THE PROGRESSIVE ERA American History Honors January, 2015 Ms. Costas

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ■ How did the problems of industrialization lead to the Progressive Movement? ■ What were the primary goals of the Progressive Movement? ■ How did the progressive presidents influence government? ■ What were the political, economic, and social effects of the Progressive Movement?

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM ■ Progressivism = common desire to improve life in the industrial age  Diverse goals united under common label ■ Mainly urban middle class ■ Committed to democratic values  To improve the human condition o Honest government o Just laws

What were the problems that needed fixing in the Gilded Age?

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM ■ Five major goals of Progressivism 1.Government regulation of Big Business 2.Improving workers’ plight 3.Addressing the problems caused by urbanization 4.Minority rights 5.Improve democracy/government for people

MUCKRAKERS ■ Journalists who exposed “dirty” realities of party politics  “Raked the mud of society and never looked up” ■ Used magazines and books ■ Declined after 1910  Couldn’t top the last story  Increased pressure from banks to tone down politics  Corporations cleaned up

WELL KNOWN MUCKRAKERS ■ Ida Tarbell  The History of the Standard Oil Company ■ Lincoln Steffens  Tweed Days in St. Louis ■ Jacob Riis  How the Other Half Lives ■ Upton Sinclair  The Jungle

POLITICAL REFORM ■ Major goal was government reform  Push for primarily Democratic State ■ Believed in honest gov’t when given the chance ■ Reform in 3 areas:  Voter participation  Municipal reform  State reform

VOTER PARTICIPATION ■ Goal = increased voter participation  Secret ballot  Direct primaries  Direct election of senators  Initiative, referendum, and recall  Social welfare

MUNICIPAL REFORM ■ Target city bosses and corrupt alliances ■ Provide service to citizens ■ Controlled public utilities  Private  Public ■ Top down management  Elected heads of city depts.  Hired “expert managers”

STATE REFORM ■ Laws passed to regulate RR, mines, mills, and other big business ■ State reforms included  Limited business in gov’t  Graduated income tax o 16 th Amendment  Child labor laws  Limited working hours  Temperance and Prohibition

PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS ■ Progressive governors and mayors battled at the state and local levels ■ Three presidents broadened reform at the national level  Theodore Roosevelt  William Howard Taft  Woodrow Wilson

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901 – 1909) ■ “Square Deal” for labor ■ Trust Buster ■ Legislation:  Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902  Dept. of Commerce and Labor (1903)  Elkins Act (1903)  Hepburn Act (1906)  Pure Food & Drug Act (1906)  Meat Inspection Act (1906)  National Conservation Commission (1908)

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1909 – 1913) ■ Legislation  Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909)  Mann-Elkins Act (1910)  Department of Labor (1912)

RISE OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY ■ 3 rd party in favor of working class ■ Party’s leader/founder: Eugene Debs  Runs for president 5 times o Peaks in 1912 with 6% of vote ■ Shared commonalities with Progressives  Radical vs. mild reform

ELECTION OF 1912 ■ Campaign dominated by reform efforts ■ Candidates:  Taft (R)  Roosevelt (B-M)  Wilson (D)  Debs (S) ■ Results:  Wilson* (435)  Roosevelt (88)  Taft (8)  Debs (0)

WOODROW WILSON (1913 – 1921) ■ Commitment to “New Freedom” ■ Attacked “Triple Wall of Privilege”  Tariffs, Banking, Trusts ■ Legislation  Federal Reserve Act (1913)  Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1913)  16 th Amendment (1913)  17 th Amendment (1913)  Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)  Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)  Adamson Act (1916)  Keating-Owen Act (1916)  Workman’s Compensation Act (1916)  18 th Amendment (1919)  19 th Amendment (1920)

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA ■ Most Progressives focused solely on whites ■ Status declined since Reconstruction  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)  Jim Crow ■ Most Progressives did not fight for race relations because:  Shared prejudice of the time  Other reforms were deemed more important ■ Reform movements led by African Americans

WASHINGTON & DU BOIS ■ Economic progress vs. Civil rights ■ Booker T. Washington  Need for economic progress through education o Rest will follow ■ W.E.B. Du Bois  Political and social rights are prerequisite for economic independence

URBAN MIGRATION ■ In % of African Americans lived in the south ■ Ratio Shift ■ Motivation:  Poor race relations  Destruction of their cotton crops  Job opportunities in urban cities ■ Many still faced discrimination in northern states

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS ■ Niagara Movement ■ NAACP  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ■ National Urban League  “Not Alms But Opportunity”

CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN ■ “Rights” were granted to white males ■ Industrialization changed women’s roles in society  1 in 5 held jobs by 1900  Many require education ■ Bigger part of society = demand for broader rights

WOMEN LEAD REFORM ■ Women’s clubs gained popularity ■ Vassar College = 1 st female university ■ Seneca Falls Convention (1848)  NACW (1896) – National Association of Colored Women  NAWSA (1890) – National American Woman’s Suffrage Association ■ 3 part strategy for suffrage  Convince state legislature for the right to vote  Pursued court cases to test 14 th Amendment  Pushed for Constitutional Amendment

CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE ■ Most Progressives do not support suffrage movement ■ Militant suffragists  National Women’s Party ■ 19 th Amendment  Grants American women the right to vote ■ Other reforms:  Education equality, marriage and divorce laws, reduced discrimination in the workforce, women’s right to own property

Causes Growth of CitiesGrowth of Industry The Progressive Movement Party Primaries Split in Republican Party, 1912 Decline of machine politics Votes for women Laws protecting workers Settlement houses and social work Birth control for women Beginning of civil rights movement for African Americans Conservation of land and water Regulation of business Lower tariffs Reformed banking system Federal income tax POLITICALSOCIAL ECONOMIC Effects