PROGRESSIVISM

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PROGRESSIVISM
Chapter 21
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1. Progressivism and Protestant Spirit
2. Muckrakers, Magazines, and Realism
3. Settlement Houses and Womens Activism
4. Socialism and Progressivism
5. Municipal Reform
6. State Reform
7. Civil Rights
8. National Reform
9. William McKinley
10. Theodore Roosevelt
11. William Howard Taft
12. Woodrow Wilson

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1. Progressivism and Protestant Spirit

Expectations on Middle Class Protestants Missionar
ies, Ministers Social conditions after industrial
revolution Christians duty to reform Major
goals racial and social justice, womens
rights Minor goals Prohibition / Temperance,
City / State / Natl Reform
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II. Muckrakers, Magazines, and Realism
Muckraker coined by Theodore Roosevelt Jacob
Riis reporter/ journalist / author How the
Other Half Lives Ida Tarbell John
Rockefeller Lincoln Steffens local
governments Ida Wells Barnett journalist,
publicized lynchings Upton Sinclair author,
The Jungle Robert LaFollette Governor,
Wisconsin, set-up panels and commissions Samuel
Hopkins Adams journalist, exposed drug industry
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Magazines After Civil War numbers of magazines
and newspapers increased, as did numbers of
readers. 1870-1910 570 to over
2600 McClures, Atlantic Monthly, Ladies Home
Journal From readership less than 3 million to
over 24 million. Magazines appealed to the
public by publishing sensational stories exposing
the ills of American society.
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• Realism satisfied unease
• Realism was characterized by skepticism and
  detachment portraying American life as it truly
  was.
• Private power overwhelming public authority In
  the 90s and today this would be called / what
  would this issue today be considered?

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III. Settlement Houses and Womens Activism
Why women? What women?

• Intended for and to help mainly immigrant /
  urban / poor
• Provided social services for neighborhoods and
  involved people in political process

HULL HOUSE 1st American settlement house
Established by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr,
Chicago 1889.
CULTURAL CONSERVATISM

• Aided poor, yet questioned motivation
• Opposed machine politics, yet saw benefits from
• Respected cultural diversity yet supported
  Americanization
• Disapproved of entertainment
• Disapproved of lifestyles
• Many female reformers, while seeking reform, were
  culturally conservative about sexuality and
  alcohol consumption

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IV. Socialism and Progressivism
First definition of terms Capitalism Who owns
a grocery store Who owns the electric
company Socialism Who owns a grocery store Who
owns the electric company Communism Who owns a
grocery store Who owns the electric company
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Socialist party founded in US 1901 By 1912
115,000 members Influence upon Progressives and
Progressive Party and to lesser degree upon
Democrats. The alternative to capitalism. Eugene
Debs candidate 1912 for president. Attracted
nearly 1 million votes. 1200 elected officials,
none ever as president during Progressive
Era 1905 Socialist magazine published
Sinclairs The Jungle IWW Industrial Workers of
the World Socialist heyday was 1905 1912
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V. Municipal Reform
Depression 1893 1897 - led social reformers to
lose faith in unregulated capitalism Cooperative
Commonwealth - efficient, recognized labor
unions, min wage (city), 8 hr work day, paid
vacation, city ownership of utilities and
transportation, abolition of child labor. -
Structural Changes - trained experts, distrust
of universal manhood suffrage - which means
exclude immigrants and working-classes -
includes well born, educated gave power to
middle/upper classes - includes literary tests
- Consequences?
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VI. State Reform
Reform began in cities and spread to
state Reason for reforms

• Political
• Direct primary
• Eliminate legislatures from selecting Senators
  (17th Amendment 1912)
• Recall of elected officials
• Contributions to campaigns

• Economic and Social
• Taxes on corporations
• 8 hr work day
• Workers comp
• Child labor laws

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• VII. Civil Rights
• Desire for greater equality not quite equal but
  more
• Double Edged Sword yes to much but no to even
  more
• Legal statutes hindered social progress legal
  obstacles to obtaining and securing
  constitutionally guaranteed rights
• WEB DuBois NAACP
• Booker T Washington 10

VIII. National Reform
Capitalism Corruption Social ills and TR
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IX. William McKinley, 25th president
Born in Niles, Ohio, in 1843 briefly attended
Allegheny College Taught in a country school when
the Civil War broke out. Enlisted as a private in
the Union Army He studied law, opened an office
in Canton, Ohio Married daughter of local banker.

