4
Section
The Progressive
Movement
As you read, look for:
• the impact of the progressive movement in the state, and
• vocabulary terms progressive movement and workers’
compensation.
Above: Louisiana’s first
governor of the twentieth
century, Democrat William
W. Heard, ended the convict
lease system.
406
The goal of improving the quality of life for all Americans was part of the progressive movement. As the new century began, reformers examined America.
With industrial growth had come larger cities, and urban development led to
urban problems. The progressive thinkers recognized the political, social, and
economic challenges of the twentieth century. These progressives believed
government—local, state, and national—was best equipped to deal with these
challenges. They thought government should act to correct the problems of
society. They had faith in the idea of progress, the belief that humans could
keep improving their society to make it better and better.
Progressives worked to reform society in three main ways. First, they wanted
government to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of its citizens.
Progressives worked hard to reform prisons, improve working conditions, outlaw alcohol, and extend voting rights to women. Second, they wanted to break
up large corporations and regulate business. Third, they wanted voters to have
more influence in government.
In Louisiana, the progressives also wanted good government and social justice, but they were more traditional and conservative than the national group.
However, even in conservative Louisiana, some of the reforms sought by the
progressives were put in place. In 1886, laws were passed regulating the hours
that women and children could work. More child labor laws were passed as
concern increased.
Each of the early twentieth-century governors introduced some progressive
reforms; some of the governors were more successful than others. W. W. Heard,
the first governor of the new century, ended the convict lease system. The next
governor, Newton Blanchard, separated juvenile lawbreakers from adult criminals by building a reform school in Monroe.
Blanchard’s efforts also improved public education in the state. Education
had been neglected because voters would not approve the funding needed for
the schools. With Blanchard’s support, a new law allowed local school boards
to borrow money by selling investment bonds. With these funds, more than
Chapter 12 Louisiana’s Transition Era: Populism and Power
two hundred new schools were built. The number of high schools increased
from twenty-six to fifty-three.
Governor Blanchard also doubled the state budget for education. He appointed
James B. Aswell as the state superintendent of education. Aswell brought
qualified teachers to the schools, built new schools, and established a standard high school program. Because of his new programs, Aswell earned the
title “father of modern education in Louisiana.”
Governor J. Y. Sanders led the state’s first conservation efforts to protect
the environment and started a program of road improvement. When Luther
Hall was governor, the state started a workers’ compensation program (a government insurance program for those killed or injured on the job).
Check for Understanding
Above: Governor J. Y. Sanders
began a program to improve
the roads before World War I.
✓
1. What was the goal of the progressive movement?
2. What did progressives in Louisiana do to help working
children?
3. What are two ways Governor Blanchard improved public
education?
Section 4
The Progressive Movement
407
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Connecting with U.S. History
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International
Conflicts
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By the end of the nineteenth
century, the citizens of Louisiana
recognized that the fate of their
state was tied to the fate of their
country. They accepted their roles
as citizens of the United States.
Towns and cities sometimes celebrated the Fourth of July, although Confederate Memorial Day
(June 3) continued to be an important holiday. This renewed patriotism was challenged by two
wars.
At the end of the century, Cuban patriots were fighting for independence from Spain. In February 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously
exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. Over two
hundred American sailors died. Shortly afterward,
Congress declared war on Spain, and President William McKinley called for volunteers to drive the Spanish from Cuba. Louisiana responded with two regiments of infantry, three batteries of artillery, and
several hundred sailors. A total of about five thousand men from Louisiana served in this war, which
lasted only four months. The Second Louisiana Infantry Regiment was among the first American troops
to enter Havana. Louisiana lost only one soldier in
the Spanish-American War.
In 1914, war broke out in Europe. The Central
Powers, led by Germany and Austria-Hungary, were
opposed by the Allied Powers, led by France, Great
Britain, and Russia. President Woodrow Wilson de-
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Above: Teddy Roosevelt (second row, second from left)
led the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.
clared the United States a neutral nation. In April
1917, however, the United States declared war on
Germany because German submarines were sinking
passenger ships on the high seas. This war has come
to be known as World War I.
