10. Progressive Movement
1890 to 1920
“Progressives were reformers who attempted to
solve problems caused by industry, growth of
cities and laissez faire.”
Progressive Demographics
Middle class
Urban
Often female
White Protestants
native born
College Educated
Professionals
Writers and journalists
Populists vs Progressives
Populists- rural
Progressives - cities
Populists - poor and uneducated
Progressives -middle-class and educated.
Populists - too radical
Progressives - stayed political mainstream.
Populists - failed
Progressives - succeeded
10. Progressive Movement
Areas of Reform
Social Justice
Improve working conditions in
industry, regulate unfair
business practices, eliminate
child labor, help immigrants and
the poor
Political Democracy
Give the government
back to the people, get
more people voting and
end corruption with
political machines.
CONSERVATION
Preserve natural
resources and the
environment
Economic Justice
•Fairness and opportunity in the
work world, regulate unfair trusts and
bring about changes in labor.
•Demonstrate to the common people
that U.S. Government is in charge
and not the industrialists.
10. Progressive Movement
Main Idea A. Social Justice: Goal was to improve working
conditions, regulate unfair business practices, eliminate child
labor, end segregation, assimilate immigrants and help the poor
on the local, state and national level
1. Muckrakers - were journalists and photographers who exposed the abuses
of wealth and power.
•
They felt it was their job to write and expose corruption in industry, cities
and government.
• exposed corruption but offered no solutions.
2. Social Workers
• Jane Addams - Pioneer in the field of social work who founded the
settlement house movement through the establishment of Hull House in
Chicago, Illinois.
• Margaret Sanger - Educated urban poor about the benefits of family
planning through birth control. She founded the organization that became
Planned Parenthood.
10. Progressive Movement
Muckraker
3.Thomas
Nast
3.Jacob
Riis
3.John
Spargo
3.Upton
Sinclair
Work
Political
Cartoons
How the Other Half
Lives
(1890)
The Bitter Cry of the
Children
The Jungle
(1906)
Subject
Political corruption by
NYC's political
machine, Tammany
Hall, led by Boss
Tweed.
Results
Tweed was convicted of
embezzlement and died
in prison.
Living conditions of the urban
poor; focused on tenements.
NYC passed building codes to
promote safety and health.
Child labor in the factories
and education for children.
Ending child labor and
increased enrollment in
schooling.
Investigated dangerous
working conditions and
unsanitary procedures
in the meat-packing
industry.
In 1906 the Meat
Inspection Act and Pure
Food and Drug Act were
passed
10. Progressive Movement
Muckraker
3.Frank
Norris
3.Ida
Tarbell
Work
Subject
Results
The Octopus
(1901)
This fictional book
exposed
monopolistic
railroad practices
in California.
In Northern Securities v.
U.S. (1904), the holding
company controlling
railroads in the
Northwest was broken
up.
"History of
Standard Oil
Company" in
McClure's
Magazine
(1904)
Exposed the ruthless
tactics of the Standard
Oil Company through a
series of articles
published in McClure's
Magazine.
In Standard Oil v.
U.S. (1911), the
company was
declared a
monopoly and
broken up.
10. Progressive Movement
4. 18th Amendment: Prohibition
(1919) Banned manufacture and sale of
alcoholic beverages
• Movement begins at the local,
state levels and eventually
effects the national level…..
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union
founded in 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio
• Most successful and well known
WCTU reformer was Carrie
Nation.
• She would march into a bar and
sing and pray, while smashing
bar fixtures and stock with a
hatchet.
10. Progressive Movement
Main Idea B. Political Democracy: Goal was to Reform local
and state governments by introducing direct involvement of the
people and to limit the power of party bosses.
1. Political Structural Changes
•
Recall - Allows voters to petition to have an elected representative removed
from office.
•
Initiative - Allows voters to petition state legislatures in order to consider a
bill desired by citizens.
•
Referendum - Allows voters to decide if a bill or proposed amendment
should be passed.
2. Australian Ballot
•
Given out only at the polls and vote in secret
•
Printed at public expense
•
Lists names of all candidates and their parties
10. Progressive Movement
1790 to 1828
Caucus---small group of individuals
who would choose a candidate
1828 to 1900
Convention---members from the
political parties nominate a
candidate
Current System Used
3. Direct Primary---allow registered
voters to participate in choosing a
candidate
4. 17th Amendment: Direct Election of Senators (1913) Increased voters’
power and reduced corruption in Senate – before this state legislatures elected
senators (Art.1Sec3 Constitution)
19th Amendment: Women’s Suffrage (1920); Women won the
right to vote
10. Progressive Movement
Main Idea C. Economic Justice: Goal was fairness and
opportunity in the work world, regulate unfair trusts and
bring about changes in labor. Demonstrate to the
common people that U.S. Government is in charge and
not the industrialists.
1. Progressive Presidents
•Theodore Roosevelt - 1901 to 1909
•William Taft - 1909 to 1913
•Woodrow Wilson - 1913 to 1921
2. 16th Amendment: Income Tax (1913) Graduated income tax
assigned higher tax rates to people with higher incomes.
