Progressivism
Progressive Political Reform
Direct Democracy
▶
Secret ballots (Australian ballot)
 All candidates printed on ballots
 Vote in privacy at assigned polling
place
▶
▶
Direct primaries
Government of the People
 Initiatives
▶
Petition of enough voter signatures
to force an election
 Referendums
▶
Legislative proposals determined by
electorate
 Recalls
▶
Remove elected officials through
local/state elections
Seventeenth Amendment (1913)
▶
Problems
 State legislature corruption
▶
Candidates bribed state legislators
for votes
 Electoral deadlocks
▶
▶
State legislators could not agree on
a selection leaving vacant seats
Direct Election of Senators
Progressive Political Reform
Local/Municipalities
▶
Assert more control and regulation
of public utilities and services
 Built public parks and playgrounds,
sanitation services, municipal services,
public schools
 Zoning laws (industrial, commercial,
residential)
▶
Local Governments
 Galveston Plan
▶
Commissioners and councils directly
elected
 Dayton Plan
▶
Lincoln Steffens
The Shame of the Cities
Inspired social and municipal reform
City managers hired as non-partisan
administrators
Progressive Political Reform
States
▶
Reforms
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Direct primaries
Business regulations
Tax reforms
Suffrage
Temperance
State wages
Insurance plans
Child labor laws
▶
“Wisconsin Idea”
 Robert LaFollette
 Influence and Application
of Education on Politics
▶ Primary
elections
▶ Progressive taxes
▶ Workers’ compensation
▶ Regulation of railroads
▶ Limit or eliminate monopolies
and trusts
▶ Supported direct election of
senators
Fourth Party System (1896-1932)
▶
Republicans
▶
 Coalition
 Dominated the federal
government during this era
 Coalition
▶
Industrialists, corporations,
upper-class, fundamentalists,
Northeast
 Nationalists and Imperialists
▶
Bull Moose Party
 aka Progressive Party
 New Nationalism
Democrats
▶
Solid South, western farmers,
urban immigrants, working class
 Laissez-faire policies
 New Freedom
▶
Socialist Party of America
 Coalition
▶
German and Jewish immigrants,
unionists, former Populist farmers,
Progressive social reformers
 Elections
▶
▶
Two members of U.S. House
Dozens of state legislators,
mayors, council members
 Eugene V. Debs
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Ran in 1904. 1908, 1912, 1920
Received over 900,000 votes in
1912 and 1920
Election of 1896
▶
William Jennings Bryan (D)
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▶
William McKinley (R)
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Populist rhetoric
Mark Hanna
Outspent Bryan 5 to 1
Benefited from recovering
economy
Campaign

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Bryan’s stump speeches
McKinley’s “front-porch”
William McKinley (R) (1897-1901)
▶
Economy
 Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899)
 Gold Standard Act (1900)
 Economic expansion
▶
Foreign Affairs
 Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
 Spanish-American War (1898)
 China
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Open Door Policy
Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901)
Assassination
 September 6, 1901 in Buffalo, NY
 Leon Czolgosz
Election of 1900
▶
William McKinley (R)

William McKinley
▶
▶
Theodore Roosevelt as
VP
William Jennings Bryan
(D)
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Bimetallism
Antiimperialism
Theodore Roosevelt (R) (1901-1909)
▶
Square Deal
 Trustbuster
 Business Regulation
 Conservation
Coal Strike of 1902
▶ Panic of 1907
▶ Big Stick Policy
▶
 Panama Canal
 Roosevelt Corollary
Election of 1904
▶
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Theodore Roosevelt (R)
Alton B. Parker (D)
Eugene V. Debs
 Socialist Party of
America
Roosevelt: Trustbuster
Good Trusts & Bad
Trusts
▶ Consumer Protection
▶
 Pure Food and Drug
Act (1906)
▶ Prohibited
impure and
falsely labeled foods
and drugs
 Meat Inspection Act
(1906)
▶ Prohibited
misleading
labels
▶ Prohibited harmful
chemicals
Roosevelt: Conservationist
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230,000,000 acres under
protection during Roosevelt’s
administration
U.S. Forest Service
Newlands Reclamation Act
(1902)
 Federal promotion of irrigation in
western states
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National Park Service (1916)
Preservationists
 John Muir and Sierra Club
National Parks
Election of 1908
▶
William Howard Taft (R)
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Hand-picked by Roosevelt
William Jennings Bryan (D)
William Howard Taft (R) (1909-1913)
▶
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey v. United
States (1911)
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Sixteenth Amendment (1913)
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Supreme Court ruled trust in violation of
Sherman Antitrust Act
Broken up into 33 companies and trust dissolved
Federal graduated income tax
Dollar Diplomacy
Election of 1912
▶
Woodrow Wilson (D)

New Freedom
▶ Regulate business to promote
competition and small
businesses
▶
Theodore Roosevelt (Prog)
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“Bull Moose Party”
New Nationalism
▶ Executive regulations of
industries and social justice
▶
William Howard Taft (R)
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Conservative Republicans and
Progressive Republicans
(Insurgents)
Socialist Party of America

Eugene V. Debs
Woodrow Wilson (D) (1913-1921)
▶
Progressive Amendments
 Seventeenth Amendment – Direct
election of Senators
 Eighteenth Amendment - Prohibition
 Nineteenth Amendment – Women’s
suffrage
▶
Progressive Legislation and Policies
 Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
(1914)
▶
Prevent and eliminate trusts and
monopolies
 Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
▶
Strengthened Sherman Act by
preventing mergers
 Federal Reserve Act (1913)
▶
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Central banking system and regulation
of monetary policy
World War I
 Fourteen Points
 League of Nations
Progressive Business Regulation
▶
Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) (1914)
 Demand annual reports
 Investigate complaints
▶
Clayton Antitrust Act
(1914)
 Prohibited monopolistic pricing
policies
 Held corporate officers
personally responsible for antitrust violations
 Unions not subject to anti-trust
laws and court injunctions
Federal Reserve System and Central Banking
Panic of 1907
▶ Federal Reserve Act (1913)
▶
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“The Fed”
▶
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Price stability, maximum employment, long-term economic growth
Federal Reserve Board
President appointed with Senate consent
▶ FOMC
▶ Monetary Policy
▶
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Open-Market Operations
Reserve Requirement/Ratio
Discount rates
Election of 1916
▶
Woodrow Wilson (D)
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▶
“He kept us out of war.”
Charles Evan Hughes (R)

U.S. Supreme Court justice