1. CHAPTER 9 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
AMERICA SEEKS REFORMS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

2. ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM
As America entered into the 20th century, middle class reformers addressed many social problems
Work conditions, rights for women and children, economic reform, environmental issues and social welfare were a few of these issues

3. What is the connection between the Social Gospel movement and progressives?

4. FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS
1) Protect Social Welfare
2) Promote Moral Improvement
3) Create Economic Reform
4) Foster Efficiency

5. 1.PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE
Industrialization in the late 19th century was largely unregulated
Employers felt little responsibility toward their workers
As a result Settlement homes and churches served the community
Also the YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles

6. Florence Kelley
Illinois Factory Act (1893) prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours.

8. 2. PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Some reformers felt that the answer to societies problems was personal behavior
They proposed such reforms as prohibition
Groups wishing to ban alcohol included the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

9. Carry Nation
The Anti-Saloon League (1895)

10. 3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM
The Panic of 1893 prompted some Americans to question the capitalist economic system
As a result some workers embraced socialism
Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901
Debs encouraged workers to reject American Capitalism

11. MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG BUSINESS
Though most progressives did not embrace socialism, many writers saw the truth in Debs’ criticism
Journalists known as “Muckrakers” exposed corruption in business
Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition
Ida Tarbell
Some view Michael Moore as a modern muckraker

14. Lincoln Steffens
“The Shame of Cities”
“The Struggle of Self-Government”

15. 4. FOSTERING EFFICIENCY
Many Progressive leaders put their faith in scientific principles to make society better
In Industry, Frederick Taylor began using time & motion studies to improve factory efficiency (Scientific Management)
Taylorism became an Industry fad as factories sought to complete each task quickly

16. CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Efforts at reforming local government stemmed from the desire to make government more efficient and responsive to citizens
Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants influence in local governments

17. CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Examples
Commission System (Galveston, Texas hurricane in 1900)
Council-Manager System (flood in Dayton, Ohio 1917)
Reform Mayors
-Hazen Pengree, Detroit

18. REGULATING BIG BUSINESS
Under the progressive Republican leadership of Robert La Follette, Wisconsin led the way in regulating big business
Robert La Follette

19. Robert La Follette tax the railroads
establish a transportation commission to regulate the railroads
reform the state civil service
create direct primaries for party candidates

20. PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN
As the number of child workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor
Children were more prone to accidents caused by fatigue
Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918

21. Florence Kelley: Illinois Factory Act
National Child Labor Committee investigated cases
The Keating Owen Act (1916) prohibited transportation of goods produced by children across state lines.

22. Important Court Cases Lochner v. New York Muller v. Oregon
Bunting v. Oregon

23. Lochner v. New York (1905) Background
A New York law limited the number of hours bakery employees could work. Lochner was convicted and fined for permitting an employee to work more than the lawful number of hours in one week.
Constitutional Issue
Does the law limiting the number of hours the employees were allowed to work interfere with the bakery owner’s right to make employer/employee contracts?

24. Lochner v. New York
Decision
The Supreme Court ruled that even though states have the power to regulate areas of health, safety, morals, and public welfare, the New York law in question was not within the limits of these “police powers” of the State.
Importance
During the time that Progressive reformers were working to improve the conditions and terms of employment for Americans, the Court struck down a number of state laws that interfered with an individual’s economic and property rights.
(This decision was later overturned by the Court.)

25. Lochner v. New York (1905) Topic: New York law to limit workers hours
Was decision a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE for Progressive reform?
NEGATIVE – state can’t interfere with the workers’ right to negotiate contract

26. Muller v. Oregon (1908) Background
An Oregon law prohibited women from working in factories or laundries more than 10 hours a day. Mr. Muller was convicted for making a female employee work more than the 10 hour limit.
Constitutional Issue
Does the state of Oregon’s law regulating women’s work hours violate the “privileges and immunities” clause of the 14th amendment by forbidding the employment of women for more than ten hours a day in laundries and factories?

