approval or rejection
Recall – voters able to remove public officials from office
Economic Progressive Reforms
Increased regulation of big businessStronger Anti-Trust Legislation Maximum Hours and Minimum WageWorker’s Compensation (Job Injury)Worker SafetySAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY
◦Food, drugs, city streets, playgrounds,◦Emergence of more modern notion of
childhood
Progressivism Goes National
Cross Political PartiesTR (Republican)Taft (Republican)Wilson (Democrat)
TR and the Square Deal
ConsumersMeat Inspection ActPure Food and Drug
ActAldrich-Vreeland Act
LaborAnthracite Coal Miner
Strike
Big BusinessElkins and Heburn
ActsNorthern SecuritiesGood Trust/Bad Trust
EnvironmentNational Park LandMURMHetch Hetchy Valley
Taft Presidency Consumers – Society Payne – Aldrich Tariff Act Children’s Bureau 16th Amendment – (income
tax) 17th Amendment – (senate
elections)
Labor Created 35,000 postmasters and
20,00 skilled workers in the Navy under civil service protection
Department of Commerce and Labor was divided into 2 departments
8-Hour workday for government employees
Big Business Mann – Elkins Act 99 trust busts –
prosecutions – including the sugar trust
Environment Put more land into
conservation than TR
Wilson – “New Freedom”
Consumers Federal Reserve Bank Federal Trade Commission
Labor Federal Farm Loan Board Clayton Anti-Trust Act Adamson Act – 8-Hour
workday for RR workers
Big BusinessUnderwood Simmons
Act (lowering tariffs to stop monopolies)
Civil Liberties War Industries Board Committee on Public
Information Espionage & Sedition Acts
Evaluation of Progressives
Weaknesses of Reform Material progress of
Americans weakened zeal of reformers
Myriad of Progressive goals were often confusing and contradictory
Opposition to Progressivism apparent as initiatives failed and courts struck down legislation
Government remained mainly under the influence of business and industry
WWI – use of government to create a just society lessens
Accomplishments Trust-busting forced
industrialists to notice public opinion
Legislation gave federal and state government the tools to protect consumers
Income tax helped build government revenues and redistribute wealth
Challenged traditional institutions and approaches to domestic problems
Those not helped
Little was done to help migrant farmers or renter farmers or nonunion workers
Support of women’s suffrage
African Americans and Jim Crow segregation situations
Imperialism policies to “civilize” underdeveloped nations
Immigration restriction or literacy tests