1. Progressivism Goes National

2. A Twist of Fate
When President William McKinley was assassinated 6 months into his second term, Theodore Roosevelt became the nations 26th president (and youngest at 42)
Republicans feared his progressive nature
McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901

3. “A Square Deal for all”
“There must be ever present in our minds the fundamental truth that in a republic such as ours the only safety is to stand neither for nor against any man because he is rich or because he is poor, because he is engaged in one occupation or another, because he works with his brains or because he works with his hands. We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.”

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

5. Progressivism first gained strength at the city and state level
Urban issues become center of reform
City is perceived as a social menace full of disorder
Overcrowded, pollution, illness, poor sanitation
Immigrants settle in core of city while the rich move out to the suburbs
Jane Addams becomes Garbage Commissioner in Chicago. Why, because the government is waiting for the competitors to offer the best bribe in order to get the contract. In the meantime, Addams steps in to solve to problem. And battling the boss system. through strengthening the government and making it more efficient

7. Tenement Housing Jacob Riis, a photographer
Documented life of the lower class in the cities in his book How the Other Half Lives

8. Don’t stop & restrict immigration …
Employers felt little responsibility toward their workers, especially immigrants
As a result Settlement homes, like Jane Addams’ Hull House, and churches served the community. Provided safe places for youth to play.
Also the YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles
Finding a Better way, don’t stop and restrict immigration, instead finda better way to assimilate immigrates into our society.
Instead find a better way to assimilate immigrants into our society.

9. Saloons (PUBS!) became seen as a vice instead of a social place
They proposed such reforms as prohibition
Groups wishing to ban alcohol included the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Saloons (PUBS!) became seen as a vice instead of a social place

10. Local Government and Problems in the City
Early public welfare system - If you lose your job and place to live, you go to the Boss for help – in return you vote for whomever the Boss tells you to vote
Widespread fraud and inefficiency
Someone can rise from humble origins to powerful positions, but often through graft and bribery
Cities are not organized well to handle the new issues facing the modern cities
Early solution was the Boss system (Boss Tweed, Plunkett, etc.) that had begun in establishing political machines in response to the earlier influx of immigration of the 1840s

11. Government and Election Reform
Citizens fought for, and won, such measures as secret ballots, referendum votes (legislative acts could be approved by people), and the recall (removal of a public official, often deemed corrupt,from office by a vote of the people )
Citizens could petition and get initiatives on the ballot
Makes government power more responsive to the people
Direct Tax on Corporations and Railroad Regulations

12. PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN
Children were more prone to accidents caused by fatigue
Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918
Keating-Owens Child Labor Act

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

14. 3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM Fear of the Power of Monopolies 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 –This act forced trust to split up to give more options to consumers.
Believed there were good trusts and bad trusts. Monopolies destroy the actions of competition, which hurts consumers. Its not bad as long as the monopoly does not abuse its position. Big corporations are an inevitable outcome of competition (add Northern Securities case). Victory in the trustbusting made TR extremely popular with the masses.

15. “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
TR was disgusted upon reading about the sausage packing. Written to make a case for Socialism, but known more for its description of the meatpacking industry.

16. 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

17. ROOSEVELT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources
As the industrial revolution used and abused natural resources Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern of his administration
Appointed Gifford Pinchot to watch over the natural reserves of our nation.
Roosevelt, left, was an avid outdoorsman – here he is with author John Muir at Yosemite Park

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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