Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
BeckerUS History
Reaction to corruption of Gilded Age Social reforms react to abuses of industry
Ex. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Political reforms react to gov’t corruption Maternalist welfare programs WI governor “Fighting Bob” La Follette Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson
Writers expose problems in industry McClure’s Magazine, Cosmo, Collier’s Magazine Lincoln Steffens: “The Shame of the Cities” Jacob Riis: urban slums, How the Other Half Lives Ida Tarbell, oil industry, History of Standard Oil Upton Sinclair, meatpacking industry, The Jungle Theodore Dreiser, banking industry, The Financier Frank Norris, rail industry, The Octopus
Regulate big business stop abusive trusts/monopolies
Humanize big business stop abuses of workers’ rights
Add a gov’t role in economy & private life End to laissez faire economic policy
Reform boss and spoils system Merit system for government jobs
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 First laws governing labeling of food products Ingredients must be disclosed Health inspections of production/preparation Safety inspections of production/preparation
Meat Inspection Act of 1906 Sanitary conditions in meat packing facilities
Desire to make society more moral and more just
Desire to distribute income more equitably
Desire to broaden opportunities for individual advancement
Women were active in progressivism--Suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony
Put power back into the hands of the people
Innovative changes in city government City managers and commission model
The Direct Primary Initiative, Referendum and Recall The Secret Ballot Direct Election of Senators
17th Amendment, 1913 Suffrage for Women
19th Amendment, 1920
1. Convince state legislatures to adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado)
2. Pursue court cases to test 14th Amendment
3. Push for national constitutional Amendment
1908 Muller v. Oregon Shorter working hours for women Men/women are different physically/mentally Men/women can be treated differently at work
Lochner v. New York Maximum workday laws violate freedom of contract Can’t deprive citizen of right to work w/o due
process 1917 Bunting v. Oregon overturned, 10-hr workday
upheld Hammer v. Dagenhart
Congress cannot ban child labor State responsibility
• Keating Owen
• Hammer v. Dagenhart
• Child Labor Tax Law
• Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Company
• Child Labor Amendment?
• 1941 Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1941 U. S. v. Darby
1910 Mann Act uses Interstate Commerce Clause to ban
prostitution “City Beautification” movement
Tear down slums and tenements 1927 Buck v. Bell
Eugenics; mandatory sterilization of mentally disabled
Prohibition 18th Amendment (Volstead Act), 1919
Businessman’s businessman Gold standard: hated by populists,
socialists September 1901 attends Pan-American
Expo "Why should I? No one would wish to hurt me." Anarchist Leon Czolgosz in receiving line Conceals gun in “bandage” on hand Shoots president twice before being punched
out McKinley: "Don't let them hurt him!“
McKinley remains standing until in private Kidney, pancreas ruptured; bullet lodged in back Edison’s X-ray machine shipped in, too late
Drive, energy and personality TR’s interests and early years NYC police commissioner Spanish-American War: Rough
Riders Rise from NY Governor to VP McKinley’s assassination Youngest prez @ 42
TR wants to regulate to get businesses to act “right”
TR gets reputation as trustbuster Interstate Commerce Commission had no teeth 1903 Elkins Act bans giving/accepting rebates 1906 Hepburn Act gives teeth to ICC
Northern Securities Case TR sues JP Morgan’s NW railroad monopoly Declared an illegal trust Sues a total of 44 “bad” trusts
Federal Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act
Unregulated product claims and unhealthy products Halts sale of contaminated foods and medicines Calls for truth in labeling
The Election of 1908 William Jennings Bryan - again TR promised not to run again Endorses Taft, Sec of War
Taft’s political experience Not a dynamic politician Living in TR’s shadow Never comfortable as
President “The lonesomest job in the
world” Taft’s weight Taft’s foreign policy
Controversy over the Tariff More conservative than TR,
but also more trust suits 90 trust-busting lawsuits Growing tension with Teddy The “Ballinger-Pinchot” Affair
TR’s Conservation Record Taft’s misunderstanding
Growing split within the Republican Party
Creation of “Bull Moose” Party
Progressive Party Platform: “New Nationalism”
Democrats drafted Woodrow Wilson
Results of the Election
Progressive and dynamic speaker
Sympathetic to small businessmen
Could be a stubborn, moral crusader and ideologue
Wilson’s brand of progressivism
Wants to recreate the “golden age” of small business
Wilson wants to open channels for free and fair competition
Historic Jeffersonian approach to federal power
Triple Wall of Privilege Banking, tariffs, trusts
Underwood Tariff Act (1913)
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
Federal Trade Commission (1914)
Wilson not a progressive in social reform Appointment of Brandeis to
Supreme Court Congress takes over the
progressive agenda Civil Rights Federal Highways Act Women’s suffrage
Progressive movement peaks by 1917 Success of the movement led to its decline Advent of WWI actually hurt progressives Progressives weary of their reform zeal Ironically, voter participation has steadily
declined since the election of 1912
