Mr. RizzoUS: Progressive Movement Unit Agenda Today: “Forever War” check-Go over midterms Tomorrow: Notes * HW: for next Tuesday read the introduction

Mr. Rizzo US: Progressive Movement Unit

Agenda

Today: “Forever War” check-Go over midterms

Tomorrow: Notes

* HW: for next Tuesday read the introduction and chapters 1-3 in “Forever War”


Between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century, the United States became a more industrialized and urbanized nation.

These changes brought many benefits to society, but they created problems as well.

Progressive Movement Overview


In this unit, you will review how Americans responded to change, both at home and overseas, in the years from 1900 to 1920.

This period is called the Progressive Era. The term comes from the word "progress" and indicates that Americans were reacting to problems by working for reform.

Progressive Movement Overview


Section 1: Reform in AmericaSection 2: Rise of American Power

Progressive Movement Unit


Unit Questions

1. What were the pressures for reform that led to the Progressive movement?

2. Who were the Progressives?

3. How successful were the Progressives in meeting their goals?

4. What were the causes of increased international involvement of the United States from 1890 to 1920?

5. What were the effects of this involvement on the United States and other peoples around the world?


The process of industrialization and urbanization in the United States had both positive and negative effects. From the 1890s to 1920, a reform movement swept the nation as many people began focusing their energies on correcting those negative effects.

These reformers were known as Progressives, and their movement was so strong that this period has become known as the Progressive Era.

Reform in America


Progressive reformers had a variety of motivations, used different methods, and had different degrees of success in achieving reform.

Progressives supported the use of government power to bring about reform. Two strong Progressive Presidents- Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson—implemented bold domestic programs to take Progressive reform to the national level.

Reform in America


Progressive Reform

By 1900, the United States was a rich and powerful nation.

Industrialization, urbanization, and immigration had transformed the United States into a major world economy.

The changes in American life, however, also brought problems.

The negative effects of these changes led many Americans to call for reform.


In technology-driven fields such as railroads, steel production, and electric utilities, powerful monopolies restricted competition, often by using unfair methods.

Without competition, monopolies could raise prices as much as they wished.

Abuse of the nation's natural resources, was accepted practice.

Effects of Business Practices


The corporate world grew increasingly wealthy and more powerful.

Industrial leaders justified their actions by using the philosophy of Social Darwinism —the concept that in society as in nature, the strong would survive and the weak would not.

Those who succeeded earned their position, and those who failed deserved their failure.

Social Darwinists believed that the government should not intervene in this process.

Effects of Business Practices


Working conditions for factory workers continued to be harsh.

Many laborers worked 60-hour weeks on machinery, often in unsafe, unhealthy conditions.

Getting hurt on the job often resulted in the worker being fired. Workers earned low wages, and women and children were paid even less than male workers.

Workers had little security, because their employers could fire them at any time.

Industrial Workers


Soon, workers grew less tolerant of these terrible working conditions.

Some tried to organize labor unions, but employers often fired those who did.

Strikes were met with armed attacks from factory security guards and sometimes even federal troops.

Industrial Workers


The gap between living standards of the rich and the poor increased widely during this period.

This gap was most apparent in the cities. As the rich grew richer, building lavish

townhouses in relatively safe and clean neighborhoods, the poor grew even poorer.

They lived in urban slums characterized by poverty, crime, congestion, and poor sanitation.

Housing in the cities was segregated by social and economic status, by race, and often by ethnic background.

Urban Poor


Government at all levels remained relatively unresponsive to the impact of industrialization and urbanization.

Industries were unrestrained by federal and many state governments; the courts most often failed to support fair standards of business.

The laissez-faire philosophy prevailed, and so did political corruption at all levels of government.

The public received little help from its elected representatives.

Mixed Response of Government


Several United States Supreme Court rulings provide examples of the mixed response of the federal government in the struggle for improved working conditions:

In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court ruled that a New York law limiting bakers' hours was unconstitutional because it interfered with the contract between employer and employee.



In Muller v. Oregon (1908), the Court let stand an Oregon law limiting women to a ten-hour work day, ruling that the law was justified because it protected women's health.

The effect of laws like this, however, was to keep women out of better paying jobs.



Question?

