The Progressive Era 1900 - 1920

Middle Class Movement Middle class emerged in late 1800s – product of industrialization Professionals, managers, “white collar” workers Increasingly segregated from working class Primarily concerned with urban, industrial problems Rapid growth of cities exacerbated problems Concerned about crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and unsanitary & unsafe living & working conditions Progress entailed both efficiency & justice Elitist & democratic simultaneously Linked to industrialists, who provided money for new research universities & social research efforts Advocated “scientific” social reform – solutions based on social science research

Urban Social Work Settlement Houses Jane Addams est. Hull House in Chicago (1889) Secular missionaries – lived in foreign neighborhoods & tried to “uplift” working class immigrants Charity Organization Societies pooled & coordinated resources G. Stanley Hall & John Dewey advocated educational reform to create better citizens 18 million children in public schools in 1910 (up from 7 million in 1870) Jane Addams Hull House

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP founded in 1909 by whites & blacks Whites like Oswald Garrison Villard were grandchildren of abolitionists Blacks like W.E.B. DuBois were frustrated middle-class professionals challenged Jim Crow laws in court Guinn v. Oklahoma (1915) invalidated grandfather clauses Buchanan v. Warley (1917) banned residential segregation ordinances National Urban League founded in 1910 to promote economic development W.E.B. DuBois

Immigration Restriction Immigration Restriction League Led by Prescott F. Hall & Robert D. Ward Advocated literacy test to keep out “undesirable” southern & eastern European immigrants Eugenics Charles Davenport founded Eugenics Record Office on Long Island Advocated sterilization of criminals & mentally disabled Margaret Sanger advocated birth control and abortion for eugenic reasons Harry Laughlin & Charles Davenport

Eugenic Ideas About Race & Heredity

The Role of Women Cult of “true womanhood” women as moral guardians of family & society Used to demand voting rights Upper & middle-class women led many reform groups Women’s Christian Temperance Union Children’s Aid Society Settlement houses Bolstered argument for women’s suffrage Frances Willard

Gradual Introduction of Women’s Suffrage

Taking on the Party Machines Opposed machines as both antidemocratic & inefficient City gov’t reforms were antidemocratic: Expert Commissions to replace city councils Professional City Managers to administer affairs Other reforms were more democratic: Direct Primaries took control of nominations away from party leaders Initiative & Referendum allowed voters to bypass legislature & enact laws directly Recall elections allowed removal of unpopular officials before term expired

Pres. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) Added 150 million acres to forest preserves Dept. of Commerce & Labor created (1903) Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act (1906) regulated food industry Hepburn Act (1906) gave ICC authority to set maximum railroad rates Broke up Northern Securities Trust (1904) Mediated United Mine Workers’ strike (1902)

Pres. William Howard Taft (1909-1913) Busted more trusts than T.R., but had pro- business reputation Added to forest preserves, but angered conservationists by firing Gifford Pinchot Mann Act (1910) outlawed “white slave trade” Mann-Elkins Act (1910) strengthened ICC further 16th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1909; ratified in 1913) allowed for a graduated income tax 17th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1912; ratified in 1913) mandated direct election of U.S. Senators

The 1912 Election Roosevelt unsuccessfuly challenged Taft for the G.O.P. nomination Roosevelt then formed Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party Woodrow Wilson won Democratic nomination & election

The 1912 Presidential Campaign

Pres. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) Federal Reserve Act (1913) created modern monetary system 12 banks rediscount member banks’ loans Notes backed 40% by gold, 60% by commercial paper Sets “prime” interest rate, thus able to expand or contract credit & money supply Underwood Tariff (1913) lowered rates & est. graduated income tax Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) outlawed price discrimination, tying agreements & interlocking directorates Federal Trade Commission (1914) created to regulate

The Federal Reserve System

Wilson (cont.) Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) created 12 banks to make low-interest loans to farmers (part of Subtreasury Plan) Adamson Act (1916) mandated 8-hour day & time and a half for overtime for railroad workers Keating-Owen Act (1916) banned goods made by child labor from interstate commerce, but overturned by Supreme Court in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) 18th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1917; ratified in 1919) banned manufacture & sale of alcohol 19th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1919; ratified in 1920) granted right to vote to women

The Progressive Era Amendments 16th Amendment (1909; 1913) allowed for a graduated income tax 17th Amendment (1912; 1913) mandated direct election of U.S. Senators 18th Amendment (1917; 1919) banned manufacture, transportation & sale of alcohol 19th Amendment (1919; 1920) granted right to vote to women Celebrating the ratification of the 19th Amendment