10. Progressive Movement
Washington v. DuBois
3. Booker T.
Washington
4. WEB DuBois
Gradually acquire equal rights - Former
slave who founded the Tuskegee Institute
that focused on teaching African-Americans
trade skills to earn a living and gain the trust
of white society.
Immediately acquire equal rights - Du Bois was one of the
co-founders of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909, leader
of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American
activists who wanted equal rights for blacks, opposed the
Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by Booker T.
Washington which provided that Southern blacks would
work and submit to white political rule, while Southern
whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic
educational and economic opportunities.
10. Progressive Movement
Main Idea D. Teddy Roosevelt
and The Square Deal
• Reforms of the Progressives start
with President Roosevelt
• 3 Cs – Control of Corporations,
Consumer Protection,
Conservation
• Areas which he wanted to reform
and use the “bully pulpit” of the
Presidency were the following:
• Bad Trusts vs. Good Trusts
• Work with labor
• Railroads
• Limiting corruption in the
workplace
• Conservation
10. Progressive Movement
1. Consumer Protection
 Roosevelt saw fed govt as mediator of
the public good.
 Roosevelt’s appointment, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jr.,
 would join forces with Justice Louis
Brandeis (the first Jew on the Supreme
Court appt by Wilson) to one day move
the Court toward Progressivism
 Supported Meat Inspection Act  All meat sold must inspected, must be
marked by Federal inspectors, and
graded.
Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906
• Federal inspection to all packaged foods and drugs.
• Labels with medicine as well as food.
• Contents of food and drug packages must be listed
• All additives/chemicals must be listed on labels.
• FDA today or Food and Drug Administration
10. Progressive Movement
2. TR the
“Trustbuster”
 Not opposed to industrial combinations
but realized potential for abuse of power
 Did make effort to break up some trusts
 Filed more than 40 anti-trust suits
using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
 Northern Securities (Frank Norris)
 Standard Oil (Ida Tarbell)
 Swift Beef
Supported
regulation of
trusts created
Department of
Commerce
and Labor
1903 to publicly
investigate
corporations.
“Watchdog
Agencies”
10. Progressive Movement
TR, the “Trustbuster”
•First targeted RR industry by asking
Congress to increase fed power to
oversee rates•Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act
of 1906 - restored some govt
regulatory power
10. Progressive Movement
3. LABOR and Anthracite Coal Strike 1902
 Saw govt as impartial regulator for labor
 1902 strike led Roosevelt to ask labor and
management to accept impartial federal
arbitration, threatened to seize mines if
management balked
Anthracite 1902 Coal Strike
Supported:
• 8 hour work day
• workmen’s
compensation
• inheritance taxes
• income taxes
 United Mine workers Union wanted
shorter days and higher wages and owners
would not negotiate.
 Winter, nation needed coal to heat homes.
 TR calls a White House Conference.
 TR threatens to send in troops to run mines
 Owners back down and TR becomes the
“hero” of the common working man.
 Importance: First time US Govt. LOOKS
like it took the side of labor in a dispute.
10. Progressive Movement
4. The Panic of 1907
 Despite reforms govt still had little control over industrial
economy
 1907 production outgrew domestic and foreign demand,
additionally, speculation and poor management led to panic.
 JP Morgan pooled assets of NY banks to prop up banks,
made deal with Pres to allow US Steel to purchase
Tennessee Coal and Iron Company shares
 B/c of Panic of 1907 and promise made in 1904 to step down
four years later, did not seek renomination and reelection for
1908 bid
11. Progressive Movement
Main Idea A: TR and
Conservation vs.
Preservation
•Concerned w/unregulated
exploitation of resources and
wilderness- used executive power to
restrict private development on govt
land
1. Goal of “conservation” to
carefully manage development and to
apply same scientific method of
management being used in cities
•President TR supported public
reclamation and irrigation projects
2. 1902 Newlands Act funded dam
construction, reservoirs, canals in
West to open new lands for irrigation,
cultivation and power development
11. Progressive Movement
3. TR and Preservation
 Pres also sympathized w/ naturalists who
wanted to protect land and wildlife from
human intrusion- expanded National
Forest System for “rational” lumbering,
but also grew National Park System to
protect lands from any development
 In 1903, he interrupted a national speaking
tour to spend two weeks camping in
Yellowstone National Park; visited the
Grand Canyon and called for its protection;
then went to Yosemite, where he and John
Muir slept out under the stars for three
nights while Muir urged him to make
Yosemite Valley part of a larger Yosemite
National Park.
 John Muir is the founder of the Sierra
Club which is a conservationist
organization
11. Progressive Movement
4. The Hetch
Hetchy
Controversy
 Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite seen as
beautiful land by naturalists, but San
Francisco residents + Roosevelt’s head of
National Forest System Gifford Pinchot
wanted land to build dam + reservoir for city’s
growing water needs
 Pinchot saw needs of city more important than
claims of preservation
 Issue placed in 1908 referendum and the
result was that the dam was approved by
large margin in election
11. Progressive Movement
Come, Mr. President.
You Can’t Have
the Stage ALL of the
Time!