1. What conditions stirred Progressive reformers to action?

BusinessConditions for workersUrban Poor


Agenda

Monday- Reform in America Notes -Midterm Grades

Collect Chap 19 Sec 1-4Tuesday-Go Over Midterms-Bring in the

“Forever War” book. Read the introduction.Wednesday- Reform in America NotesThursday-Quiz on Reform in America Notes .Friday- Reform in America Notes Next Thursday (2/19) Quiz on Chapters 1-3 in

“Forever War”


The Progressives set out to tackle the problems of their era. They did not form one single group.

The Progressive movement was made up of many different movements, and the Progressives were many different kinds of Americans.

Their commitment and their success varied from person to person and from cause to cause.

The Progressives


They did have some things in common, however.

The Progressives were influenced by the Populists but differed from them.

While the Populists lived in the country or in small towns, the Progressives were largely city dwellers.

Most of the Populists were farmers, who focused on farm problems.

Characteristics


The Progressives tended to be educated professionals-doctors, lawyers, social workers, clergy, and teachers—with a wide range of concerns.

The Progressive movement demonstrated the rising power and influence of America's middle class.

Characteristics


Like all reformers, the Progressives were optimists. They believed that abuses of power by government and business could be ended.

They believed that new developments in technology and science could be used to improve the basic institutions of American society—business, government, education, and family life.

Beliefs and Goals


Progressives believed in capitalism and were concerned about the growth of socialism as a more radical reaction to the effects of industrialization.

Progressives wanted to bypass party politics, which they saw as corrupt, but they had faith that a strong government could and should correct abuses and protect rights.

Beliefs and Goals


Not all Americans were Progressives or agreed with Progressive goals.

Many business and political leaders opposed business regulation.

Beliefs and Goals


They accepted the Social Darwinists' view that the vast differences in wealth and power in American society were the result of scientific forces that could not be changed.

Many workers and farmers did not benefit from Progressive reform, nor did most African Americans, Asian immigrants, and Native Americans.

Beliefs and Goals


Many Progressives worked with national voluntary organizations, which grew rapidly in the 1890s.

The movement was centered in cities at a time when more of the population was living in cities.

This helped communication among Progressives, as did the expanding telephone and telegraph systems.

The availability of inexpensive mass-circulation magazines and newspapers also helped spread Progressive ideas.

Factors Aiding the Movement


Finally, the Progressives were aided by an improved economy.

The first decade of the twentieth century brought prosperity.

Industrial profits, wages, and employment all rose; farmers thrived.

The result was an optimistic climate and the financial resources to support reform.

Factors Aiding the Movement


A wide variety of reform movements developed from the 1890s to the 1920s.

Social & Economic Reform and Consumer Protection


Muckrakers helped bring reform issues to the attention of the public.

Most were journalists and writers, but others were artists and photographers.

Muckrakers investigated and exposed corruption and injustice through articles in mass-circulation magazines.

They also wrote novels dramatizing situations that demanded reform.

Muckrakers


In 1906, the work of the muckrakers resulted in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act - the first two acts of consumer protection legislation.

The federal government passed these laws after it became clear that the unsanitary conditions exposed by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle were based on fact.

Muckrakers


Agenda for Today

Let me see the book “Forever War”

*Think about this question. Based on the introduction, is there anything that caught your attention?

Go over MidtermsThursday-Quiz on Reform in America Notes .Next Thursday (2/19) Quiz on Chapters 1-3 in

“Forever War”


As time passed, the muckrakers' influence declined, partly because readers tired of their sensationalism.

Nevertheless, their tradition has continued to the present day..

Muckrakers



Other people and groups also worked to bring Progressive reforms to American society.

Attempts to end the poverty, crowding, and disease in American cities began before 1900.

Once the germ theory of disease was accepted, cities put more effort into improving water and sewage systems.

A well-known urban reformer was Jacob Riis,

Other Areas of Concern


A well-known urban reformer was Jacob Riis, who used writings and photographs to show the need for better housing, for the poor.

Some Protestant church leaders became part of the Social Gospel movement, which worked to help poor city dwellers.

One goal of urban reformers was building codes that would require safer, better-lighted, better-ventilated, and more sanitary tenements.

Other Areas of Concern


One early group of Progressive urban reformers was the settlement-house workers.

Settlement houses, located in working-class slums, offered people—especially immigrants—education, child care, social activities, and help in finding jobs.

Well-known settlement houses included Hull House in Chicago, founded by Jane Addams, and the Henry Street Settlement in New York City, founded by Lillian Wald.

Social Settlement


Addams and Wald were among the Americans who led peace groups, such as the Woman's Peace Party, in the period before and during World War I.

Support of pacifism—the policy of opposition to war and fighting—weakened with America's entry into World War I in 1917 but was later revived.

