Progressive Period

• Individual Reformers (Muckrakers)

• Social Reformers

• Political Reformers

Ch. 21

Individual Reformers (Muckrakers)

• During the 19th century more and more newspapers and magazines began to campaign for social and political reforms as a method of attracting mass audiences

• Muckrakers felt that unless people got angry about social wrongs, they would not fight for change

Upton Sinclair

• The Jungle (1906) – a book on the meatpacking industry, although it was written as a socialist view of contemporary history

Ida Tarbell

• History of the Standard Oil Company• Exposed how Standard Oil

bankrupted its competition to create a monopoly

Samuel Hopkins Adams

• In a series of articles in Collier’s Magazine titled “Great American Fraud” exposed the patent medicine industry

Jacob Riis

• Studied life in the slums of the inner city and the effects alcohol played on the poor

Social Reformers

• The idea that social evils could be legislated away grew popular but was carried to its extreme with the passage of the 18th amendment which prohibited the sale, distribution or manufacture of intoxicating liquors in the U.S.

Jane Addams

• The Settlement House Movement• In Chicago in 1889, Addams established a

settlement house which was voluntarily run by middle-class white women in the midst of a slum to provided direct relief to the poor

Jane Addams

• The “Hull House” project was the model for other such projects in several cities

Hull House

• Among the services: soup kitchen, clubs for boys and girls, baths for children, reading classes, day nursery, classes on personal hygiene, a gym and a little theatre

Political Reformers

• Progressive Governors– Robert La Follette– Hiram Johnson– Sam Golden Rule Jones

Robert La Follette

• Made Wisconsin the model progressive state

Hiram Johnson

• Governor California – Appointed honest competent men to

government jobs

Sam “Golden Rule” Jones

• Mayor of Toledo• Believed in living life according to the

Golden Rule in the Bible

The Square Deal

• Roosevelt told Americans he would give them a square deal. He planned to :– 1. Increase Federal Power– 2. Conserve national resources– 3. Regulate Transportation– 4. Protect national health– 5. Regulate Trusts– 6. Mediate Labor Agreements

Roosevelt in Office

• Domestic Years• Roosevelt’s Concerns

– Anti-Trust Activity– Anthracite Coal Strike– Conservation Measures

Trusts

• A Trust is a business companies attempt to circumvent monopoly laws

• Trusts establish corporate boards that control prices and therefore the market place

Anti-Trusts Activity

• Roosevelt did not want to eliminate Trusts but believed that they should be monitored and regulated

• He attacked trusts that had abused their power– Beef Trust, Sugar Trust, Tobacco Trust

Conservation

• Roosevelt’s true passion was in conserving nature

• Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman and believed that our natural resources must be preserved for the future generations

1908 Election

• Roosevelt did not run in 1908. Instead he supported his hand picked successor, William Howard Taft

• Roosevelt believed Taft would continue to use his policies

• Taft wins the election over Democrat William Jennings Bryan

Taft Continues Progressivism

• Taft continued to implement progressive policies but not in the way Roosevelt had intended

• Taft and Roosevelt will have a falling out and Roosevelt will attempt to defeat Taft in the 1912 election

Dollar Diplomacy

• Taft changed Roosevelt’s foreign policy in Latin America

• Roosevelt had believed that America must speak softly but carry a big stick in Latin America

• Taft believed that US ‘military might’ was not necessary if the US could use money to get its way

Taft’s Bungled Policies

• Payne-Aldrich Tariff– Taft had campaigned for lower Tariffs but

ultimately signed a tariff that only helped big business

– Carelessness over Conservation• Taft appointed Richard Ballinger as Secretary of

Interior. Ballinger began to sell natural resources off to private enterprise

Pinchot v. Taft

• When Gifford Pinchot, the head of the forest service protested Ballinger’s moves he was fired

• Pinchot was renowned for his work in the field of natural resources

Election of 1912

• T. Roosevelt had not approved of Taft’s approach to conservationism

• When the Republicans nominated Taft as their candidate for President Roosevelt choose to leave the party and start his own party

Bull Moose Party

• Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party• It was popularly known as the Bull Moose

Party and Roosevelt was its candidate for President

• It effectively split the Republican party in half• This allowed the Democrats to win the Election

of 1912

Woodrow Wilson

• Wilson wins the election of 1912 running on a platform he called New Freedom

• New Freedom involved reducing the Tariff, improving the banking system and attacking the trusts

Federal Reserve

• In 1913, Wilson placed the private banking system under Federal control

• Under the Federal Reserve Act the nation was divided into 12 regions

• National Banks within each region were then regionally operated

• The Fed could easily regulate the printing of money by region

Federal Reserve