Mr. Ermer

U.S. History

Miami Beach Senior High

Progressivism

Saw problems in industrial society, wanted to fix themProblem #1: Laissez-Faire Economics

Progressives came from both political partiesMiddle class, educated, urbanWestern farmersAfrican-Americas (NAACP)Muckrakers: journalists who investigate social

problemsUpton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposes Meat Packing Industry

Gov’t needs to fix problems, but gov’t also needs fixingMistrust of political machinesDirect election of Senators, Income Tax, Inclusion

Progressives did not always agree on how to fix probs.

Organizing Progressives

The Progressive Amendments

Amendment XVI: Income Tax (1913)Amendment XVII: Direct election of Senators

(1913)Amendment XVIII: Prohibition (1919)

Repealed by Amendment XXI in 1933Amendment XIX: Women’s Suffrage (1920)

Make gov’t more efficient, like businessesReforms to city government

City Commission or City Council with Managers

Democratic Reforms:Direct PrimariesInitiativeReferendumRecall

Woman Suffrage: giving women the right to vote

Government Reforms

When Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments, women try to be included…Congress refuses.

Two strategies emerge:National Woman Suffrage Assoc.:

Constitutional Am.American Woman Suffrage Assoc.: State laws

for voting1890: Both groups merge into NAWSAWomen march, picket, and protest for

suffrage1918-19: Congress passes suffrage

amendmentAugust 26, 1920: Nineteenth Amendment

ratified

Woman Suffrage

Social Problems: crime, illiteracy, alcoholism, child labor, health and safety

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) pushes strikes

States pass laws restricting child labor and compulsory public education

Adult working conditions were also bad:Worker’s Compensation FundsSupreme Court gives gov’t right to limit working

hours for women, not for menTriangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire, new labor laws passedZoning laws and health codes

Labor Reforms

Progressives notice many problems stem from alcohol

Temperance movement: advocates ending alcohol abuse/consumption/production

1911: Women’s Christian Temperance Union has 250,000 members (Frances Willard)

Prohibition: laws banning the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages

Temperance & Prohibition

Sherman Anti Trust Act of 1890: Break up big businesses to allow for more competition

Some just want businesses better regulated, not busted Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)-Railroads

Eugene V. Debs: advocates socialism for businesses that affect everyoneRan for president in 1912, won over a million votes

Consumer Protections (FDA)Meat Inspection ActPure Food & Drug Act

Reduced protective tariff ratesFederal Reserve Act

Progressives vs. Big Business

The Square DealTargets Railroads with Interstate Commerce Act

(ICC)Regulation decreased by court decisions, weakens ICCWeak Hepburn Act not enough for Progressives,

strengthens ICCPure Food & Drug Act

Conservation of NatureAdds large tracts of land to National Park SystemNational Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)

Construction of dams, reservoirs, and canalsHetch Hetchy Dam Controversy

Pinchot vs. Muir—dam ultimately built, but conservation grows

Theodore Roosevelt

The troubled succession1908: wins election against Democrat William Jennings

BryanEconomic policy

Moves to lower protective tariffsOld Guard Republicans fight back with Payne-Aldrich Tariff

1912: Children’s Bureau created to protect childrenConservation

Replaces Sec. of Interior Garfield with Richard BallingerBallinger-Pinchot dispute over coal lands in Alaska

Taft loses support of Progressives and Roosevelt

Roosevelt vs. TaftRoosevelt’s “New Nationalism”—aggressive gov’t

regulation

William Howard Taft

1912: Wilson (D), Taft (R), & Roosevelt (P) run for pres.Taft & TR split vote, Wilson elected by huge

marginsWilson’s “New Freedoms”

Aimed at destroying monopolies on powerFederal Trade Commission Act

Lower protective tariffs (Underwood-Simmons Tariff)

Federal Reserve Act12 Regional Banks, owned by their member banks in

regionsFederal Reserve Board, headed by chairman to

monitor/regulate national economyChild Labor Laws

Keating Owens Act places tax on child labor produced goods

Woodrow Wilson