As the United States entered another war, Louisiana again supported the action. World War I touched
the French connections of many Louisiana citizens.
At the railroad stations, when Louisiana troops departed for the war, “La Marseillaise” (the French
national anthem) was played along with patriotic
American songs.
Several military camps were established in the
state. A large army camp was located near Pineville,
Chapter 12 Louisiana’s Transition Era: Populism and Power
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Above: A gigantic “Buy Liberty Bonds”
sign hung along New Orleans’s Canal Street
during World War I. It was the largest sign
in the world at the time. Right: During
World War I, radio operators trained at an
army camp on the Tulane University
campus in New Orleans.
and a camp to train aviators was built in
Lake Charles. Shipyards at Madisonville
and Slidell built vessels for the United
States Navy.
Over 80,000 Louisianians served in the
armed forces. One of the most famous
heroes of World War I was Marine Major
General John A. LeJeune of Pointe Coupee
Parish. He later became the commandant
of the Marine Corps, and the famous Marine training
camp in North Carolina is named in his honor.
Louisiana rejoiced in victory along with the rest
of the country. At the war’s end in November 1918,
church bells rang and steam whistles blew. In Shreveport, people celebrated with a two-day bonfire in
the middle of Texas Street. Patriotic spirit filled the
state.
Section 4
The Progressive Movement
409
Meeting
Expectations
Plessy v. Ferguson
The U.S. Supreme Court must decide if laws passed
by Congress or the state legislatures agree with the
U.S. Constitution. The justices’ written decisions are
called opinions. The following two opinions were issued by the Court in 1896 during their ruling on the
Louisiana law that required railroads to provide separate cars for blacks and for whites. Homer Plessy had
challenged this law, and Judge John H. Ferguson was
the original trial judge. The majority of the Supreme
Court justices agreed with the Louisiana law. Justice
Brown’s opinion explains the majority decision. Justice Harlan gave the only dissenting opinion.
Justice Brown
[The Legislature] is at liberty to act with reference to
the established usages, customs and traditions of the people,
and with a view to the promotion of their comfort, and the
preservation of the public peace and good order. . . . We
consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument
to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation
of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of
inferiority. . . . The argument also assumes that social prejudices may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights
cannot be secured to the Negro except by an enforced [mixing] of the two races. We cannot accept this proposition.
If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality,
it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other’s merits, and a voluntary consent of
individuals.
Justice Harlan
. . . the statute of Louisiana is inconsistent with the personal liberty of citizens, white and black, in that state, and
410
hostile to both the spirit and letter of the Constitution of
the United States. . . .
Slavery, as an institution tolerated by law, would, it is
true, have disappeared from our country; but there would
remain a power in the states, by sinister legislation, to interfere with the full enjoyment of the blessings of freedom,
to regulate civil rights, common to all citizens, upon the
basis of race, and to place in a condition of legal inferiority
a large body of American citizens, now constituting a part
of the political community, called the ‘people of the United
States,’ for whom, and by whom through representatives,
our government is administered. Such a system is inconsistent with the guaranty given by the constitution to each
state of a republic form of government. . . . For the reasons
stated, I am constrained to withhold my assent from the
opinion and judgment of the majority.
1. List two phrases that show Justice Brown’s
opinion about the law.
2. List two phrases that show Justice Harlan’s
reason for disagreeing with the majority
opinion.
3. In your own words, write a one- or twosentence summary of each of these two
opinions.
4. The concept of “present-mindedness,” or
looking at the past through today’s eyes,
must be considered as we examine this
court decision. From today’s view, we find it
hard to understand why only one of the
justices would have found segregation
unconstitutional. Why did they look at this
issue differently in 1896?
Chapter 12 Louisiana’s Transition Era: Populism and Power