• At age 34, McKinley won a seat in Congress.
• - was generally on the side of the public and
  against private interests.
• 14 years in House, became the leading Republican
  tariff expert, giving his name to the measure
  enacted in 1890. The next year he was elected
  Governor of Ohio, serving two terms.
• 1896 Republican candidate for president (relied
  upon White House staff of 10)
• Enacted highest tariff in history
• Foreign policy not domestic Spanish American
  War, China
• 1900 Republican candidate for president,
  re-elected
• Assassinated September 1901, NY Pan-American
  Exposition in Buffalo

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X. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president 1901 - 1909
Born in New York City in 1858. 1865 watched
Lincolns funeral from an upstairs
window Throughout his life he struggled with poor
health and as a result, became an advocate of the
strenuous life. 1876 1880 Harvard 1880-1882
Enters Columbia Law School in October 1880
discontinued study of law in 1882 November 8,
1881 Elected to New York State Assembly from
New York City. Serves three one-year terms,
1882, 1883 and 1884. 1882 - Publishes first
book, The Naval War of 1812. Published more four
more books by 1889, and another five by
1900. 1882 Joins National Guard as a 2nd
Lieutenant In 1884 his first wife, Alice Lee
Roosevelt, and his mother died on the same day.
Roosevelt spent much of the next two years on his
ranch in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. He
remarried in 1886 - Edith Carow.
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1889 1895 US Civil Service Commissioner in
Washington 1895 Police Commissioner of New
York 1897 Appointed Assistant Secretary of the
Navy by William McKinley May 1898 TR resigns to
become Lt Colonel in 1st US Volunteer Cavalry
Regiment (Rough Riders) May September 1898
Las Guasimas, Battle San Juan Hill (Heights) 1898
Governor of NY Dealt with taxation, the Erie
Canal, commerce, labor, the National Guard,
roads, civil service, state forests and the
economy. 1900 elected Vice president.
McKinley/Roosevelt ticket 7,219,530 votes to
6,358,071 for Democrats William Jennings Bryan
and Adlai E. Stevenson. September 14, 1901
Roosevelt, youngest president.
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TR believed government should be the great
arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the
Nation, especially between capital and labor,
guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing
favors to none. Roosevelt was a "trust buster"
in 1902 by forcing the dissolution of a great
railroad combination in the Northwest (Northern
Securities Company). Other antitrust suits under
the Sherman Act followed. Roosevelt steered the
United States more actively into world politics.
He liked to quote a favorite proverb, "Speak
softly and carry a big stick. . . . Aware of the
strategic need for a shortcut between the
Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the
construction of the Panama Canal (finished in
1914). His corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
prevented the establishment of foreign bases in
the Caribbean and arrogated the sole right of
intervention in Latin America to the United
States. He won the Nobel Peace Prize (1906) for
mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a
Gentleman's Agreement on immigration with Japan,
and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour
of the world. Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most
effective achievements were in conservation. He
added enormously to the national forests in the
West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered
great irrigation projects.
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New Nationalism Square Deal 2nd
administration promise Bully pulpit Elkins Act
1903, gave Interstate Commerce Commission power
to prevent RR from offering preferred rates to
customers Hepburn Act 1906, ICC responsible for
setting freight rates Pure Food and Drug Act and
Meat Inspection Act 1906 After his 2nd term he
volunteered to not run again, holding to two
terms. Hand selected William Howard Taft to run
in his place. Unable to stay out of political
fray. Tried for Republican nomination in 1912,
rebuffed. Accepted nomination of the Progressive
Party (Bull Moose). Ran against Taft and Wilson.
Lost. 1914 went on expedition on River of
Doubt in Brazil. He was bitten by something and
was in poor health, died from embolism in 1919
(perhaps as result).
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XI. William Howard Taft, 27th president. 1909 -
1913
Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge He
was graduated from Yale, and returned to
Cincinnati to study and practice law. He rose in
politics through Republican judiciary
appointments, through his own competence and
availability, and because, as he once wrote
facetiously, he always had his "plate the right
side up when offices were falling." Taft much
preferred law to politics. He was appointed a
Federal circuit judge at 34. He aspired to be a
member of the Supreme Court. President McKinley
sent him to the Philippines in 1900 as chief
civil administrator. Sympathetic toward the
Filipinos, he improved the economy, built roads
and schools, and gave the people at least some
participation in government. President
Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and by 1907
had decided that Taft should be his successor.
The Republican Convention nominated him the next
year. Alienated many Republicans who left the
party due to his support for high tariffs and
failed trade programs. His administration also
initiated 80 antitrust suits and the initial
discourse over a Federal income tax and the
direct election of Senators. A postal savings
system was established. A cautious, conservative
leader who loved constitutional law. President
Harding appointed him to the Supreme Court where
he served until 1930 (death)
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XII. Woodrow Wilson, 28th president 1913 - 1921
Born December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Virginia
Profoundly influenced by his minister father
(Presbyterian) and his mother (daughter of a
minister). He attended Davidson College North
Carolina, for a year before entering Princeton
University in 1875. After graduation from
Princeton in 1879 (then the College of New
Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School
(finished 1882), Wilson earned his doctorate at
Johns Hopkins University (1886) and entered upon
an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen
Louise Axson. He began his career teaching
history and political science at Bryn Mawr
College in 1885 and moved to Wesleyan University
in Connecticut in 1888. 1887- he went to
Princeton, where he quickly became the most
popular and highest-paid faculty member. In 1902
he was the unanimous choice to become president
of Princeton. 1912 Democratic nomination for
the presidency
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The first thing Wilson did was lower tariff rates
which freed American consumers from artificially
protected monopolies. Wilsons second act was
to pass the act creating the Federal Reserve
System (perhaps single most important law
passed). A third victory came with the Clayton
Antitrust Act, which strengthened existing laws
against anticompetitive business actions and gave
labor unions relief from court injunctions. By
1913, Wilson had a growing number of supporters
who backed him. His popularity was high and it
seemed he could do no wrong by the public. Other
New Freedom legislation passed during Wilson's
first term included an act improving working
conditions for American sailors the Warehouse
Act, which helped farmers obtain loans a bill
providing greater self-government for the
Philippines and a bill prohibiting child labor.
Wilson sought (under New Freedom) temporary
power to dismantle trusts. Foreign affairs vexed
Wilson from his first days in the White House.
Mexico both revolution and Pancho Villa By
1917 Issues with Germany and World War I
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Progressives and Reformers Jane Addams Robert
LaFollette Upton Sinclair Ellen Gates
Star Florence Kelly Alice Hamilton Julia
Lathrop Dorthea Dix Elizabeth Katy
Stanton Jacob Riis Ida Tarbell Lincoln
Steffens Ida Wells Barnett Samuel Hopkins
Adams Woodrow Wilson Theodore Roosevelt John
Muir William Taft Albert Beveridge Eugene
Debs Hiriam Johnson John Dewey
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After Wilsons and Roosevelts tenures in office,
the federal government possessed greater powers
and authority (industry/business regulations),
the federal banking system was established, the
role of the president was redefined and
strengthened (TR), and a new commitment was
demonstrated to conservation efforts. Saloons
not only a place to go to lose money, leading to
rise in domestic violence, find a friend, the
bars also cashed checks, provided loans
(typically if used for alcohol or friends, but
also to help guys out of trouble with wives).
Bars/Saloons also provided traditional ethnic
drink and food, an inexpensive and decent place
for lunch. Also places to discuss
politics. Political involvement 1896 1920.
Up or down?