Progressivism and the
Republican Roosevelt
Chapter 28
Progressive Reformers
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Progressives wanted government actively involved
protecting poor and needy
– Attacked monopolies, corruption, inefficiency and social
injustice
– Wanted the government to fix problems
– Mostly middle class
• Wanted to stop power of wealthy, but limit
radicalization of poor and labor unions by reducing
problems of poverty and workers
Foundations for Progressive Movement
– Political roots related to Greenback Labor Party and
Populist Party
– Wealth Against the Commonwealth – Henry Demarest
Lloyd against Standard Oil
– The Theory of the Leisure Class – Thorstein Veblen –
attacked new rich and conspicuous consumption
Industrialists had consolidated money and power
– Social and economic problems seen as too complex for
“laissez-faire” to succeed
Reform Mayors
– Hazen Pingree – Detroit
– Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones – Toledo
Political machines resisted reform
Samuel Jones
Hazen Pingree
Muckrakers
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Jacob Riis
“How the Other Half Lives”
Living Conditions of Poor
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Journalists and novelists who exposed
corruption in American society
McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier were
popular muckraker magazines
– not all stories were completely true
Socialists, Feminists and believers in
social gospel also called for reform
Lincoln Steffens
“The Shame of the Cities”
Corruption in City
Politics
Upton Sinclair
“The Jungle”
Conditions of meat
packing industry
Frank Norris
“The Octopus”
Influence of
railroads in
California
Thomas Lawson
“Frenzied Finance”
Corruption in stock
market and
insurance industry
David G. Phillips
“Treason of the Senate”
Trusts controlling
US Senate
Ida Tarbell
wrote articles in
McClure’s Magazine
Business practices of
Standard Oil
Lewis Hine - photographer
Conditions of child labor
Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives
Living Conditions of the poor
Upton Sinclair - The Jungle
Unsanitary conditions of meat packing industry
Progressive Art
• Theodore Dreiser
– wrote novels
about wealth,
power success
and poverty
• Ashcan School
– Artistic movement
that used alleys
and common life
as themes
Election Reform
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Direct Primary
– People choose candidates, not party conventions
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Referendum
– Allows legislatures to allow people to vote whether or not they like a law
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Initiative
– Allows people to propose and pass a law directly
Recall
– Allows people to vote out an official in the middle of his term
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17th Amendment
– 1913 allow direct election of Senators
– used to be appointed by State Legislatures
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Australian (secret) ballot
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Women’s Suffrage
– Support was largest in the western states
Changes in local and State governments
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City Commissions created
– Eliminate power of mayor
City Managers
– Professional managers hired to run small cities
Robert LaFollette (WI)
– Direct primary created
• People choose candidates, not bosses
– Restrictions on lobbyists
– Supervision of banks
– Civil Service reform
Other states follow Wisconsin example
– Oregon; Hiram Johnson (CA); Charles Evans
Hughes (NY)
Reform Laws
– Child labor laws
– Workmen’s compensation
– Insurance for sick, disable, elderly
– Minimum Wage
– Prohibition of alcohol
– Tax laws changed to put more burden on rich and
corporations
Progressive Women
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Settlement Houses
– Allowed women to get involved in public life
– Exposed women to problems of city
– Encouraged women to meet and be active in community
Women argued improving society was extension of their “maternal” duties
– Women led child labor reform, factory safety, temperance, food safety,
health reform
Women’s Trade Union League; National Consumers League, Children’s
Bureau; Women’s Bureau
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Supreme Court Cases
– Muller v Oregon (1908)
• Ruled state laws protecting women in workplace were constitutional
• Establish government right to regulate workplace
– Lochner v New York (1905)
• Ruled against state law establishing 10 hour work day for bakers
• First of several Supreme Court decisions against progressive reforms
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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)
– Workers died in fire because exits were locked
– Led to many laws regulating working conditions and sweatshops
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Became President when McKinley
was assassinated
Grew up wealthy in Long Island
Very physical, avid hunter
Increased power of Presidency
– Loose construction
TR
Bully Pulpit
– Used office of Presidency to influence policies
Square Deal
– Three C’s
