The Progressive Era 1901-1918

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The Progressive Era1901-1918

• Accompanying the economic growth of the United
  States were the old and new concerns about the
  lives of many Americans. Progressivism came to
  define the works of these reformers.

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Origins of Progressivism

• State reforms of the late 1800s (Greenback and
  Populist Party)
• Industrialization, immigration and urbanization
• Middle class Americans felt a need to adjust to
  changing times
• Lasts through the administrations of President
  Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson (1901-1917)
• Ends with U.S. entry into WWI

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Attitudes and Motives

• Once a rural population of farmers, now fast
  becoming industrialized with mixed ethnicities
• Middle class alarmed by power of big businesses
  and gap between rich and poor
• African-American plight in the South
• Womens suffrage
• Progressives were diverse Protestant church
  leaders, African-Ams., labor leaders, women
• CHANGE is needed!

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Who were the Progressives?

• Mostly middle class and urban dwellers
• This social class had steadily grown in the late
  19th century
• White collar office holders along with lawyers,
  ministers and shopkeepers
• Worried about America and what could happen to
  democracy unrest among the poor, excesses of
  rich and corruption in government
• Social Gospel

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What was the Progressives philosophy?

• Reform impulse was hardly new
• They way people thought and reasoned was
  challenged
• Charles Darwin
• People should take a pragmatic or practical
  approach to morals, ideals and knowledge not a
  fixed/changeless approach
• Experiment with new laws and ideas More
  Democracy!
• Govt. as agency of human welfare

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The Muckrakers

• Before the public took action, it had to be well
  informed
• Newspapers and magazines published investigative
  stories
• T. Roosevelt called these reporters muckrakers
• Photojournalist Jacob Riis published How the
  Other Half Lives (1890)

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The Muckrakers
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The Muckrakers

• Upton Sinclairs The Jungle, exposed the
  conditions of the meatpacking industry
• Lincoln Steffens The Shame of The Cities,
  described in detail the corrupt deals that
  characterized big city politics
• Muckraking exposed inequities and educated the
  public
• Sensationalism tended to get out of hand
• Declines after 1910

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Voter Participation

• The cornerstone of Progressive ideology was
  democracy
• Advocated reforms to increase voter participation
• Secret ballot
• Direct primaries
• Direct election of senators (17th Amendment
  1913)
• Initiative
• Referendum
• Recall

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Theodore Roosevelts Square Deal

• TR believed the president should do more - set
  legislative agenda for Congress
• Activist, reform minded president
• Square Deal for all (labor and business)
• Trust-busting bad trusts and good trusts
• Directed his attorney general to take antitrust
  action against Standard Oil

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Theodore Roosevelts Square Deal

• Enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act
• Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission
• After Upton Sinclairs book the Jungle, Congress
  passed two regulatory laws
• 1.) The Pure Food and Drug Act
• 2.) The Meat inspection Act

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Theodore Roosevelts Square Deal

• Conservationist
• Perhaps his most lasting and original domestic
  policy was his efforts to protect our natural
  resources
• Set aside 150 million acres of federal land to be
  protected
• White House Conference, established a National
  Conservation Commission
• U.S. Forest Service
• TR increased power and prestige of presidency

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William Howard Taft

• Roosevelt stepped down and Republican Party
  nominated Taft
• Taft will continue TRs Progressive policies
  trustbusting and conservation
• 16th Amendment (1913) authorized U.S. government
  to collect an income tax (Populist platform in
  1892)
• Foreign policy dollar diplomacy

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Socialist Party

• Third party developed in first decade of 1900s,
  dedicated to welfare of working class
• Called for more radical reforms then the
  Progressives
• Eugene V. Debs, was the partys candidate in five
  elections
• Critic of business and champion of labor (Pullman
  strike)
• Seen by many as too radical
• In 1912 Debs received 900,000 votes 6 of total

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Election of 1912

• Taft renominated by Republicans
• Progressive (Bull Moose party) nominated T.
  Roosevelt
• Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson
• Came down to Roosevelt vs. Wilson
• Roosevelt called for New Nationalism
• Wilson pledges a New Freedom

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Election of 1912

• Republicans voters split their vote (Taft and
  Roosevelt)
• Wilson wins!
• Like Roosevelt he believed a president should
  lead Congress and appeal directly to the people
  for support
• He pledged to bring back fair competition in the
  economy
• Fought against the triple wall of privilege -
  tariffs, banking and trusts

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Woodrow WilsonsNew Freedom

• Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened the Sherman
  Antitrust Act
• Federal Trade Commission investigated unfair
  trade practice
• Federal Farm Loan Act loans with low interest
  rates
• Child Labor Act on interstate commerce products
• Underwood Tariff Bill reduced tariff rates

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African-Americans in the Progressive Era
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African-Americans in the Progressive Era

• Largely ignored by Progressive presidents
• Thousands lynched by racist mobs
• Segregation still widespread
• At turn of the century, roughly 9 out of 10
  blacks lived in the South
• Population begins shifting North
• Jobs in northern cities
• During both World Wars the migration will increase

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Women, Suffrage and the Progressive Movement

• Anthony and Stanton passed the torch to next
  generation
• At first Wilson refused to support a national
  amendment, until late in his presidency
• NAWSA- Carrie Chapman Catt
• Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920