POPULISTS AND PROGRESSIVES 1880 1915

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POPULISTS AND PROGRESSIVES1880 - 1915
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REFORM

• Reform Sentiment Strong in the Gilded Age.
• Reforms concentrated upon
• SOCIAL INJUSTICE
• ECONOMIC DISCRIMINATION
• POLITICAL CORRUPTION
• Most immediate concern
• UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN ECONOMIC INTERESTS AND
  POLITICAL MACHINERY

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POPULISTS

• THE PEOPLES PARTY POPULISTS
• Emerged from rural reform movements of post-Civil
  War era
• The Grangers 1870s
• The Southern Farmers Alliance 1880s
• BELIEVED IN
• Increased democracy to break the hold of Big
  Money on politics and the country.

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POPULISTS

• POPULIST PLATFORM
• Government ownership of transportation
• Direct election of senators
• Secret ballot
• Graduated income tax
• Eight-hour workday
• FREE AND UNLIMITED COINAGE OF SILVER

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POPULISTS

• 1892 Populists swept Colorado
• Governor Davis Waite
• State Senate and State House
• State Senate elected US Senators
• Henry M. Teller Populist
• Edward D. Wolcott Populist
• However
• 1893 would be a bumpy year.

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POPULISTS

• PANIC OF 1893
• Economic crash hit in July, 1893
• 377 business failures
• 50 of Colorados mines shut down
• 45,000 people out of work
• Governor Waite HOME REMEDIES
• FANDANGO DOLLARS
• Brands Waite as RADICAL
• At the same time Cripple Creek Strike
• At the same time The City Hall War

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THE CITY HALL WAR

• Governor Davis Waite
• vs.
• Jefferson Randolph Soapy Smith

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CITY HALL WAR

• 1893 Denvers City Government part of the
  state government
• Tremendous graft and corruption
• DENVER POLICE AND FIRE BOARD
• Soapy Smith paid off state legislators to appoint
  his cronies
• Governor Waite dismissed the two most corrupt
  members
• Smith told them to barricade themselves in their
  offices
• Governor Waite ordered the State Militia to
  remove them from their offices
• Smith had the Arapahoe County Sheriff deputize
  his thugs and sent them to guard City Hall

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THE CITY HALL WAR
POSITION OF COMBATANTS IN DOWNTOWN DENVER DURING
CITY HALL WAR
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THE CITY HALL WAR
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THE CITY HALL WAR

• RESOLUTION

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CITY HALL WAR

• RESOLUTION
• 1. Governor Waite had the right to dismiss
  members and appoint new members
• 2. Governor Waite did not have the right to
  remove the members forcefully
• 3. Supreme Court ordered the members to leave

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POPULISTS

• 1893 discredited Governor Waite, but not Populism
• 1896 Populists ran again in Colorado
• Alva Adams elected Governor
• Populists captured all state offices
• BUT
• Populists lost nationally
• Populism disintegrated

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PROGRESSIVES

• PROGRESSIVES
• MOVEMENT TO
• CLEAN UP GOVERNMENT
• CLEAN UP CITIES
• IN COLORADO
• CLEAN UP DENVER
• CLEAN UP COLORADO
• FLUID REFORM MOVEMENT THAT CROSSED PARTY LINES
  AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY ACCORDING TO THE ISSUE AT
  HAND

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PROGRESSIVES

• Progressives began with Denver
• 1900 Denvers population 130,000 Denvers image
  Colorados image
• 17th Street Gang controlled politics
• Progressives sought Home Rule
• Denver citizens would elect their officials
• Home Rule Amendment Passed 1902 and first Home
  Rule election was in 1904.

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PROGRESSIVES

• First Home Rule Election
• Robert Speer elected as first Mayor
• Problem Head of largest political machine in
  Colorado
• Solution Clean Up Denver Physical
• Changed Denvers appearance
• New, wider boulevards (Speer Boulevard)
• Storm drains and sanitation systems
• City Auditorium constructed
• Plan for Civic Center established/Mountain Parks
  system created
• Part of the City Beautiful Movement

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PROGRESSIVES

• Greatest Achievements
• Ben Lindsey and the Juvenile Court
• Municipal Judge concerned with social conditions
  of industrial society
• Concerned with incarcerating juveniles with
  adults in jails and prisons
• Created separate court system for juveniles
• First such system in the United States

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PROGRESSIVES

• GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS
• EMILY GRIFFITH
• Public School Teacher in Denver
• Concerned that children of laboring classes could
  not attend school because of work
• Concerned that immigrants could not attend
  classes because of work
• Created a special educational institution
• EMILY GRIFFITH OPPORTUNITY SCHOOL
• 1914 Opened Doors
• Day classes and night classes
• Literacy, basic math, ESL, technical skills
• CLASSES PROVIDED ABSOLUTELY FREE

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PROGRESSIVES

• OTHER PROGRESSIVE ACTIVITY
• Prohibition achieved in 1916
• Governor Henry Buchtel 1907 1909
• Civil Service
• Railroad Commission
• Governor Honest John Shafroth 1909 - 1913
• Constitutional Amendment Initiative and
  Referendum
• Primary Election Law
• Child Labor Law

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PROGRESSIVES

• PROGRESSIVES WERE SUCCESSFUL
• Increased democracy in the political system
• Curbed social injustice
• Attempted to ameliorate economic discrimination
• BUT
• PROGRESSIVISM COULD NOT LAST..
• WWI WOULD BRING REFORM TO AN END
• But not for the reasons you might think!!!