The Progressive Era: 1900-1912

Muckrackers

Temperance

Suffragettes

Populists

Midclass

Women

Labor

Unions

Civil

Rights

2nd Great Awakeni

ng

Antebellum Reforms

[1810s-1850s]

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WAR

Populism[1870s-1890s]

Social Gospel

Progressivism

[1890s-1920]

1920s Revivalis

m

New Deal[1930s-1940s]

1950sRevivalis

m

Great Society

&1960s Social

Movements

ChristianEvangelica

lMovement

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Where does Progressivism fit?Where does Progressivism fit?

Origins of the Era• Progressivism

strongest among middle class Protestants

• William Jennings Bryan

• Billy Sunday• Walter

Rauschenbusch– Social Gospel

• “Muckrakers”(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

The “Muckrakers”

• Ida Tarbell: “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” 1902

• Lincoln Steffens: “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” 1902 and “The Shame of the Cities”

• Upton Sinclair and “The Jungle”, 1906• Jacob Riis and “How the Other Half Lives,”,1890• Muckraking reflected

– Expanded newspaper circulation– Increased interest in “realism”– McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s

See Progressivism Photographs

Circulation of Newspapers and Magazines

Municipal Reform

• Progressives wanted public ownership of private monopolies providing city services

• City Commission and City manager government

State Reform

• State governors led charge• New York: Charles Evans Hughes battled fraudulent

insurance companies• California: Hiram Johnson fought against the

economic and political power of the Southern Pacific Railroad

• Wisconsin: “Fighting” Robert La Follette– “Wisconsin Idea”

• Direct primary• Tax reform• Regulation of railroads

Voter Participation

• Australian, or secret, ballot• Direct primaries• Direct election of U.S. Senators (17th Amendment)• Initiative: voters could compel the legislature the

consider a bill• Referendum: allowed citizens to vote on proposed

laws on ballots• Recall: enabled removal of corrupt and

unsatisfactory politicians

Women’s Suffrage• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

– Elizabeth Cady Stanton– Susan B. Anthony– Carrie Chapman Catt

• Western states 1st to grant women right to vote– Women’s gentler nature to tame wild male electorate

• Progressive women suffragists little troubled by racial discrimination

• National Women's Party– Alice Paul

• Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

A Renewed Campaign for Civil Rights

• New generation of African American activists called for racial equality

• Booker T. Washington– “Accommodation“

• W.E.B. DuBois

From the Niagara Movement to the NAACP

• W.E.B. Du Bois– Niagara Movement

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)– Beginning of modern Civil Rights Movement– The Crisis– Legal Redress Committee

• National Urban League (1911)

Socialism and Progressivism• Socialism government operation of economic institutions

keeps wealthy elite from controlling society• Socialist Party of America

– Eugene V. Debs• Diversity of Socialists

– Immigrants– Native-born farmers and miners in the west

• IWW most radical Socialist group• Progressives and Socialists both assume the state can solve

economic abuses• Progressives frightened by Socialist talk of revolution

The Roosevelt Presidency

• V-P under McKinley

“Trust-Busting”

• Trust-busting• Northern Securities Company

– J.P. Morgan

• “New Nationalism”

Toward a “Square Deal”

• Anthracite Coal Strike (1902)– United Mine Workers (UMW)– Arbitration

• Election of 1904– "Square Deal"– Roosevelt aligns Republican Party with reform

Expanding Government Power: The Economy

• Interstate Commerce Commission• Hepburn Act (1906)• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)• Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Expanding Government Power: The Environment

• Conservation– Preservationists: John Muir and the Sierra Club– Roosevelt: wilderness is a place to test oneself against

natural elements– Conservationists

• Public Lands Commission (1903)• Gifford Pinchot

– National Forest Service• Roosevelt vs. Old Guard Republicans on government

land reserves

The Taft Presidency

• Roosevelt thought Taft an ideal successor• Taft

– Not adept at politics– More conservative than Roosevelt

• Election of 1908– William Howard Taft – William Jennings Bryan

The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy

• Richard Ballinger• Gifford Pinchot• Ballinger questionably sold Alaskan coal

deposits• Taft sides with Ballinger, Roosevelt sides with

Pinchot

Roosevelt’s Return

• Roosevelt returns to politics• "New Nationalism“ campaign, 1910

– Strong federal government:• Stabilize the economy• Protect the weak• Restore social harmony

– 1910 election results show plan is popular

• Roosevelt challenges Taft for Republican nomination– Denied nomination by Old Guard Republicans

The Election of 1912

The Republican Party & President William H. Taft

Republican Party Platform

• High import tariffsHigh import tariffs• Put limitations on female and child laborPut limitations on female and child labor

• Workman’s Compensation LawsWorkman’s Compensation Laws• Against initiative, referendum, and recallAgainst initiative, referendum, and recall

• Against “bad” trustsAgainst “bad” trusts• Creation of a Federal Trade CommissionCreation of a Federal Trade Commission

• Stay on the gold standardStay on the gold standard• Conservation of natural resources because they are Conservation of natural resources because they are

finitefinite

The Progressive Party & Former President Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive Party Platform: “New Nationalism”

• Women’s suffrageWomen’s suffrage• Graduated income taxGraduated income tax

• Inheritance tax for the richInheritance tax for the rich• Lower tariffsLower tariffs

• Limits on campaign spendingLimits on campaign spending• Currency reformCurrency reform

• Minimum wage lawsMinimum wage laws• Social insuranceSocial insurance

• Abolition of child laborAbolition of child labor• Workmen’s compensationWorkmen’s compensation

Wilsonian Progressivism: “New Freedom”

Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats

• Government control of the monopolies Government control of the monopolies trusts in general were bad trusts in general were bad eliminate them!! eliminate them!!– Clayton Antitrust ActClayton Antitrust Act– Federal Trade CommissionFederal Trade Commission

• Tariff reductionTariff reduction• One-term PresidentOne-term President• Direct election of SenatorsDirect election of Senators• Create a Department of LaborCreate a Department of Labor• Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust ActStrengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act• Did NOT support women’s suffrageDid NOT support women’s suffrage• Opposed to a central bankOpposed to a central bank• Banking Reform: Federal Reserve Act (1913)Banking Reform: Federal Reserve Act (1913)• Federal Farm Loan ActFederal Farm Loan Act• Child Labor ActChild Labor Act

1912 Results