Peace Movement


Pacifist Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress (1916), voted against the United States entry into World War I (and World War II as well).

For her pacifist efforts, Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Peace Movement


The temperance movement, which opposed the use of alcoholic beverages, began in the 1820s.

Over the years, its chief goal became prohibition—outlawing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Under the leadership of Frances Willard, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, was a strong advocate of prohibition. Its members included many Populists and Progressives.

Temperance and Prohibition


It joined with the Anti-Saloon League, and the two groups sought moral reform through prohibition.

They believed that through prohibition, problems of poverty and disease could be eased, family life improved, and the national economy made more productive.

The temperance crusade led to national prohibition with the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States as of 1920.

Temperance and Prohibition


Women were involved in all aspects of social reform, but suffrage for women continued to be the main goal of the women's rights movement in the Progressive Era.

Women who had experienced success in other reform activities wanted to be able to vote.

Furthermore, many suffragists thought that the women's vote would serve to correct various social problems.

Women’s Rights


The women's suffrage movement began as part of a larger drive for women's rights in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York.

The intellectual leader was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, author of the Declaration of Sentiments.

She was joined in the 1850s by Susan B. Anthony, who provided the driving leadership of the movement.

Women’s Suffrage Movement


In the 1860s, the women's suffrage movement split over the best way to achieve its goals.

The more radical organization was led by Stanton and Anthony; the more moderate organization was headed by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Blackwell.

In 1890, the groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).



Stanton died in 1902, and Anthony died in 1906, without achieving the objective of their life work.

However, the Progressive spirit gave the movement a new surge.

In the early 1900s, leadership of NAWSA and the campaign passed to Carrie Chapman Catt, who devised the strategy that was to win women the vote.



She abandoned the state by state efforts for women's suffrage, which had given women the vote in only nine states by 1912.

Now, the movement would concentrate on achieving women's suffrage through a constitutional amendment.

NAWSA swelled to two million members.



By the time the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) became law, many western states had already given women the right to vote.


Alice Paul led the more militant Congressional Union until she was expelled from NAWSA.

She then formed the National Woman's Party. Paul alienated many women by her use of

militant tactics and her campaigning against Woodrow Wilson for reelection in 1916.

In the end, it was the highly visible activity of women during World War I that brought them the final public support needed.

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote.



Another sign of women's progress was the growth of educational opportunities.

Among women's colleges founded in the late 1800s were Vassar (1861), Wellesley (1870), and Smith (1871).

State universities set up under the Morrill Act of 1862 were coeducational.

By the early 1900s, more than 100,000 women were attending college.

Education for Women


The women's movement also included a campaign for family planning through birth control.

This campaign was led by Margaret Sanger, who began her work as a nurse caring for poor immigrant women in New York City.

Birth Control


The American Birth Control League founded by Sanger later became the Planned Parenthood Federation.

Sanger's movement was very controversial. She was arrested several times for sending information about contraception through the mail.

Birth Control


The decades after the Civil War were a difficult time for African Americans.

Laws prevented them from exercising their right to vote.

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court upheld the Jim Crow laws, which required segregated—"separate but equal“ public facilities for African Americans and whites.

Rights of African Americans


Lynching by white mobs took the lives of hundreds of African Americans. Key African American leaders who worked to secure their people's rights are described below.

Booker T. Washington, a former slave and founder of Tuskegee Institute, urged African Americans to get vocational training in order to establish themselves economically. This strategy, he believed, would increase their own self-esteem and earn them respect from white society.



Washington's policy, called accommodation, was expressed in an 1895 speech known as the Atlanta Compromise.



W.E.B. Du Bois, a Harvard-educated professor, shared Washington's view of the importance of education but rejected accommodation.

He felt that African Americans should protest unfair treatment and receive a broad, liberal education, rather than a vocational one.

In 1905, Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement to work for equal rights.



More successful was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), started in 1909 by a group of reformers that included Du Bois and Jane Addams.

The NAACP successfully used lawsuits as a weapon on behalf of civil rights.



In 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an African American nationalist and separatist group.

The group wanted a separate black economy and urged African Americans to emigrate to Africa.

Many of Garvey's ideas influenced the Black Power movement of the 1960s.



Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a journalist who launched a national crusade against lynching in the 1890s.

She was also a suffragist and one of the founders of the NAACP.



In 1913, a group of American Jews established the Anti-Defamation League, an agency of the Jewish service organization B'nai B'rith ("Sons of the Covenant") which had been founded in 1843.

