Intro to Progressivism

American History9th GradeMr. Noll

What is Progressivism?• Progressivism:• Reform movements that sought to raise living

standards and correct wrongs in American society

How did it begin?

• Writers (Journalists) of the era exposed corruption

• Muckraker– writer who exposed corruption in

American society– They fueled public demand for

reformQ: How did these people who make

their money writing newspaper articles and books fueled public demand for reform?

What were the basic goals of the Progressive movement?

Progressive Movement

To Expand Democracy

To Create Economic Reform

To Promote Social Welfare

The Characters of Progressivism: Dead Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson

The Election of 1912 Progressive Women

Promoting Social Reform

• There were 4 groups of people who social reformers wanted to help:1. The poor2. The unemployed3. Immigrants4. Workers

Social Reform• Some reformers started community centers to

provide education and employment to the poor & immigrants

• Others wanted to help workers– minimum wage laws– limits on working hours– help to the unemployed

• Some reformers were also involved in the Prohibition movement.– They wanted to prevent the sale, manufacturing, and transportation of

alcohol– They were a big help to expanding the temperance movement that

had begun in the 1800’s

Expanding Democracy

• Progressives wanted to address Patronage:• Exchanging government jobs and contracts for

political support– Progressives believed people should get government jobs

based on their experience instead• Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883

– Forced candidates for some government jobs to pass an exam.

– The act also prevented officials from firing workers for Political reasons.

Democratic Reform• Progressives also wanted the voters to be able to get directly

involved in the government• Direct Primary:

– Primary in which voters, not party conventions, choose candidates to run for public office.

• Wisconsin became the first state to have a direct primary in 1903.

• In Oregon, progressives pushed for direct primaries and three other democratic reforms:– Initiative

• Voters may directly propose laws.

– Referendum• Voters can approve proposed laws.

– Recall• Elected officials can be voted out of office.

Creating Economic Reform

• Progressives wanted to limit big businesses power and regulate its’ activities

• They targeted trusts and were successful with the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

Economic Reform

• Trust:– legal body created to hold stock in many

companies in the same industry• How companies in a trust work together.

– The businesses in a trust worked together to cut prices and squeeze out competitors.

– Then the trust would raise prices and make larger profits.

Economic Reform• Sherman Antitrust Act-1890:

– Law that made it illegal for corporations to gain control of industries by forming trusts.

– The government did not enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 at first.

– Enforcement required a strong president.

Theodore Roosevelt• President who led progressive reforms.• Served as president in 1901, 6 months after

President William McKinley took office.• Youngest president- started at age 42

– FYI: Orphaned niece's name was Eleanor Roosevelt, who actually married Teddy’s 5th cousin, Franklin.

What President Teddy Roosevelt did before he became president:

• Led “the Rough Riders” a group of volunteers who took Cuba’s San Juan Hill in the Spanish American War.

• Became governor of New York in 1898• Became vice-president during William

McKinley’s 2nd presidential term in 1900.

Roosevelt’s position on big business:

• Government should ensure fairness for all workers, consumers, and businesses, give Americans a “Square deal”

• Used the power of the presidency to – strengthen business regulation, – support labor unions.

The accomplishments of Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”.

• Sherman Antitrust Act• Meat Inspection Act• Pure Food and Drug Act• Conservation: Preserving lands for public use

(national parks) and creating the U.S. Forest Service

How Roosevelt became concerned about protecting consumers:

• Read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, a novel exposes the unsanitary conditions in which the meat-packers worked, and the inedible products that were sometimes sold to consumers.

• 1906: passed the Meat Inspection Act• Pure Food and Drug Act

– Banned the sale of impure foods and medicines– Precursor to Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Roosevelt: Crusader on Conservation

• Conservation– Controlling resource usage– Created U.S. Forest Service– TR preserved 194 million acres of public lands,

including the Grand Canyon, and Pelican Island, FL (1st wildlife refuge)

TR’s Civil Rights dilemma

• Moral Dilemma:– If Roosevelt promoted civil rights, he offended

many Americans. – If he did not, he wasn’t true to his beliefs.

• Action taken:– Invited Booker T. Washington (Who is this?) to

dinner at the White House in 1901.

Election of 1908

• Candidates :– Eugene V. Debs –Socialist Party– William Howard Taft—Republican– William Jennings Bryan—Democrat

• Popular Roosevelt “hand-picked” Taft to be his successor in progressive reform.

• The other candidates didn’t stand a chance against Taft.

President William Howard Taft ‘08-’12

• Taft’s major progressive achievements which were constitutional amendments:– 16th Amendment

• Amendment that gave Congress the power to create income taxes.

