1. Chapter 3 The Progressive Era 1890 - 1920 1890190119031912 19141919 1920 Congress President William Wisconsin Woodrow Wilson Congress Passes18 th Amendment 19 th Amendment Passes Sherman McKinley Assassinated, becomes firstelected President Clayton Anti-outlaws alcohol gives women the Anti-Trust ActTheodore Roosevelt state to have Trust Act right to vote becomes youngest direct primary President ever.

2. Section 1: Teddy Roosevelt and Progressivism

3. The Story of Nellie Bly Nellie Bly was a reporter who sought to discover corruption and greed in American society. In 1887, she faked having a mental illness so she could be admitted into a women’s asylum in New York. She hoped to uncover the horrible way female inmates were treated by the workers. Below she describes how she was forced to take an ice bath. “My teeth chattered and my limbs were goose-fleshed and blue with cold. Suddenly, I got, one after the other, three buckets of water over my head – ice cold, too, into my eyes, my ears, my nose, and my mouth.”

4. Nellie Bly described in detail how the nurses choked and beat patients. Shortly after her stories appeared, conditions at the asylum improved.

5. By the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century, America faced many problems as a result of the rapid growth of cities and industry. Nellie Bly was not the only one who wanted to correct the wrongs of America. To attack these problems, some Americans formed political and social reform movements that came to grouped under the label progressivism. Progressive reformers shared at least on of three basic goals: to promote social welfare; to expand democracy; and to create economic reform.

6. The progressive movement was helped by a new group of journalists who emerged around 1900. These journalists were called muckrakers because they tried to discover muck, or corruption, in society. The muckrakers fueled public demand for reform.

7. Social reformers wanted to help the poor, the unemployed, immigrants and workers. They promoted minimum wage laws, limits on working hours and help for the unemployed.

8. Politics of the time was run by a system called Patronage. Patronage is the practice of handing out government jobs to the people who supported you in the election. Progressives wanted qualified workers to get government jobs based on their merits. The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 forced candidates for some government jobs to pass an exam.

9. Many Progressives felt that there was a disconnect between the government and the common people. Progressives thought officials would be more responsive to voters’ interests if the voters were more directly involved in the government. In 1903, Wisconsin became the first state to have a direct primary, in which the voters could choose the candidates for public office.

10. In Oregon, progressives hoping to get the attention of politicians on Washington D.C. pushed for direct primaries and three other reforms: Initiative, Recall and Referendum. The will of the people!!!

11. Progressive reformers wanted to limit the power of big business and regulate its activities. By the late 1800s, business leaders in some major industries had formed trusts. The businesses in a trust worked together to cut prices and squeeze out competition. Then the trusts would raise prices and make a huge profit.

12. In 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Anti- Trust Act which made it illegal for corporations to gain control over an entire industry by forming trusts. However, the government did not enforce the law at first. Enforcement of the Sherman Anti- Trust Act required a President who was strong enough and willing enough to do it.

13. History Makers: Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most popular, controversial and important presidents of the United States. Many people were afraid of the federal government gaining too much power. Not Roosevelt, who used the power of the presidency to strengthen business regulation, support labor unions, promote social welfare and conserve natural resources and wilderness. He also made the US a major force in international affairs in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Far East.

14. By the time Teddy Roosevelt became President in 1901, he had already been a war hero, police commissioner, cowboy, The Governor of New York, big game hunter, colligate boxing champion, newspaper editor and The Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

15. Roosevelt entered politics at the age of 23 and quickly became known for fighting against corrupt political machines in New York, like Tammany Hall. Roosevelt felt that it should be the purpose of government to ensure fairness, or a “square deal,” for workers, consumers and big and small business. Roosevelt became so popular that he was asked to run for Vice- President.

17. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest person ever to be President of the United States when his predecessor, William McKinley, was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz. Roosevelt’s rise to the Presidency was a rise that was in many ways unexpected and for some stalwart Republicans unwanted.

18. Many of the older stalwart members of the Republican Party were not fans of Theodore Roosevelt because they believed that his progressive policies were too radical. Roosevelt was put on the 1900 ballot as Vice President to William McKinley to make the younger progressive side of the Republican Party happy. Some believe that the move was actually an attempt by the stalwarts to stop Roosevelt from ever becoming the President of the United States.

19. Roosevelt thought that the absolute control of industries by the trusts, allowed them to take too much of the wealth of America for themselves, while making those that worked for them suffer by not paying them a decent wage.

20. As President, Roosevelt began his reforms against “crookedness” by bringing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act back from the dead. Roosevelt was not against big business. However, he thought that industries should be regulated for the public good and he opposed any trust that he thought worked against the national interest.

21. At the end of 1901, the nation’s railroads were run by only a few companies. The power of the railroads continued to grow. It was not surprising, therefore, that one of Roosevelt’s first targets was the railroads. He used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to dissolve the railroad trust.

22. Roosevelt also broke up the Standard Oil Trust and the Tobacco Trust. During Roosevelt’s presidency the government filed suit against 44 corporations for antitrust violations.

23. Roosevelt didn’t go after every trust in America. Those trusts that lowered their work hours, raised their weekly pay and improved the safety of their working conditions, were usually left alone by Roosevelt. Those that refused to do what Roosevelt asked were attacked by the President.

24. Roosevelt became concerned about the meat-packing industry after reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Sinclair went undercover originally to expose the poor sanitary conditions in which meat-packers worked, but he ended up finding out much, much more. The novel describes a packing plant in which dead rats end up in the sausage.

25. Sinclair originally wanted to expose the poor sanitary conditions in which the meat-packers worked. Roosevelt launched an investigation of the meat- packing industry. In 1906, he signed the Meat Inspection Act. This act created a government meat inspection program. Roosevelt also signed the Pure Food and Drug Act. This law banned the sale of impure foods and medicines.

26. Roosevelt was a strong crusader for conservation – controlling how America’s natural resources were used. Roosevelt preserved 194 million acres of public lands, including the Grand Canyon in Arizona, California’s Muir Woods and the country’s first wildlife refuge at Pelican Island, Florida. He also created the U.S. Forest Service.

27. Roosevelt tried to win a square deal for all Americans. Roosevelt believed that given the same opportunities as white Americans, African Americans would achieve equality. During his first term he appointed African Americans to Southern political offices and denounced lynching. On October 16, 1901, Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute, to stay for dinner after a meeting at the White House. No president had ever done this before.

28. While African Americans saw the dinner as a great step towards racial equality, it angered many Southerners. Many Northern newspapers supported the dinner, while all Southern newspapers called it an outrage. Roosevelt told Washington that he did not care what his critics said, but privately he worried that the dinner hurt his chances for re-election. He never asked another African American to dinner at the White House again.