27. Muller v. Oregon Decision Importance
The Court upheld the Oregon law that barred women from certain factory and laundry work. The Court took into account the physical differences between men and women, based on the brief submitted by Louis D. Brandeis stating that “women’s physical structure and the function she performs…justify special legislation restricting the conditions under which she should be permitted to toil.”
Importance
So-called “protective legislation” regulated the hours, locations, and type of work that women could do. This protective legislation also prevented women from entering certain occupations, many of the occupations that paid higher salaries.
(The use of the “Brandeis Brief”, introducing sociological and economic data, statistics, historical records and expert opinions in addition to the legal arguments revolutionized courtroom presentations. Louis Brandeis who was known as the “people’s attorney” was later appointed to the Supreme Court by Wilson.)

28. Muller v. Oregon (1908)
Topic: Protective legislation limiting the hours women could work
Was decision a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE for Progressive reform?
POSITIVE – improved working conditions for women; use of Brandeis brief
Later became a NEGATIVE when it was used to discriminate against women in the workplace

29. Hammer v. Dagenhart (1916)
Unable to regulate hours and working conditions for child labor within individual states, Congress sought to regulate child labor by banning the product of that labor from interstate commerce.
The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 prohibited interstate commerce of any merchandise that had been made by children under the age of fourteen, or merchandise that had been made in factories where children between the ages of 14 and 16 worked for more than eight hours a day, worked overnight, or worked more than six days a week.
Decision: Ruled in favor of Dagenhart by finding that Congress had no authority under the Commerce Clause to restrict manufacturing activities involving children.
(Justices Brandies and O. W. Holmes, dissenting)
Hammer v. Dagenhart was overruled in 1941 in the case of United States v. Darby Lumber Co.

30. EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS
The Supreme Court and the states enacted or strengthened laws reducing women’s hours of work
Progressives also succeeded in winning worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers

31. ELECTION REFORM
Citizens fought for, and won, such measures as secret ballots, referendum votes, and the recall
Citizens could petition and get initiatives on the ballot
In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system

32. DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS
Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen its own U.S. senators
To force senators to be more responsive to the public, progressives pushed for the popular election of senators
As a result, Congress passed the th Amendment (1913)

34. SECTION 2: WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE
Before the Civil War, American women were expected to devote their time to home and family
By the late 19th and early 20th century, women were visible in the workforce

35. DOMESTIC WORKERS
Before the turn-of-the-century women without formal education contributed to the economic welfare of their families by doing domestic work
Altogether, 70% of women employed in 1870 were servants

36. WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE
Opportunities for women increased especially in the cities
By 1900, one out of five women worked
The garment trade was popular as was office work, department stores and classrooms

37. Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel
WOMEN LEAD REFORM
Many of the leading progressive reformers were women
Middle and upper class women also entered the public sphere as reformers
Many of these women had graduated from new women’s colleges
Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

38. WOMEN AND REFORM
Women reformers strove to improve conditions at work and home
In 1896, black women formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)
Suffrage was another important issue for women

39. THREE-PART STRATEGY FOR WINNING SUFFRAGE
Suffragists tried three approaches to winning the vote
1) Convince state legislatures to adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado)
2) Pursue court cases to test 14th Amendment
3) Push for national constitutional Amendment

42. SECTION 3: TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S SQUARE DEAL
When President William McKinley was assassinated 6 months into his second term, Theodore Roosevelt became the nations 26th president
McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901

43. ROOSEVELT AND THE ROUGH RIDERS
Roosevelt grabbed national attention by advocating war with Spain in 1898
His volunteer cavalry brigade, the Rough Riders, won public acclaim for its role in the battle at San Juan Hill in Cuba
Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of NY and later McKinley’s vice-president

44. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

45. THE MODERN PRESIDENT
When Roosevelt was thrust into the presidency in 1901, he became the youngest president ever at age 42
He quickly established himself as a modern president who could influence the media and shape legislation