– 17th Amendment• Amendment that provided for direct election of U.S.

Senators

• Taft as Trust Buster: – Twice as many trusts busted as Teddy

Election of 1912• Bull Moose Party • Created by Teddy Roosevelt

due to support by progressive Republican leaders who split from President Taft

• Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1912:– With Republicans greatly

divided between Taft’s leadership and the Bull Moose party under Roosevelt, Wilson won the election.

– Eugene V. Debs didn’t affect the election.

President Wilson’s Progressive Reform• The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.

– Legislation that strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act’s power.

– Clayton Antitrust Act 1914 prohibited monopolies and business practices that lessened competition, as well as allowing labor unions to expand and legalized strikes.

Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

– Law that created the modern banking system.• Why the Federal Reserve bank was created.

– The Federal Reserve Act created a more flexible currency system by allowing fed reserve banks to control the money supply through the raising and lowering of interest rates

– the raising and lowering of interest rates affected how much member banks could borrow, affecting how much banks could lend to people and businesses.

President Wilson and Civil Rights

• Segregation.– The practice of keeping whites and African Americans

apart.• Reasons for Wilson’s failure in civil rights.

– Wilson was from the South. Although Candidate Wilson spoke of his “willingness and desire to deal with (African Americans) fairly and justly, he personally believed in segregation.

– White Southerners gained the most federal support from Wilson’s presidency than they had since the Civil War.

Progressivism: comparing Wilson Vs Roosevelt

• Both strengthened regulation of trusts.– Roosevelt was more progressive than

Wilson on Civil Rights.– Wilson :

• Congress created the modern banking system.

• Clayton Antitrust Act 1914 prohibited monopolies and business practices that lessened competition, as well as allowing labor unions to expand and legalized strikes.

3.3 Women Win New Rights• Women’s lives changed in the late 1800’s

– Families were getting smaller as women were having fewer children.

– New industries and technology made it possible for homemakers to wash clothes, clean, and cook in less time and with less effort than before.

– New opportunities for women who took jobs outside of the home included telephone operators, store clerks and typists.

– College educated women could enter fields such as teaching and nursing.

Reformer: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Author: – Concerning Children (‘00)– The Home (‘03)

• Proposal that families live in large apartments with centralized nurseries and staff to cook, clean, and offer child care.– These supports would free women to work

outside the home.– Q: Would this idea be relevant in today’s modern

society? Why or why not?

Women Reformers

• Describe what some reformers like Jane Addams did to help communities– Started Settlement Houses:

• Community center providing help to immigrants and the poor

Reformer: Jane Addams

• The Hull House in Chicago was inspired by a visit to a settlement house in a London, England slum

• How Jane Addams got the money to open the Hull House:– With donations by wealthy Chicagoans.

– Programs at the Hull house were run by the young residents and volunteers, who received no salary and had to pay their room and board.

Services the Hull House offered immigrants and poor:

• Provided educational and employment services• Information bureau to new immigrants• Kindergarten, nursery, and after school

daycare services• Health clinics• Citizen classes

• The Hull House also pressured politicians to improve neighborhood conditions and services

Reformer: Susan B. Anthony

• Susan B Anthony believed the 14th Amendment applied to women.– In 1872, Anthony voted in the presidential election,

was arrested, tried, and found guilty.• Her punishment was a large fine, which she

refused to pay.• Fought for women’s rights for 45 years• Died 14 years before women got the right to

vote.

Reformer: Carry A Nation

• Fought for prohibition.• Prohibition.

– Legal ban on the production, possession, and sale of alcohol.

• 18th Amendment – Passed 1919: ban on the

production, possession and sale of alcohol.

Suffrage• Right to vote• 19th amendment• Order of events that led to Women’s suffrage:

– By 1896, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Colorado allow women to vote

– Between 1919 and 1914 seven more Western states approve full woman suffrage

– Women support war effort during World War I– House passes 19th amendment in 1918– Senate approves 19th amendment in 1919– States ratify it in 1920

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

• Enrollment shoot up to over 2 million in 1917.– During WWI, women left the homes to work to

take the jobs vacated by soldiers, as well as becoming nurses.

• Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the NAWSA supported president Wilson and volunteered NAWSA’s services to the government to help the war effort.

A new political party: Socialist

• Socialism– A system in which the state controls the economy

• Eugene V. Debs, – He was the Socialist candidate for president five

times (1900, ’04,’08, ’12, and ’20).– Labor leader who became a socialist while serving

a prison sentence for a role in an 1894 labor strike