Main Idea B. William Taft
1. Progressive Domestic Policies
• Federal Children’s Bureau
• Expands Dept. of Labor - 8 hr. workday
• Promises to reduce tariffs
2. Robert La Follette - popular Progressive
Reformer
• Led a life in Wisconsin similar to that of a
sheriff in an old Western movie, a hero that
cleaned up the town.
• He served three terms as the Governor of
Wisconsin and brought Progressivism to his
state by 1900, making Wisconsin the envy of
other Progressive-minded states.
• He rose from obscurity to be the youngest
member of the House of Representatives, a
Senator, the Governor, and a presidential
candidate.
• Self-made and independently wealthy
11. Progressive Movement
3. Controversy over tariffs and
scandals
• During early administration
public call on Congress to
lower tariff (a progressive
demand), but Taft refused to
oppose Repub Old Guard.
• Result was Payne-Aldrich
Tariff - reduced tariffs little,
raised others- progressives
resented inaction
• Ballinger-Pinchot Affair
Goodness gracious, I must have been
dozing
4. By the end of his term Taft
aligns with Conservative
Republicans and splits with
Roosevelt’s Progressives.
11. Progressive Movement
Main Idea C. Election of 1912 – showdown for Progressivism
• In 1910 Congressional elections many conservative Repub
candidates lost and progressives reelected
•
•
Dems gained majority in House and additional seats in Senate
Reform sentiment was on the rise
• Roosevelt came back from safari and was appalled at the way
Taft undid all TR’s progressive measures. He made sounds like
he was going to challenge Taft for the Repub nomination
•
He claimed he only wanted to pressure Taft into more progressive action
1. Roosevelt decided to run when
•
•
Taft charged US Steel acquisition of Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
had been illegal
reform candidate Robert LaFollette’s campaign collapsed
• Roosevelt upset w/ Taft and believed only he was capable of
reuniting Republican Party
• 1910 outlined “New Nationalism” that moved away from
conservatism + argued only effort of strong fed govt could bring
social justice
11. Progressive Movement
2. Taft’s Republican Party
Platform
High import tariffs.
Put limitations on female and child labor.
Workman’s Compensation Laws.
Against initiative, referendum, and recall.
Against “bad” trusts.
Creation of a Federal Trade Commission.
Stay on the gold standard.
Conservation of natural resources because they
are finite.
11. Progressive Movement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3.
Progressive
Party
Platform
Big business
requires big
government.
N
e
w
N
a
t
i
o
Bull Moose Party
Continuation of his Square Deal
n
which were reforms to help the
Minimum wage laws.
a
common man.
Regulation Monopolies: Good Trust v. Social insurance.
l
Bad Trusts
i
Abolition of child labor.
Favored a more active govt role in
s
economic and social affairs.
Workmen’s compensation.
m
Women’s suffrage.
Graduated income tax.
Inheritance tax for the rich.
Lower tariffs.
Limits on campaign spending.
Direct Presidential Primaries,
initiatives, referendum
Direct election of senators
11. Progressive Movement
4. Democratic Party Platform
N Government control of the
monopolies
e
 trusts in general were bad
w
 eliminate them!!
F
r
e
e
d
o
m
The Reform Governor
of NJ: It Takes Time
to Remove the Grime
Tackle the “triple wall of
privilege”: the tariff, the banks,
and the trusts.
Tariff reduction.
Favored small businesses
Direct election of Senators.
Strengthen Depart. of Labor.
Strengthen the Sherman AntiTrust Act.
Did NOT support women’s
suffrage.
Opposed to a central bank.
11. Progressive Movement
Taft Abandons Support
for Women’s Suffrage
TR & Women’s
Suffrage: The
Militant
Recruit
11. Progressive Movement
Main Idea D. Effects of
the Progressive
Movement
New Freedom: restore the free
competition and equal opportunity but
not through big government….
1. Wilson’s Progressive Policies – He passes quite a bit of
legislation which was similar to Roosevelt’s New Nationalism
• Federal Trade Commission
• 16th Amendment – graduated income tax
• Underwood-Simmons Tariff Bill – reduced tariffs
• Federal Reserve Act – 12 regional banks
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act
• Keating-Owen Act – child labor law
11. Progressive Movement
 The Federal Reserve Act – created twelve mostly
autonomous regional Reserve Banks that would be
owned by commercial banks and whose actions
would be coordinated by a committee appointed by
the President.
 The Federal Reserve System would then become a
privately owned banking system that was operated in
the public interest
11. Progressive Movement
A short list of immediate Progressive reforms reveals that:
2. Child Labor and Women
 whereas in 1900 half the states had no laws for a minimum age
for workers, by 1914 all but one state set a limit.
 By 1917, 39 states shortened the work day for women, and 8
states had minimum wage laws for women.
3. Working Conditions
 By 1916 2/3 of the states had workman’s compensation laws to
protect and provide for workers injured on the job.
4. Progressive’s Point of View
 Progressives saw themselves as returning to the example of
the Founding Fathers.
 Many Progressives, like La Follette, were independently
wealthy and devoted their public service careers not to
pocketing more money but to helping “the needy.”
 Progressive heroes imagined themselves possessed of
“disinterested benevolence.”