Chapter 17: The Progressive Reform Era 18901920

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Chapter 17 The Progressive Reform Era (1890-1920)

• Origins of Progressivism
• Progressive Legislation
• Progressivism Under Taft and Wilson
• Suffrage At Last

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Effects of Industrialization

• At the turn of the century, many Americans hoped
  to change American society for the better.
  (reform)
• These reform minded citizens, who were called
  Progressives, worked for many different causes at
  the national, state, and local levels.
• Many of their reforms had lasting effects on
  American society

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Origins of Progressivism

• In 1906, writer and journalist
  Upton Sinclair published
  The Jungle, a novel about
  how meat was
  processed
  and the accidents, illnesses,
  and painful
  deaths that occurred
  within the meat
  packing industry.
• As you remember, the Populists were an earlier
  group of reformers.
• Progressives were an outgrowth of the earlier
  populists.

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• The goals of the Populists could be summed up
  into four beliefs
• Government should be more accountable to its
  citizens
• Government should curb the power and influence of
  wealthy interests
• Government should be given expanded powers so
  that it could become more active in improving the
  lives of its citizens
• Government should become more efficient and less
  corrupt so that they could competently handle an
  expanded role

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• Writer Henry George wrote Progress and Poverty in
  which he argued that land speculation was the
  cause of rising land prices
• Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward, a
  novel in which the utopian society would correct
  the ills of an industrial society.
• Theodore Roosevelt called Sinclair, George,
  Bellamy, and other journalists muckrakers, those
  who alerted the public to the wrongdoing in
  politics and business

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• Unions were one way that workers tried to change
  working society Industrialists discouraged union
  membership and often used the courts to issue
  injunctions to stop labor practices such as
  strikes.
• The Progressive Era saw the rise of socialism, an
  economic and political philosophy favoring
  government control of property and income.
• Socialist hoped to accomplish their goals thought
  the ballot box, voting not through revolution.
• Most Progressives DID NOT support sweeping
  economic and political changes they did not want
  to lose the high standard of living and personal
  liberties that democracy and a free enterprise
  system had given them.

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• Womens groups and reformers played a pivotal
  role in the reform movements of the Progressive
  Era.
• Florence Kelley joined
  Jane Addams Hull House
  and helped
  to pass laws
  prohibiting child labor.
• Mary Harris, an Irish
  immigrant,
  organized
  labor unions in the mines
  of West
  Virginia and
  Colorado and spoke on
  behalf of child labor and
  unions.

Jane Addams
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Progressive Legislation

• Progressives believed
  that government ought
  to
  increase the
  responsibility for the
  well being of
  people
  and sought more
  social
  welfare
  programs, looking at
  all levels of
  
  government
  municipal,
  state,
  and federal.

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Municipal Reforms

• Home Rule A system that gives cities a limited
  degree of self rule
• Direct Primary An election in which citizens
  select nominees for upcoming elections
• Initiative a process in which citizens can put
  a proposed new law directly on the ballot in the
  next election
• Referendum a process that citizens use to
  reject or approve a law passed by the legislature

State Reforms
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State Reforms

• Recall A procedure that permits voters to
  remove public officials from office before the
  next election and before their term expires
• Square Deal Roosevelts plan to be fair to
  business and citizens when arbitrating law it
  became a slogan for his presidency
• Elkins Act Made rebates (kickbacks to shippers
  in return for their business) illegal

Federal Reforms
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Federal Reforms

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act Law passed by Congress
  in 1890 that outlawed any combination of
  companies that restrained interstate trade or
  commerce outlawed trusts
• Hepburn Act Gave the Interstate Commerce
  Commission strong enforcement powers that were
  legislative and judicial
• Pure Food and Drug Act Forbid the manufacture,
  sale, or transportation of food or drugs
  containing harmful ingredients

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Federal Reforms

• Meat Inspection Act Government inspection of
  meat shipped from one state to another
• Department of Labor A federal agency that
  supports laws that benefit workers
• National Reclamation Act Used money from the
  sale of public lands to build irrigation systems
  in arid states
• 16th Amendment Collection of income tax
• 17th Amendment Allowing the direct election of
  Senators (instead of State legislatures selecting
  Senators to the U.S. Senate)

13
Progressivism Under Taft and Wilson

• Theodore Roosevelt did not run again for
  President in 1908 his Republican successor
  William Howard Taft won over Democrat William
  Jennings Bryant
• His first act as president was the reduction of
  tariffs, but the Payne Aldrich Tariff increased
  others.
• Progressives were furious. Roosevelt decided to
  come out of retirement to run again as a
  Progressive, this time under banner of the Bull
  Moose Party (Roosevelt did not get the Republican
  nomination for president Taft did)

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Progressivism Under Taft and Wilson

• The Democrats nominated the eventual winner of
  the election, Woodrow Wilson.
• Tafts record as a Progressive was quite notable
• He reserved more public lands and brought more
  anti-trust lawsuits than Roosevelt had.
• He supported the Childrens Bureau, the 16th and
  17th Amendments.
• He supported the Mann-Elkins Act, which gave the
  Interstate Commerce Commission the power to
  regulate telephone and telegraph rates.

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Reforms During Wilsons Administration

• Woodrow Wilson believed that his duty as
  President was to offer major
  legislation to Congress,
  to promote it
  publicly, and
  to guide it to passage.
• Underwood Tariff Act
  Reduced tariffs to their
  lowest levels in 50 years
  graduated the income
  tax

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Reforms During Wilsons Administration

• Clayton Anti-Trust Act Limited the power of
  monopolies and clarified the Sherman Anti-Trust
  Act
• Federal Trade Commission Created the Agency
  (FTC) that investigates fraudulent practices and
  used the courts to enforce its policies
• Federal Reserve Act (System)- Created a three
  level banking system that controlled the nations
  money supply and regulated member banks

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Reforms During Wilsons Administration

• Federal Farm Loan Act Low interest loans for
  farmers
• Adamson Act Reduced railroad workers workday
  from 10 hours to 8 hours with no cut in pay
• Federal Workmens Compensation Act Benefits
  paid to federal employees injured on the job
• Keating-Owen Child Labor Act Outlawed products
  sold interstate produced by child labor

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Reforms During Wilsons Administration

• 18th Amendment Prohibition no sale or
  manufacture of
  alcoholic beverages
• 19th Amendment
  Women receive the
  
  right to vote
  (suffrage)

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Suffrage At Last

• For roughly 70 years, womens organizations
  actively campaigned for suffrage, or the right to
  vote.
• In 1848, American womens organizations demanded
  the right to vote at the Seneca Falls Convention
  in New York.
• The Seneca Falls Convention made famous the names
  of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
• In 1872, Susan B. Anthony joined the caused and
  would take the suffrage cause into the 20th
  Century.

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• Anthony led a group of women to the polls in
  Rochester, New York where voting was illegal for
  women she was arrested for this act of civil
  disobedience a non-violent refusal to obey a
  law in an effort to change it.
• In 1890, Anthony, Stanton, and Lucy Stone were
  joined by younger leaders in forming the National
  American Woman Suffrage Association
• In 1918, Congress proposed the suffrage
  amendment.
• In August, 1920, the 19th Amendment became law
  and women now had the right to vote.