The Progressive Era (1900

1
The Progressive Era(1900 1917)

• Chapter 9

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ProgressivismAn Introduction

• A reform movement in response to
• The depression of the 1890s and its social
  unrest.
• And an attempt to soften the harsh impact of
  industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.
• Progressivism varied.
• The progressive movement represented the common
  spirit of an age rather than a single organized
  group or party.

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Progressivism

• What reformers shared was a common assumption
  that the complex social ills and tensions
  generated by the urban-industrial revolution
  required expanding the scope of local, state, and
  federal government authority as to elevate the
  public interest over private greed.
• Such initiatives represented the first tentative
  steps toward what would become known during the
  1930s and after as the welfare state.

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General Goals

• Greater Democracy
• Direct primaries
• The initiative, referendum, and recall
• Popular election of senators
• Efficiencycalled for experts t o replace
  bureaucrats
• Commission system
• City managers
• Championed by Robert LaFollette and the
  Wisconsin Idea

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General Goals, cont.

• Corporate regulation
• Laissez-faire vs. regulation
• Perhaps most controversial
• Social Justice
• Child labor
• Working conditions
• 10-hr workday
• Prohibition

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RooseveltsProgressivism

• Most activist president since Lincoln
• Most presidents believed that the Constitution
  set specific limits on their power. Roosevelt
  thought that the president could do anything not
  expressly forbidden in the document
• Recognized the Executive Mansion as the White
  House
• Recognized the value of publicity
• Created the press room in White House.
• First president to ride in an automobile, fly in
  an airplane, and dive in a submarineand everyone
  knew it.

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Roosevelts Plan

• Committed to an expanding government.
• Growth was natural but government needed to
  mediate.
• Big labor would counterbalance big capital.
• Big farm organizations would offset big food
  processors, and so on.
• What he called in his reelection campaign the
  Square Deal.half loaf vs. whole loaf.
• Anthracite (hard) Coal Strike of 1902
• Workers struck for more pay and fewer hours.
• Mine owners closed mines.
• TR threatened to take over the mines, forcing
  owners to submit to arbitration panel.

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Roosevelts Plan

• Trusts
• TR used his executive powers to enforce the
  Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
• Conduct, not size was importantgood and bad
  trusts
• Hepburn Act of 1906
• Gave the Interstate Commerce Commission power to
  set maximum rates (Railroad regulation)
• Movement to regulate food processors and makers
  of drugs and patent medicines
• The Meat Inspection Act (1906)
• The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
• Conservation through planned management
• Enlarged the national park system

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William Howard Taft

• Election of 1908
• TR handpicked Secretary of War Taft
• He defeats William Jennings Bryan (Dem)
• Taft had great administrative skill and personal
  charm. But he disliked the political maneuvering
  of Washington and preferred conciliation to
  confrontation
• Taft managed to alienate both conservatives and
  progressives
• Even TR had doubts On inauguration day he told
  a reporter Hes all right, but hes weak.

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Taft

• Despite his failures, Taft did
  enact a progressive program
• Regulated safety standards for mines and
  railroads.
• Created a federal childrens bureau.
• Set an 8-hr workday for federal employees.
• Supported a graduated income tax
• Became the 16th Amend, in early 1913.
• Considered one of the most important reforms of
  the century.
• Supported the 17th Amend. (1913) which provided
  for the popular election of senators.
• Set aside more public lands for conservation than
  TR.
• Impressive progressive record despite charges
  from TR and others.

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Election of 1912

• TR and Taft split
• TR
• New Nationalism
• Recognized the value on consolidation in the
  economywhether big business or big laborbut
  insisted on protecting the interests of
  individuals through big government.
• Advocated more daring reforms than he had as
  president. Ex. equal suffrage (blacks and
  women)
• TR lost Rep. Nomination despite winning most of
  the primaries to Taft-- presidential patronage
• TR formed Progressive Party
• Im feeling like a bull moose!

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Election of 1912

• Woodrow Wilson (Dem)
• Progressive governor of New Jersey
• New Freedom
• Rejected the economic consolidation that
  Roosevelt embraced.
• Wanted to strictly limit the size of businesses
  to preserve the free market.
• Wanted to keep government small to preserve
  individual freedom
• Taft and TR split the Rep. vote and Wilson won.
• Wilson in White House and Democrats controlled
  Congress.

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The Election of 1912
14
Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality

• First southern president since Andrew Johnson.
• Very self-righteous God ordained that I should
  be the next president of the United States.
• Felt that a modern president should act as a
  prime minister, directing and uniting his
  party, molding legislation and public opinion,
  exerting continuous leadership.

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Progressive Legislation

• The Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1913) (lowered
  tariff)
• In conjunction with 16th Amendment, this began a
  momentous shift in government revenue
• 19th-century basepublic lands, alcohol taxes,
  and customs duties.
• 20th century base personal and corporate
  incomes.
• Federal Reserve Act of 1913
• Federal Reserve System of 12 regional banks
  controlled by a central Federal Reserve Board in
  Washington.

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Progressive Legislation

• Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
• An executive commission to regulate commerce and
  enforce orderly competition.
• Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
• Barred some of the worst corporate practices
  price discrimination, holding companies, and
  interlocking directorates.

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Woman Suffrage Nineteenth Amendment
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Conclusion to Progressivism

• For all its claims of sweeping change,
  progressivism left the system of market
  capitalism in tact.
• Neither the New Nationalism of TR, with its
  emphasis on planning and regulation, nor Woodrow
  Wilsons New Freedom, which promoted competition
  through limits on corporate size, aimed to do
  more than improve the system.
• But the Gilded Age philosophy of laissez faireof
  giving private enterprise a free handhad clearly
  been rejected.
• Both state and federal governments established
  their right to regulate the actions of private
  corporations for the public good. Under
  progressive leadership, the modern stateactive
  and interventionistwas born.

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Significant Events
? 1890 General Federation of Womens Clubs
organized
? 1899 National Consumers League founded
? 1900 Robert La Follette elected governor of
Wisconsin
? 1901 Theodore Roosevelt elected president
? 1903 Department of Labor and Commerce created
? 1906 Upton Sinclairs The Jungle published
? 1910 Mann Act passed
? 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire
? 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act passed
? 1919 Nineteenth Amendment grants women suffrage
Chapter 22