The Anti-Defamation League worked mainly to combat defamation, or libel and slander, directed against Jews. Later, its program was broadened to aim at securing the civil liberties of all Americans.

Rights of Jewish Americans


Agenda

Today: Notes on Reform in America-Go over photograph

Next Thursday (2/19) Quiz on Chapters 1-3 in “Forever War”


During the Progressive Era, political reform took place at all levels of government—city, state, and national.

Given the Progressives' urban, middle-class roots, it is not surprising that they first concentrated their efforts on the governments of the cities in which they lived and in which they were influential citizens.

Reform of City Government


In the 1890s, Americans interested in good government worked to elect reformist mayors.

Success in doing so, however, did not always insure permanent improvement.

Progressives had to change not only the leader, but also the way city government worked.



Two new types of city government are associated with the Progressive movement.

They were popular in small and medium-sized cities.

In the city commissioner plan, the city is run by a group of commissioners, rather than by a mayor and city council.

In the city manager plan, the city council hires a professional city manager to run the various municipal departments.



Some Progressives concentrated not only on making city governments more efficient and less corrupt, but on improving city services.

They worked to regulate services such as transportation systems, water, sanitation, and other utilities.

They also tried to improve the appearance of cities by constructing large, elaborate libraries, museums, and other public buildings.

Reform of City Services


Progressives also acted to limit the power of boss-controlled political machines and powerful business interests at the state level.

Progressives recognized that states exercised control over many of their cities.

Extension of reform to the state, even the national level, was necessary to protect any gains made at the municipal level.

Reform of State Government


Progressive reforms often proved difficult to enforce, meeting opposition from business interests and the courts.

Thus, changes in the way state governments worked were also part of the Progressive program.

These changes, aimed at increasing citizen participation in government, included the following:



The secret ballot prevents party bosses (and anyone else) from knowing how people vote.

The initiative is a system that allows voters to petition the legislature to consider a proposed law.

In a referendum, voters decide whether a given bill or constitutional amendment should be passed.



Recall is a method of election in which voters can oust an elected official before his official term has ended.

A direct primary allows voters, rather than party leaders, to select candidates to run for office.



In 1913, Progressive reform resulted in ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, which provided for the direct election —election by the people—of United States senators.

Up to this time senators had been elected by state legislatures, which were often controlled by corporations or political bosses.



Remember that the secret ballot, initiative, referendum, and direct election of senators were all parts of the Populist party program.

Adoption of these reforms offers an example of how third parties can influence major parties.



Wisconsin, under Governor Robert M. La Follette, was the model for Progressive reform.

The state passed laws to regulate railroads, lobbying, and banking.

It also started civil service reforms, shifted more of the tax burden to the wealthy and to corporations, required employers to compensate workers injured on the job, and provided for factory inspections.

Social, Economic, and Environmental Reforms


Several other states passed laws like those of Wisconsin. Leading Progressive governors included Hiram Johnson of California, who reformed the railroad industry, and Theodore Roosevelt of New York.

As governor of New York (1899-1900), Roosevelt, a friend of Jacob Riis and other Progressives, was concerned about social and economic reform.



He supported the creation of the New York State Tenement Commission to investigate New York City tenements.

He also worked to eliminate sweatshop factory conditions which forced women and children to work long hours for very low pay in dangerous conditions.



Agenda

Today: Notes on President Roosevelt Tomorrow: Quiz on Chapters 1-3 on “Forever

War”Do Now: Go over pictureNext Monday Test on Reform in America


“Forever War”Soviet Union (1979-1989)-Afghanistan-Taliban

(Talibs)Mujahideen-is a Muslim who is fighting in a war

or involved in any other struggle.Jihad- Struggle in Arabic. A holy war waged on

behalf of Islam as a religious duty ; also : a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline.

Madrassa- a Muslim school, college, or university that is often part of a mosque



The first three Presidents of this century—Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson—are known as the Progressive Presidents.

Roosevelt, elected Vice President in 1900, became President when President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

He was elected in his own right in 1904.

Theodore Roosevelt & Square Deal


Presidents of the progressive Era


Roosevelt saw his job as one of stewardship—leading the nation in the public interest, like a manager or supervisor.

He believed that the President had any powers not specifically denied to the executive in the Constitution.

Roosevelt's administration is often known as the Square Deal because of the many reforms made during his presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt & Square Deal


Although basically conservative, Roosevelt did not hesitate to use the power of the presidency to deal directly with social and economic problems.

