The Big Picture: As the 1900s dawned, activists called Progressives fought to make America’s economic and political systems fairer. Some fought for women’s suffrage. Other’s attacked a wide range of societal ills.

CHAPTER 16 – THE PROGRESSIVES

Main idea: Progressives focused on three areas of reform: easing the suffering of the urban poor, improving unfair and dangerous working conditions, and reforming government at the national, state, and local levels.

CHAPTER 16 SECTION 1: PROGRESSIVISM

What Was Progressivism?• Progressivism was a reform movement that arose in the late 1800s to address many of the social problems that industrialization created.• Questioned the power and practice of big business and called

for the government to be more helpful to the public’s needs.•Writers, called muckrakers, were the first to expose the issues the progressives addressed.• Ida Tarbell exposed the abusive practices of the Standard Oil

company.

Reforming Society• Issues that progressives addressed:• Housing: Tenement Act of 1901 forced landlords to install

lighting in public hallways and provide one toilet per two families.• Racism: Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Jane Addams and a

few others formed the NAACP to fight for the rights of African Americans.• Anti-Semitism: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was started by

Sigmund Livingston to fight anti-Semitism or hostility toward Jews.

Reforming the Workplace• While male workers were being

taken care of by labor unions, the progressives worked on women and children workers.• Muller v. Oregon: Court upheld

a state law establishing a 10-hr workday for women in laundries and factories.• Long hours harmed the health

of women.• Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

occurred in 1911. The fire killed approximately 140 people.• Many other workplaces in cities

had similar conditions, required new fire safety rules.

Reforming the Workplace• New Labor Unions emerge to fight for better working conditions.• International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was

founded in 1900, allowed unskilled laborers to join.• Strike called “Uprising of the 20,000” won a shorter workweek and

higher wages.• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) founded in 1905

opposed capitalism, organized unskilled workers. Used radical tactics such as industrial sabotage.• Government shut it down due to their revolutionary goals.

Reforming Government• New models of government

helped to prevent corruption in different US cities.• Reorganized local governments

that helped prevent corrupt mayors and leading officials.

• State level reforms addressed political campaigns and corruption of transportation, civil service, and taxation.

• At the federal level progressives wanted to make elections fairer and politicians more accountable to voters.

• 17th Amendment: Gave voters, rather than state legislatures, the power to directly elect their US Senators.• Also introduced three

powerful tools:• Initiative: allows citizens to

propose new laws.• Referendum: allows citizens to

vote on new or existing laws.• Recall: allows votes to remove

an elected official from office.

Main idea: Women during the Progressive Era actively campaigned for reforms in education, children’s welfare, temperance, and suffrage.

CHAPTER 16 SECTION 2: WOMEN AND PUBLIC LIFE

Gaining Political Experience• Prohibition: Progressive era movement that called for the ban on making, selling, and distributing alcoholic beverages.• Believed that alcohol was the reason for crime, poverty, and

violence against women and children.•Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League led the crusade against alcohol.• Believed it was the Christian thing to do.• 18th Amendment banned the sale, manufacture, and distribution

of alcohol.• African American women formed their own reform organizations, not welcome in other organizations due to racism.• National Association of Colored Women (NACW) campaigned

against poverty, segregation, and lynching.

Opportunities for Women• There were more opportunities for women to attend college, however, this opportunity was only available for middle or upper class women.• There were still few professional job opportunities for women

during this time, instead women put their skills to use in reform movements.

• There were more job opportunities for middle class women as teachers, nurses, or secretaries. • More jobs available for lower class women in industry, still paid less than males.•Women began to see their role in society outside of the home.

Rise of the Women’s Suffrage Movement• Women abolitionists believed they

should have been included in the 15 th Amendment.• Susan B. Anthony formed the

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to encourage a constitutional amendment for women’s right to vote.• Made pamphlets and made speeches

before Congress.• 1875 Supreme Court rules that even

though women are citizens, citizenship does not give them the right to vote.

• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) formed in 1890 under Elizabeth Cady Stanton, many of the original suffragette’s were not still alive when women gained the right to vote.

Main idea: Theodore Roosevelt used the power of the presidency to push for progressive reforms in business and environmental policy.

CHAPTER 16 SECTION 3: THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S SQUARE DEAL

Roosevelt’s View of the Presidency• Roosevelt saw the White House as a Bully Pulpit or a powerful

platform to publicize important issues and seek support for policies.• Coal Strike of 1902 in Pennsylvania was the first opportunity

Roosevelt had to advance his agenda.• Urged coal miners and mine owners to arbitration, or a third party to settle

the dispute.• Mine owners refused, Roosevelt threatened to take over the mine, they

finally accepted.• Arbitrators gave the workers a shorter workday and higher pay but did not

force mine owners to recognize the miners union.• Roosevelt called this a “Square Deal.”• Square Deal became his presidential platform when he ran for

reelection in 1904.• Wanted to see every American get a “square deal, because he is entitled to

no more and should receive no less.”• Wanted to limit the power of trusts, promote public health, and improve

working conditions.

