The Origins of Progressivism

Chapter 9Section 1

Main Idea

• Political, economic, and social change in late 19th century America led to broad progressive reforms.

What was the Progressive Movement?

• Progressive movement – aimed to restore economic opportunities, correct injustices in American life, and return control of the government back to the people

4 goals of progressivism

• 1. protecting social welfare• 2. promoting moral improvement• 3. creating economic reform• 4. fostering efficiency

Protecting Social Welfare

• Florence Kelley – became an advocate for improving the lives of women and children

• Helped win passage of the Illinois Factory Act of 1893 (prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours)

• YMCA• Social Gospel and settlement house

movements

Promoting Moral Improvement

• Some reformers believed that morality was the key to improving the lives of poor people – improving personal behavior

• Prohibition – the banning of alcoholic beverages

Creating Economic Reform

• Muckrakers – magazine journalists who exposed the corrupt side of business and public life in the early 1900’s

• Big businesses often received favorable treatment from government officials and in some cases held a monopoly in an industry (i.e. Rockefeller, Carnegie)

Fostering Efficiency

• Scientific management studies – the application of scientific principles to increase efficiency in the workplace

• “work smarter, not harder”

• Assembly lines

Reform at the State level

• Started by progressive governors, many states passed laws to regulate railroads, mines, mills, telephone companies, and other large businesses

• Robert M. La Follette – governor of Wisconsin – targeted the railroad industry to regulate

Reforming Elections

• Initiative – a bill originated by the people rather than lawmakers –on the ballot

• Referendum – a vote on the initiative (voters instead of the legislature, accepted or rejected the initiative)

Reforming Elections cont…..

• Recall – enabled voters to remove public officials from elected positions by a vote of the people

Direct Election of Senators

• 17th Amendment – an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1913, that provides for the election of U.S. senators by the people rather than by state legislatures

Women’s Suffrage

Chapter 9Section 2

Facts

• @ the beginning of the 20th century 1 out 5 women had jobs outside of the house

• By 1890 women high school graduates outnumbered men high school graduates

Women in the Progressive Era

Because of:– Dangerous conditions– Low wages– Long hours– More and more women were being educated

through high school and some through college

Suffrage

• Suffrage – the right to vote– As more and more women became educated,

they felt more and more compelled to be allowed to vote and have the same rights and opportunities as men did.

• Two women emerged as leaders for women’s suffrage:– Elizabeth Cady Stanton– Susan B. Anthony

NAWSA

• These two women together helped form the NAWSA – National American Woman Suffrage Association

Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal

Chapter 9Section 3

Main Idea

• As president, Theodore Roosevelt worked to give citizens a Square Deal through progressive reforms.

Upton Sinclair

• Muckraker• Wrote The Jungle– Told of the awful conditions of the meatpacking

industry

Theodore Roosevelt

• became president in 1901 (McKinley was assassinated

• @ 42 years old he became the youngest president ever to hold office

Square Deal

• Roosevelt saw the presidency as a “bully pit”• Program of progressive reforms designed to

protect the common man against big business

Roosevelt in Office

• Trustbuster– Filed 44 antitrust lawsuits

• 1902 Coal Strike– Roosevelt’s administration intervened and helped solve

the dispute• Railroad Regulation– Elkins Act – made it illegal to change or increase rates

without notifying public in advance & no rebates could be given for using particular railroads

– Hepburn Act – stictly prohibited the giving out of free railroad passes & set maximum rates

Roosevelt in Office cont….

• Health and Environment– Meat Inspection Act (1906) – established strict

cleanliness laws in the meatpacking industry– Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) – halted the sale of

contaminated foods and drugs and to ensure truth in labeling

• Conservation – planned management of natural resources

• Gifford Pinchot – Head of the U.S. Forest Service (under Roosevelt)

Civil Rights

• NAACP (est. 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois)– National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People

– The writings of Du Bois really made Americans change the way they thought about African-Americans

Progressivism Under Taft

Chapter 9Section 4

Preservation of the Wilderness

• Gifford Pinchot – head of the U.S. Forrest Service under President Roosevelt

Taft Becomes President

• Secretary of War under Roosevelt• Ran against William Jennings Bryan in the

1908 election

Payne-Aldrich Tariff

• Payne Bill – lowered rates on imported manufactured goods

• Aldrich Bill – made fewer cuts than the Payne Bill and increased many rates

• Payne-Aldrich Bill – compromise that moderated the high rates of the Aldrich Bill

The Republican Party Splits• Two sides of the Republican Party:– Progressives who sought change– Conservatives who did not

The Bull Moose Party

• Roosevelt decides to run for election again in 1912

• Taft supporters – Republicans• Republicans who supported

Roosevelt split and formed their own party

• Progressive Party – became known as the Bull Moose Party

Bull Moose Party Platform• Direct election of senators• Adoption in all states of the initiative, referendum, and

recall• Advocated women’s suffrage• Workmen’s compensation • Eight hour work day• Minimum wage for women• And child labor laws• Federal trade commission to regulate business

Woodrow Wilson• Democratic candidate in the election of

1912• Republican candidate – Taft• Progressive candidate - Roosevelt

Democrats win in 1912

• Ran under a platform called “New Freedom”– Antitrust legislation– Banking reform– Reduced tariffs

Wilson’s New Freedom

Chapter 9Section 5

Carrie Chapman Catt

• NAWSA’s president from 1900-1904 and again 1915.

• Followed Susan B. Anthony

Tactics for Women’s Suffrage

• 1. painstaking organization• 2. close ties between local, state, and national

workers• 3. establishing a wide base of support• 4. cautious lobbying• 5. gracious, ladylike behavior

19th Amendment

• 1919• Granted women the right to vote

Wilson’s Financial Reforms

• Two key antitrust acts:– Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

• Sought to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890• Prohibited corporations from acquiring stock from another if

doing so would result in a monopoly– Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914

• Established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)– Given the power to investigate possible violations– Under Wilson, the FTC brought down almost 400 businesses

engaging in illegal activity

Federal Reserve System

• 1913• A national banking system that controls

the U.S. money supply and the availability of credit in the country

• Still regulates the U.S. monetary policies today – still grants legal authority to issue legal tender

• 16th Amendment (strengthened the federal government)– Legalized a graduated federal income

tax– Larger incomes were taxed at higher

rates

Limits of Progressivism

• Like Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson retreated on civil rights once in White House

• Received the vote of the NAACP with promise to treat them equally.

Twilight of Progressivism

• “Reform and Progress could not be part of an administration in which war plays the principal part” – Woodrow Wilson

• World War I in Europe in 1914 – stalled the efforts of Progressives

• By the end of Wilson’s 2nd term, Progressivism had died out