• Control corporations; consumer protection; conservation of natural
resources
– Supposed to create a fair society for labor, capital and public
Anthracite Coal Strike (1902)
– Coal needed for heat,
– Workers went on strike for better conditions and
higher pay
– Roosevelt force arbitration – threatened federal takeover of mines
– arbitration – two sides present problem to impartial third party who
makes a compromise decision
– previous presidents would have broken strike for business
Good Trusts vs. Bad Trusts
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Department of Commerce and Labor
– Created in 1903 to regulate and judge
business practices
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Bad Trusts
– Hurt the public
– Ended competition in industry
– Should be broken up
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Good Trusts
– Solid business that beat its rivals fairly
– Makes good products at fair prices
– Should be regulated
Elkins Act (1903)
– Gave fines if railroads offered rebates
Hepburn Act (1906)
– Increased power of Interstate Commerce
Commission to regulate railroad related
businesses
– Banned rebates and free passes
– Allowed shippers to challenge unfair rates
by railroads and for ICC to nullify unfair rates
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“Trust-Busting”
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Northern Securities Case (1904)
– Northern Securities was a holding
company that got control of railroads
in Northwest run by JP Morgan and
James Hill
• Charged high rates to consumers
– TR used Sherman Antitrust Act to
break the monopoly
– Supreme Court ordered Northern
Securities to be dissolved
• First time government broke a
trust
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TR also busted beef, sugar, fertilizer,
harvesters trusts as well
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TR believed in regulating, not necessarily
fragmenting business
– Busted trusts to demonstrate
government superiority over business
and scare business into behaving
fairly
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
– novel written that exposed
miseries of workers and
unsanitary conditions of
slaughterhouses
– Led to demand for reform of meat
production
– Sinclair wanted to spur labor
reform but got food reform
• “aimed for heart but got the stomach”
• Meat Inspection Act
– Allows inspection of meat
shipped interstate
• Pure Food and Drug Act
– Requires labels listing contents
to be put on food and drugs
Conservation
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Conservation
– Preserve and control use of natural lands and
resources
– Wanted to protect rivers and forests
– Conflict exists between those who want to use
resources “intelligently” vs. those who want nature
left untouched
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Forest Reserve Act (1891)
– Allowed creation of national parks and reserves
Carey Act (1894)
– Gave states land if it was irrigated
Newlands Reclamation Act (1902)
– Money from sale of public land used to make
irrigation, dams and canals
– Made western land valuable for farming
• Money made from farms went into new projects
Popular support for conservation came from Boy Scouts,
Sierra Club and books like Jack London’s Call of the Wild
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TR began process of setting aside land for national parks
and reserves
Turned 150 million acres of land into national forests and
parks
Reaction to TR reform
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Panic of 1907
– Economy drops, some blame TR reforms
– TR accused trusts of creating a panic to force the government to relent
– Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908) allowed for the issuance of emergency
currency
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TR
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as socialist
Opponents called TR socialist
TR did not believe in government ownership of business
TR opposed predatory wealth
• Tried to limit extremes of wealth and poverty in capitalism
TR pledged not to run again in 1908
– Named William Howard Taft as his preferred successor and Taft won over
Bryan (Democrat) and Eugene V Debs (socialist)
• Taft was not as politically capable as TR
Taft Presidency
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Dollar Diplomacy
– Washington encouraged American businesses to invest
in nations that supported American interests
• Especially Far East and Panama Canal
• American dollar, not military would protect US
interests
– Efforts were not very successful in Asia, resulted in
necessity for military intervention in Latin America to
protect US business interests
Trustbusting
– Taft was more aggressive than TR going after Trusts
• Standard Oil was dissolved during his presidency
– TR and Taft split over Taft’s pursuit of US Steel
Payne-Aldrich Bill (1909)
– Taft supported tariff bill that did not reduce tariffs as
progressives had hoped
Conservation
– Taft supported Richard Ballinger of Interior over Gifford
Pinchot of Forestry allowing corporate development of
federal land
Taft’s moves created split in Republican party