Progressivism
Definition of Progressivism
A movement of the people to curb the powers of the special interests
When did it occur?
Where did Progressivism originate?
Who were the Progressives?
Middle Class urban professionals in between the ultra rich above and the mob below
What were the main goals of the Progressives?
1. Control the trusts
2. Head off socialism by improving life and labor
Who were the Muckrakers?
What is the importance of:
McClure’s magazine:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ida Tarbell--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lincoln Steffens--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upton Sinclair----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jane Adams-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robert LaFollette------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Role of Women in Progressivism:
Progressives tried to solve problems related to:
a. government: corruption, big city bosses
b. Business: unsafe conditions, long hours etc.
c. social life: city slums;
see Jacob Riis, “Slums of the City,” aka “How the Other Half Lives.”
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Progressive Presidents Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1908
A Revival of the Power of the Presidency
How Progressive was Theodore Roosevelt?
1902 Anthracite Coal Strike TR promises a “Square Deal” for management and labor
Workers: Mitchell “the only gentlemen there”
Owners: Baer
Roosevelt’s action in the coal strike: first President to intervene impartially in a labor dispute
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Roosevelt and the Trusts
Roosevelt’s rule of reason: “bigness does not mean badness.”
His goal: regulation not destruction
Trust-Busting: Roosevelt: 44 trusts prosecuted in 71/2 years
Taft:
99 trusts prosecuted in 4
years
1902 Northern Securities Case
Roosevelt invokes Sherman anti-trust act
Reaction of J.P. Morgan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Roosevelt and Conservation
Roosevelt’s administration set aside more acres of forest than all the former Presidents combined
1900: 45 million acres in government preserves
1908: 195 million acres
Election of 1904
Democrats: Parker: conservative candidate if the impetuous party
Republicans: Roosevelt: impetuous candidate of the conservative party
Roosevelt wins by 57% of the vote: 7.6 million to 5.1 million
Roosevelt’s impetuous promise
Election of 1908
Taft: Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor
Taft as President: “politics makes me sick!”
“an aura of fumble, bumble and stumble”
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Taft’s effectiveness as a reformer was nullified by his ineptitude as a politician
Taft wants to lower the existing 57% tariff
1. Tariff: Payne-Aldrich tariff
But the Senate adds on 847 amendments; result: Payne-Aldrich actually higher than previous
tariff
Cartoon: “Please Senator. Aldrich!”
2. Ballinger-Pinchot controversy
Ballinger: Secretary of the Interior
Pinchot: Chief of Forestry
Issue: was Roosevelt’s removal of acres of forest and mineral reserves legal?
Result of this controversy for Taft?
1910 Roosevelt returns from Africa
New Nationalism speech at Osawatomie, Kansas
Roosevelt preaches advanced Progressive program now: which includes?
Election of 1912
Roosevelt: “My hat is in the ring, the fight is on, I am stripped to the buff!”
LaFollette early leader
1912 Roosevelt announces candidacy and wins all 13 state primaries but Taft wins the
nomination because the President controls the party machinery and delegates
Roosevelt: Progressive or “Bull Moose” party
“We fight in honorable fashion for the good of mankind, fearless of the future, with unflinching
hearts, we stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.”
Roosevelt’s huge political mistake?
Democratic candidate: Woodrow Wilson
Wilson’s New Freedom: government should intervene to regulate or restore competition
Roosevelt’s New Nationalism: government should regulate monopolies:
For more government control
Where is Taft in all this?
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Election Results:
Republicans – Bull Moose = Democratic victory
Taft 23%
Roosevelt 27%
Wilson 44%
Woodrow Wilson as President: a “longing to do immortal work”
A British Liberal in Progressive America
Roosevelt had outflanked Congress and Taft had given in to it but Wilson determined to lead
Congress like a British Prime Minister.
Wilson’s impressive legislative record: 1913
1. Underwood-Simons Tariff: down to 27%
2. Federal Reserve Act
3. Clayton Anti-trust Act
4. Federal Trade Commission Act
1914: Wilson announces that his program is complete
Until 1916 Wilson opposed the advanced Progressive program
But 1916 legislation
1. Federal Farm Loan Act
2. Workers Compensation: for federal employees
3. Keating-Owen Act: against child labor in interstate commerce
4. Adamson Act: 8 hour day for interstate railroad workers
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Progressive Foreign Policy
1. need for a canal
2. Location: Panama or Nicaragua
French Failure in Panama
1. Ferdinand de Lesseps: French engineer- had built the Suez Canal
2. French lease on Panamanian land to expire in 1904
Philippe Banua-Varilla
1. agent extraordinaire of the French Canal Co.
2. Philippe convinces US Senate
a. to choose Panama
b. to purchase French lease for $40,000,000
1902 US Treaty with Colombia: Hay-Herran Treaty
1. US offers Colombia $10,000,000
2. Colombian Senate rejects the Treaty; wants $25,000,000
3. President Roosevelt’s reaction:
“The blackmailers of Bogata must not be allowed to further bar a highway of civilization!”
Nov. 3, 1903 “Revolt” in Panama against Colombia
Role of USS Nashville
Us-Panama Treaty: Hay-Banua-Varilla Treaty
Roosevelt’s boast: 1903 “All canal negotiations were conducted with the highest, finest,
And nicest standards of governmental ethics.”
1911: “I took Panama…”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” in the Caribbean
1904 Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: preventive intervention
Occasion: Venezuela defaults on loans to England, Germany and Italy
Corollary: “Chronic wrongdoing…may require intervention by some civilized nation and in the
western hemisphere the adherence of the US to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United
States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of wrong-doing…to the exercise of an international
police power.”
From 1903 on: frequent meddling by US in Caribbean region, especially in Cuba, Panama, Haiti,
Dominican Republic, Nicaragua etc.
1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt initiates Good Neighbor Policy for Latin America
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