Progressive Presidents Reasoning

Taft President Reason Roosevelt Wilson   Roosevelt Taft Wilson Taft disappointed the Progressive wing of the Republican Party by supporting things like the Payne-Aldrich Tariff and firing Gifford Pinchot.

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson TR used the Antiquities Act to conserve lands for public use. He also supported John Muir and the Sierra Club and appointed Gifford Pinchot to head the U.S. Forest Service. “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless…The conservation of natural resources is a fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  Wilson supported the creation of the Federal Reserve to help regulate the nation’s banking system, economy and currency. “Our great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Therefore all of our activities are in the hands of a small group of men who chill and check true economic freedom. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, completely controlled and dominated governments in the world. No longer a government of the majority but a government of the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

Taft President Reason Roosevelt Wilson   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  TR established the Bull Moose (Progressive) Party to run for president in the Election of 1912, but he ended up dividing the vote allowing Wilson to win.

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  TR’s domestic agenda was called the Square Deal and it focused on control of corporations, conservation, and consumer protection (the 3 C’s). WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON. All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong any one, and do not let him be wronged.

Taft President Reason Roosevelt Wilson   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  Wilson supported busting all the trusts, lowering tariffs and currency reform (Federal Reserve) as a way to regulate competition instead of regulating trusts.

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson Taft was not popular with the Progressive wing of the Republican Party; he also failed to use the “bully pulpit” to get voter support of his agenda.  “I am afraid I am a constant disappointment to my party. The fact of the matter is, the longer I am president the less of a party man I seem to become.”

Taft President Reason Roosevelt Wilson   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  TR believed in using the power of the president and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to regulate the “bad” trusts and protect the “good” trusts.

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  Taft was a much more successful judge than president. He is the only president to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. “I love judges, and I love courts. They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God.”

President Reason   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  Wilson’s New Freedom emphasized a more limited role for the president in promoting Progressive goals, unlike TR’s New Nationalism which called for a strong executive. “Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of government is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it.”

Taft President Reason Roosevelt Wilson   Roosevelt Taft Wilson  Wilson did not initially support the 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage, but he later changed his mind about the issue (mostly to prevent TR from becoming president again!)

Central Historical Question: Who was a stronger advocate for African Americans, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Dubois, or Marcus Garvey?

Historical Review Civil War 1861-1865. Reconstruction 1865-1877: many legal advances for African Americans (i.e., 13, 14, 15 Amendments; African Americans elected to office in South). But in 1876, North pulls its troops out and white-supremacist Democrats take over. Result: Most African Americans became sharecroppers. Laws put in place to prevent African Americans from voting (e.g., poll tax, literacy). KKK had support of local officials and terrorized anyone who voted Republican. Lynching became a widespread form of terrorism against African Americans, especially those who gained an economic/social foothold. Jim Crow segregation: “separate=equal” upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Against this historical context, two leaders emerged: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvye.

Booker T. Washington W.E.B. DuBois (Founder of NAACP) Marcus Garvey Believed -“No race can prosper till it learns that there is much dignity in tilling the field as in writing a poem”. Felt that black people should work to gain economic security before equal rights If they would learn a skill, became prosperous farmers, then whites would respect them and it would eradicate the race problem. Strongly opposed Booker T. Washington’s tolerance of segregation Demanded immediate equality for blacks Felt talented black students should get a classical education. They could lead up forwarded. Felt it was wrong to expect citizens to “earn their rights” Founded the NAACP along with other black and white leaders Created the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) Believed the only way for Blacks Americans to be equal was for them to own their own business and etc. Promoted the Back to Africa Movement as a solution to the rising African American population.

PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS & CIVIL RIGHTS Progressive Presidents did very little to aid civil rights for certain groups Niagara Movement: Meeting of African Americans to discuss black concerns & issues Jim Crow Laws made Stronger No Anti-Lynching Laws African Americans Forced to assimilate & live on reservations Feared culture would not survive 1930s: Finally allowed To practice traditions Equality still a long way off Native Americans Faced lots of discrimination Immigrants

Class Discussion Washington has been a very controversial figure. Some historians say that he was a sell-out who kissed up to white people; others say he was realistic about the situation in the South, and tried to avoid inciting white hostility. What do you think? What was DuBois’s critique of Washington? Do you think he makes a good point? Why or why not? Why might some of Washington’s supporters say that DuBois didn’t understand what life was like in the South? Based on what he wrote, do you think DuBois was clueless about what was happening in the South? Based on these documents, who do you think was a stronger advocate for the rights of African Americans: Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. Dubois?