46. TRUSTBUSTING
By 1900, Trusts – legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies – controlled 80% of U.S. industries
Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act

47. 1902 COAL STRIKE
In ,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike for increased wages, a 9-hour work day, and the right to unionize
Mine owners refused to bargain
Roosevelt called in both sides and settled the dispute
Thereafter, when a strike threatened public welfare, the federal government was expected to step in and help

48. “THE JUNGLE” LEADS TO FOOD REGULATION
After reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Roosevelt pushed for passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906
The Act mandated cleaner conditions for meatpacking plants

49. PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT
In response to unregulated claims and unhealthy products, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906
The Act halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling
The Pure Food and Drug Act took medicines with cocaine and other harmful ingredients off the market

50. ROOSEVELT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources
Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern of his administration
Roosevelt, left, was an avid outdoorsman – here he is with author John Muir at Yosemite Park

51. ROOSEVELT’S ENVIROMENTAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves
He also set aside 1.5 million acres of water-power sites and he established 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several national parks
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

53. ROOSEVELT AND CIVIL RIGHTS
Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans
He did, however, support a few individuals such as Booker T. Washington

54. NAACP FORMED TO PROMOTE RIGHTS
In 1909 a number of African Americans and prominent white reformers formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914
The goal of the organization was full equality among the races
The means to achieve this was the court system
1964 Application

55. SECTION 4: PROGRESSIVISM UNDER PRESIDENT TAFT
Republican William Howard Taft easily defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan to win the 1908 presidential election
Among his accomplishments, Taft “busted” 90 trusts during his 4 years in office
Taft, right, was Roosevelt’s War Secretary

56. Taft called the Presidency, “The lonesomest job in the world”
TAFT LOSES POWER
Taft was not popular with the American public nor reform minded Republicans
By 1910, Democrats had regained control of the House of Representatives
Taft called the Presidency, “The lonesomest job in the world”

57. 1912 ELECTION
Republicans split in 1912 between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt (who returned after a long trip to Africa)
Convention delegates nominated Taft
Some Republicans formed a third party – The Bull Moose Party and nominated Roosevelt
The Democrats put forward a reform - minded New Jersey Governor, Woodrow Wilson
Republicans split in 1912

59. WILSON’S NEW FREEDOM
As America’s newly elected president, Wilson moved to enact his program, the “New Freedom”
He planned his attack on what he called the triple wall of privilege: trusts, tariffs, and high finance
W. Wilson U.S. President

60. CLAYTON ANTITRUST ACT
In 1914 Congress enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act which strengthened the Sherman Act
The Clayton Act prevented companies from acquiring stock from another company (Anti-monopoly)
The Act also supported workers unions

61. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FORMED
The FTC was formed in 1914 to serve as a “watchdog” agency to end unfair business practices
The FTC protects consumers from business fraud
Today the FTC has been working on protecting consumers from ID theft

62. FEDERAL INCOME TAX ARRIVES
Wilson worked hard to lower tariffs, however that lost revenue had to be made up
Ratified in 1916, the 16th Amendment legalized a graduated federal income tax

63. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920
WOMEN WIN SUFFRAGE
Native-born, educated, middle-class women grew more and more impatient
Through local, state and national organization, vigorous protests and World War I, women finally realized their dream in 1920
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920

64. LIMITS OF PROGRESSIVISM
While the Progressive era was responsible for many important reforms, it failed to make gains for African Americans
Like Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson retreated on Civil Rights once in office
The KKK reached a membership of 4.5 million in the 1920s

65. 13 Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude
14 Defines citizenship, contains the privileges or immunities clause, the due process clause, and equal protection clause.
15 Prohibits the denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude
16 Allows the federal government to collect income tax
17 Establishes the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote
18 Establishes Prohibition of alcohol (Repealed by Twenty-first Amendment)
19 Establishes women's suffrage