On the national level, he recognized the need for consumer protection, influencing passage in 1906 of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

Consumer Protection


Roosevelt's reforms in business focused on strengthening regulations and breaking up trusts.

In 1906, Congress passed the Hepburn Act, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and allowing it to regulate railroad shipping rates.

Also, the ICC's powers were expanded to include regulation of pipelines, ferries, bridges, and terminals.

Regulating Business


Some complained because the act allowed railroads to appeal to the courts.

However, Roosevelt was often willing to compromise on details to make a larger point—in this case the right of government to regulate business.

Regulating Business


Roosevelt saw a difference between "good trusts," which were to be subject only to regulation, and "bad trusts," which were to be dissolved.

The actions he took against big business earned him a reputation as a trust buster.

Regulating Business


In 1903, Roosevelt convinced Congress to form the Bureau of Corporations within the Department of Commerce and Labor.

He used the bureau to pressure corporations through investigations and publicity about their activities.

Regulating Business


By the end of the 1800s, the Northern Securities Company controlled the railroad system in the Pacific Northwest.

In 1901, the Justice Department began prosecution of Northern Securities under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Regulating Business


The case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court.

In its 1904 ruling in Northern Securities Co. v. United States, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment against the company and ordered the company to be dissolved.

Regulating Business


Another government antitrust action was directed against a group of meatpackers known as the "beef trust."

This prosecution, too, was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 1905 ruling in Swift & Co. v. United States. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government.

This decision reversed one the Court had made in 1895.

Regulating Business


Roosevelt also achieved important reforms in working conditions.

In 1902, when Pennsylvania coal mine owners refused to negotiate with striking workers, Roosevelt threatened to send the army to take over the mines.

The mine owners then agreed to arbitration, and the United Mine Workers, under John Mitchell, won shorter hours and higher wages.

Labor Conditions


One Progressive goal was to make employers assume more liability, or responsibility, for their workers.

The Employers Liability Act of 1906 provided accident insurance for workers on interstate railroads and in Washington, D.C.

Labor Conditions


Another Progressive goal was to limit workers' hours on the job.

As you read before, in Lochner v. New York (1905) and Muller v. Oregon (1908), there were inconsistent results in conflicts between the rights of individuals and the rights of businesses.

Labor Conditions


Another Progressive goal was to limit workers' hours on the job.

As you read above, in Lochner v. New York (1905) (The case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours a baker could work each week. The Supreme Court ruled against this law.)

Labor Conditions


Muller v. Oregon (1908) (The Supreme Court upheld the Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health).

There were inconsistent results in conflicts between the rights of individuals and the rights of businesses.

Labor Conditions


As a naturalist, Theodore Roosevelt was interested in protecting the nation's environment and its wilderness lands.

His policies were influenced by the conservationists Gifford Pinchot and John Muir.

Conservation


Before Roosevelt, the government's land policy put land in the private hands of homesteaders, railroads, and colleges.

Roosevelt shifted this policy and kept some land under federal government protection.

This was the philosophy of John Muir, a founder of the Sierra Club, who was also instrumental in the creation of Yosemite National Park.

Conservation



Roosevelt used the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 to place national forests under the control of the U.S. Forest Service, headed by conservationist Gifford Pinchot.

A total of about 150 million acres of public lands were placed under the protection of the federal government.

When Roosevelt left office, he had tripled the amount of land set aside for the public as national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, and national monuments.

Conservation


The National (Newlands) Reclamation Act of 1902 set aside money from the sale of public lands to build dams and irrigation systems in the West.

In 1908, Roosevelt called a national Conservation Congress, attended by hundreds of naturalists and conservationists as well as by 44 governors.

Conservation


Forever War

Thoughts on capital punishment.Thoughts on the treatment of women by the

Taliban.Thoughts on the outlawing of certain things by

the Taliban.


Why the burqa?

Islamic scholars agree that a woman should act and dress in a way that does not draw sexual attention to her when she is in the presence of someone of the opposite sex. Some Islamic scholars specify which areas of the body must be covered; most of these require that everything besides the face and hands be covered, and some require all but the eyes to be covered, using garments such as chadors or burqas.


Purdah

Is the practice of preventing women from being seen by men.


Agenda for today

Finish Notes on Reform in AmericaTest Monday-Reform in America.Read “Forever War” Chapters 4-6 for next

Thursday (2/26).


