Warm-up

Explain the following statement. “All politics is local.”

-Tip O’Neill, Jr.

(former Speaker of the House)

Expanded Role of Government

All progressives agreed that the government needed to play a role in ensuring a minimum standard of living. Where does this begin and end?

Unemployment benefits? Accident Insurance?

Regulations for Business? Social Security System?

Health Insurance? Jobs?

Government Ownership of Business? Business Bailouts?

Levels of Reform

• Federal

• State

• City (Municipal)

Municipal Reform• Home rule gave cities a limited degree of

independence. Some people who endorsed this wanted to get away from corruption at the state and national levels.

• Municipal reformers wanted to get rid of political machines. At best, they forced political machines to work with them for change.

• Emergency situations forced cities to come up with better systems of organization to deal with their problems. Examples were the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston and the 1913 flood that devastated Dayton, Ohio.

• 6000 people died in the Galveston hurricane.

• How many died in Katrina?

• Who did most people look to in order to fix the problems created by Katrina?

• By 1915, 2/3 of U.S. cities had at least some city-owned utilities. (Electric, Water, Gas, Trash, Sewer)

• Welfare services such as public baths, parks, playgrounds and lodging houses for the homeless were provided by some cities.

State Reforms

• More power to the voters– Robert La Follette of Wisconsin introduced the

direct primary to select nominees for upcoming elections.

More examples of power to the voters…

• Citizens can propose new laws…Just get enough signatures on a petition and you can put an on the next ballot.

• State legislatures can also put issues before the people on election day by asking the people to approve or reject a law. This is called a .

• Voters can also remove public officials through the use of the .

Reforms in the Workplace

• States were taken to court when they tried to regulate the workplace.

• Eventually, they won some cases in court and passed laws that protected workers.

• Child Labor Laws- • State and Federal Labor Departments• Minimum Wage Laws• Accident Insurance and compensation

systems.

Reform Governor of Wisconsin

• Robert M. La Follette fought against big business interests and pushed reform through in Wisconsin. He then served in the U.S. Senate where he fought big business at the federal level.

Federal Reform

• Teddy Roosevelt began the process of reform in Washington D.C.

• In using the Presidency to rally support for worthy causes, he increased the power of the office of president.

“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

“Square Deal”

• In 1902, the United Mine Workers called a strike to protest low wages.

• Roosevelt dealt with the coal strike by threatening to use the army to seize the coal mines from owners if they did not submit to arbitration.

• In 1903, workers received a 10% raise and a reduced workday.

Trustbuster• Roosevelt encouraged the Supreme Court to

enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act.• His administration filed 42 actions against trusts.

Railroad Regulation• After being re-elected Roosevelt was able to

increase the powers of the ICC. • The ICC became the first government regulatory

agency when they began limiting railroad rates. • ICC= Interstate Commerce Commission

Protecting Public Health

• The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act required accurate labeling of ingredients, strict sanitary conditions and a rating system for meats.

New Labor Departments

• 1912Children’s Bureau

• 1913Department of Labor

• 1920Women’s Bureau

Protecting the Environment

• The Federal government started setting aside land for national parks.

• Yellowstone 1872• Yosemite 1890• Roosevelt created the

U.S. Forest Service in 1902. This body set land aside as well as created irrigation projects.

New Constitutional Amendments of the

Progressive Era• 16th Amendment = Federal Income Tax

How did the government get income before this was passed?

• 17th Amendment

• 18th Amendment

How did President Roosevelt expand presidential authority?

Progressivism Continued…

• President Wilson(1913-1921)

• Reduced tariffs

• Clayton Antitrust Act- spelled out specific activities businesses could not do.

• Federal Trade Commission- designed to set up “fair-trade laws.”

• Federal Reserve System- to overhaul the banking system.

Role of Women• Technology making household

chores less time consuming.• Women were spending more

time purchasing food, clothes, and furnishings.

• 1 in 8 women worked outside the home.

• Women hastened to do the work of men who had left to fight in Europe during WWI.

• The “woman question?”

• 1866, American Equal Rights Association

• Split into two groups with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanton joining the National Women Suffrage Association.

• Wyoming became first state to allow women to vote in 1890.

• 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in New York.

• 19th Amendment passed in 1919.

The 19th Amendment was the last major reform of the Progressive Era.