Populists and Progressives

The American Reform Tradition

Main Ideas

Populists and Progressives were part of longer tradition of reform

Tradition of association – Tocqueville Shared belief that humans could understand

and change society for the better Reform could take many shapes, small “p”

progressive, radical, and right-wing Different methods and goals of reform efforts

Tradition of Association and Reform

Populists and Progressives were part of much longer tradition of American association and reform

Tocqueville: Americans associate, form groups for common interests, more than Europeans

Previous reform movements: abolition, women’s rights, utopian settlements, labor, temperance, socialists

Populists, 1880s and 1890s

Primarily midwestern and southern farmers Built on tradition of farmer-labor reform Built on yeoman tradition, republican beliefs Previous or overlapping groups formed basis for

local PP support : the Grange, Farmers Alliance, both worked for farmers’ interests

Like Henry George and Knights of Labor, believed producers were rightful beneficiaries of economy: “Wealth belongs to him who creates it” (1892 PPP)

Populists defended theproducers – workers andfarmers against “the moneyed classes”

They criticized the negativeaspects of the new industrialeconomy

They celebrated pasteconomy of small producers, people whomaintained independence

Populist Beliefs and Reforms Document, People’s Party Platform, 1892: Problem: Grievances against railroads (unfair rates

for shipping crops, monopoly) Reform: nationalize railroads, “owned and operated

by the government in the interest of the people” Problem: Eastern banking interests (controlled govt.

and politcal parties, farmers’ debts to buy farms, seeds, supplies)

Reform: coin silver money, expand money supply, cause deflation, make it easier to pay off debts

Reform: graduated income tax; tax wealthy to pay for projects to benefit producers

William Jennings Bryan – People’s Party/DemocraticParty Presidential Candidate

“Cross of Gold” speech(transcript and audio)

Populist Beliefs and Reforms(continued) Problem: Lack of political power to get what they

wanted b/c of corruption and established parties Reforms: civil service reform, secret ballot, initiative

and referendum to more easily pass popular legislation, one-term limit for Pres. and VP, election of Senators, formed own third-party

Problem: low wages and competition for land and jobs

Reform: support unions, 8-hour day, restrict immigration, restrict alien ownership of land

Problem: Boom and bust economy, price fluctuations of crops on world market

Reform: build cooperative or govt. crop storage – crops could be stored until prices rose

Impact of Populists Many of the reforms they advocated eventually

became law A major factor in local, state, and national politics –

elected representatives on every level Failed Presidential bids – W.J. Bryan Political apparatus and ideals co-opted by Democrats

– lost to Republicans in 1896, dooming Populist Party Major impact: kept small “r” republican tradition (“the

producers”) alive and strong in American reform tradition

Both radical and exclusionary aspects – uniters and dividers

The Progressives, 1900s-1920s

Many diff. varieties of reform, hard to lump together

Ranged across political spectrum from left to right, socialist to nativist

Sometimes overlapping in same individuals or groups

Tackled some of the biggest problems in American life: the Labor Question, Big Business, Immigration, Racial Inequality, Women’s Rights, Urban problems

Varieties of Reform

Anti-monopoly: anti-trust laws, T.Roosevelt, muckraker journalism to expose trusts

Pro-labor: support for unions, workman’s comp., safety in workplace

Pro-immigrant: Hull House, unions, pro-citizenship Anti-immigrant: Immigration Restriction, 1924 Women’s rights: suffrage (19th Amend.), higher

wages for women workers, protecting women workers – arguments for equality and difference, deserved protection b/c diff. than men)

Varieties of Reform (continued)

African American Civil Rights Anti-lynching: Ida B. Wells, journalism, political

pressure W.E.B. DuBois: talented tenth will lead way, prove

equality NAACP founded in 1909 – political equality Booker T. Washington: start with lower-skilled

trades and jobs to earn a living, gain respect, before fighting for political rights or equality

Varieties of Reform (continued)

Political and government reform democratic – referendum, initiative, direct election

of Senators (17th Amend., 1912) undemocratic – usually based on distrust of

people or racism Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896, upheld Jim Crow,

separate and unequal public accommodations Successful efforts to take away black vote: poll tax,

literacy tests, grandfather clauses city managers – experts should run cities (unelected)

Varieties of Reform (continued)

Conservation Movement: against waste of natural resources; national parks; preservation of wild areas for production of masculine males Gifford Pinchot, conservationist: management of federal

lands for “the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run” – managed use

John Muir, preservationist: preserve wild areas T.Roosevelt, tended towards conservation, but also added

National Parks and wild areas to fed. lands All of them were opposed by those who believed that

unused lands were wasted and that fed. govt. shouldn’t control lands

Long-range Impact of Reform

Populists and many Progressives called for increased fed. govt. involvement in economy

WWI needs reaffirmed fed. govt. power Many Progressive ideas became part of New

Deal Section, race, class, and gender, divided and

weakened reform movements

Major Events and Issues of Progressive Era

Video Links

PBS, American Experience, Triangle Fire HBO, Triangle: Remembering the Fire, March

21, 2011 YouTube Triangle Fire Documentary

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, NYC, March 25, 1911

WebLink CornellSite: GarmentWorkand ProtestBeforeFire

146 NYC garment workers, mostly young women, died during fire at the TriangleShirtwaist Factory

Many women jumped from windows when they could not escape through lockedfire escapes.

NYC morgue was too small to hold all of the victims, so temporary morgue wasset up at a city pier. Family filed past victims to identify them.

Critics and Reformers

What kind of problems needed to be solved?

Workplace safety Immigrant rights Women’s rights Labor rights Political reform Economic system

Progressive Reform & the Triangle Fire

From To

1909 ILGWU Strikers Post-Fire Investigations

Difference?

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911

History of the Needlecraft Industry (1938), by Ernest Feeney, High School of Fashion and Industry. A mural commissioned by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGW)

New Deal-era mural commemorating the Triangle Fire and victims – connection between Progressive and New Deal issues and reform efforts

Videos

Stephen Colbert, Taco Bell Beef – The Jungle