Download - US History Progressive Movement
-
The Progressives Confront Industrial CapitalismThe American People, 6th ed.
-
I. Who were the Progressives?Progressives focused on the problems that industrial and urban growth were creating in the early 20th CenturyProgressivism was the first modern reform movement; encompassed such diverse fields as environmentalism and birth control
-
They included MuckrakersA new kind of journalist: They were interested revealing injustice and corruption in AmericaTargeted specific governments and businesses such as the meat-packing industry
-
Example: Upton Sinclairs The JungleTR couldnt eat meat for a week after reading Sinclairs book!
-
They included social reformersEstablished child-labor legislation Targeted length of workday for women, supported birth controlEndorsed better housing and education in overcrowded citiesCrusaded against saloons, brothels and movie houses
-
Reformers fought for womens suf-frage (The brown states were the last to give women the vote)
-
Some reformers fought for the prohibition of alcoholby 1919, only the salmon-colored states did not have statewide prohibition
-
II. Reform in the Cities and States
-
Problems in the citiesThe continued growth of the cities in America caused a wide range of social problems The inclusion of large populations of immigrants was the important difference between American and European cities
-
Municipal (city) ReformMunicipal reform was chiefly concerned with making the operation and administration of the city as efficient as possible through innovative adaptations of business management techniques to government
-
Reform in the StatesThe American federalist system of government gave reformers a chance to clean up state governments, as wellMost reform came in the form of laws increasing democracy, individual freedoms, social justice, and efficiency of government
-
State reforms included:Initiative: Allowed voters to introduce billsReferendum: Allowed voters to vote on proposed lawsRecall: Allowed voters to fire elected government officials
-
III. Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal
-
TrustsForemost on Roosevelts hit list was an attempt to control the actions of large industrial corporations that were constantly consolidating, growing bigger and more powerful
-
TR directed the Justice Department to prosecute some of the largest corporations in the country under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
-
Among the Square Deal laws youll learn about:Meat Inspection ActPure Food and Drug ActElkins and Hepburn Acts (regulation of railroads)
-
ConservationRoosevelt tripled the land set aside for national forests, bringing the total to more than 150 million acresWorked to increase public awareness of the limited amount of resources in America
-
National Parks created by TR
-
IV. Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
-
Wilsonian ReformRecommended reducing the national tariff to eliminate favoritism and restoring competition in industryA compromise bill to retool the banking system resulted in a modest income tax and the creation of the Federal Reserve System
-
Wilson and TrustsWilson submitted the Clayton Act to Congress in 1914 and endorsed the Federal trade Commission embedded with enough power to stop companies guilty of restricting competition
-
Summary:The Progressives were the founders of modern liberalism: They didnt oppose capitalism, but they did believe that business should be regulated for the good of the people and they believed in honest government responsive to American voters