Regulating Big Business• Roosevelt’s first objective was to go after big business, called it Trust Busting.• Had the US Attorney General sue the Northern Securities Company for

violating the Sherman Antitrust Act – Supreme court ruled that the monopoly DID violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and that the corporation must be dissolved.• After first successful lawsuit the administration began filing dozens of

lawsuits against monopolies and trusts that were against public interest.

• Roosevelt also focused on regulating the railroad that often made farmers and small businesses pay more than larger corporations.• Elkins Act prohibited the railroads from accepting rebates, ensured all

customers paid the same rates for shipping.• Hepburn Act strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission

(ICC), giving it the power to set maximum railroad rates.

Protecting Consumers• Food producers were adding

unhealthy additives to their products to cover up spoiled foods.• Drug companies also added

chemicals or sold products that did not work.• Upton Sinclair published The

Jungle in 1906 that exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry.• Criticism of their unsanitary practices

emerged.• Meat Inspection Act required

federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines.

• Pure Food and Drug Act forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients.

“There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roods would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it… A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats… The packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then the rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together.”

Environmental Conservation• Americans in the late 1800s acted as if the United States had an unending supply of natural resources.• Roosevelt believed that conservation involved the active management of public lands, some lands should be preserved for wilderness and some lands should be used for economical use.• Newlands Reclamation Act allowed the federal government to create irrigation projects to make dry lands productive.• Gifford Pinchot came up with the word conservation to describe the need to protect the country’s natural environment.• US Forest Service was also established, added 150 million acres to

the National Forest, controlled their use, and regulated their harvest.

Main Idea: Progressive reforms continued during the Taft and Wilson presidencies, focusing on business, banking, and women’s suffrage.

CHAPTER 16 SECTION 4: TAFT AND WILSON

Progressivism under Taft• Taft worked to secure Roosevelt’s

progressive reforms rather than make his own.• 16th Amendment granted congress

the power to levy taxes based upon an individual’s income.• Way to pay for government

programs more fairly.• Taft lost the support of many

progressives while in office:• Payne-Aldrich tariff increased taxes

on businesses, progressives saw low tariff’s as the way to lower prices of consumer goods.

• Taft’s secretary was accused of impeding a federal fraud investigation of public coal land deals. Pinchot charged him with sabotage, Taft had Pinchot fired.• Lost support of Roosevelt.

• Roosevelt campaigned for Progressive Republicans who opposed Taft.• Proposed a new program

called New Nationalism a set of laws that would protect workers, ensure public health, and regulate business.• Republican party badly

fractured between supporting Taft and Roosevelt.

• Roosevelt creates his own party called the Bull Moose party• Democrats supported Woodrow Wilson who became the next president.

Wilson’s New Freedom• Wilson’s reform plan was called New Freedom and it called for tariff

reductions, banking reform, and stronger anti-trust legislation.• Congress passed the Underwood Tariff Act in 1913 reducing tariffs to their

lowest levels in 50 years, also introduced the graduated income tax: rich people would pay more, poor people would pay less.• Federal Reserve Act: created a central fund from which banks could

borrow to prevent collapse during a financial panic.• Created a three tier banking system: federal reserve board, 12 federal reserve

banks, private banks.• Put the national banking system under the supervision of the federal government.• Clayton Antitrust Act: Clarified and extended the Sherman Antitrust Act,

prohibited companies from buying the stock of competing companies in order to form a monopoly. • Supported workers by making strikes, boycotts, and peaceful pickets legal.• Wilson also created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that enforced

antitrust laws and got tough on companies that used deceptive advertising.

Women Gain the Vote• By 1901 four western states had given women the right to vote. Some women felt the NAWSA was not doing enough to secure women’s suffrage.• Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage, later renamed National Women’s Party, focused on the passage of a constitutional amendment allowing women the right to vote.• Picketed the White House and chained themselves to the

railing.• NAWSA renewed efforts for the right to vote as well.• 19th Amendment was passed in 1920 that gave women full voting rights.

“Bad Romance”

Progressivism and the Rights of African Americans• Roosevelt was the first American president to entertain an African American at the White House. He invited Booker T. Washington.• Brownsville incident: 12 members of the African American 25th infantry were accused of going on a shooting spree in town, if no one accepted responsibility they would all be discharged.• Roosevelt signed the order discharging the 12 African

American soldiers.• Later came out that the soldiers had been falsely accused.•Wilson allowed matters of racism such as lynching to be dealt with on a state level.•World War I brought the Progressive Era to an end.