After Roosevelt declined to run for a third term, William Howard Taft succeeded him in 1909.

Taft began his presidency with the support of Roosevelt and the Progressive wing of the Republican party.

Taft


Under Taft, the Justice Department brought twice as many suits against big business as it had under Roosevelt.

One of the most important cases involved the Standard Oil Company.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1911) held that the monopoly should be dissolved.

Taft


But it also applied the so-called "rule of reason" to the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The rule, stated and applied in that only combinations and contracts unreasonably restraining trade are subject to actions under the anti-trust laws and that size and possession of monopoly power are not illegal.

There was a difference, said the Court, between "reasonable" and "unreasonable" business combinations. Size alone did not mean that a company was ..unreasonable.”

Taft


The Taft era witnessed other reforms, too. The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 gave the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) the power to regulate communication by telephone and telegraph.

In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, authorizing Congress to impose an income tax.

Taft


Taft, who not as politically able as Roosevelt, soon ran into problems that split the Republican Party into a Taft faction and a Progressive faction.

Like other Progressives, Taft wanted to lower tariffs, but he was unable to stand up to the Republican Congress that raised them with the Payne-Aldrich Act of 1909.

Taft angered Progressives by calling the law "the best bill that the Republican party ever passed."

Problems for Taft


Taft ran into more trouble the following year when he dismissed Forest Service head Gifford Pinchot—a favorite of Progressive conservationists.

Taft's secretary of the interior, Richard A. Ballinger, had allowed a group of business people to obtain several million acres of Alaskan public lands.

Problems for Taft


Pinchot protested the action, and Taft fired him. Ballinger was identified with mining, lumbering,

and ranching interests who wanted to develop the land for personal profit.

They were supported by many senators from western states.

Problems for Taft


In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination.

When the nomination went to Taft, Roosevelt ran as the candidate of a third party, the Progressive Party.

Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic candidate, and Eugene Debs ran on the Socialist ticket.

Woodrow Wilson & New Freedom


Roosevelt offered what he called the New Nationalism, while Wilson called his program the New Freedom.

Both were Progressive philosophies. Roosevelt, however, accepted social legislation

and business regulation. The more traditional Wilson aimed for a return to

competition in the marketplace with enforcement of antitrust laws.



Wilson won the election of 1912 by a landslide of electoral votes, although he received only 41 percent of the popular vote.

In 1916, he was reelected into office in an even closer race.



Wilson accomplished two major financial reforms while in office.

In 1913, he pressured Congress to pass the Underwood Tariff Act, which lowered tariffs (tax on goods that are imported) for the first time since the Civil War.

The law also provided for a graduated income tax—one that taxed larger incomes at a higher rate (6 percent) than it did lower ones (1 percent). This kind of tax, which takes a bigger share of higher incomes, is known as a progressive tax.

Financial Reforms


Also in 1913, the Federal Reserve system was created.

This national banking system is divided into 12 districts, each with a Federal Reserve bank.

Financial Reforms


The federal government could now (1) issue a new, sound currency—Federal Reserve notes;

(2) control the amount of money in circulation and interest rates; and

(3) shift money from one bank to another as needed.

The Federal Reserve Board lowers interest rates to stimulate consumer spending in times of recession or raises interest rates to control inflation.

Financial Reforms


Wilson also achieved two important business regulations.

The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 aimed to prevent unfair competition.

It created a commission to investigate such practices as false advertising and mislabeling.

Business Regulation


The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 strengthened the government's power to control business practices that threatened competition.

Among other things, the act prohibited companies from price fixing and from buying stocks in competing firms.

Business Regulation


The Clayton Act tried to end the practice of using antitrust laws against unions, but later Supreme Court decisions undercut this provision.

Later in the 20' century, federal prosecutions of alleged violations of antitrust laws continued against corporations such as AT&T and Microsoft.

Business Regulation


The Adamson Act (1916) set an eight-hour day for workers on railroads in interstate commerce.

The Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) made low-interest loans available to farmers.

The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (1916) tried to outlaw child labor, but the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in the case of Hammer v. Dagenham (1918).

Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote.

Other Reforms Under Wilson


The Progressive Era came to an end when the United States entered World War I.

During the war, American priorities shifted to the war effort, and in the 1920s, the trend shifted away from reform and toward acceptance of society as it was.

The End

Documents

Mr. RizzoUS: Progressive Movement Unit Agenda Today: “Forever War” check-Go over midterms Tomorrow: Notes * HW: for next Tuesday read the introduction