Progressivism 1 Progressives believed that honest and efficient

Progressivism 1 • Progressives believed that honest and efficient government could bring about social justice from the problems of industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. • Progressives were largely middle-class who wanted reform from the social and political problems of the day. • They wanted to end corruption, make government responsive to the needs of the people, and believed in education with modern ideas and scientific techniques.

Progressivism 2 • Progressives targeted: corrupt political machines, trust & monopolies, safety, child labor, city services, and women’s suffrage. • Muckrakers-investigative reporters who exposed corruption and social problems. • Lincoln Steffens: Shame of the Cities about political corruption. • John Spargo-Bitter Cry of the Children • Ida Tarbell-History of Standard Oil about the power of monopolies. • Jacob Riss-How the Other Half Lives focused on the terrible conditions of the poor.

Progressivism 3 • Upton Sinclair-The Jungle highlighted the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry in Chicago. • Jane Addams-Settlement house movement which provided social services for immigrants and the poor. Hull House was the most famous. • Social Gospel Movement-belief that Christian principles could bring about social change. They demanded a shorter work day and an end to child labor.

Progressivism 4 • Florence Kelley-helped to end child labor in many states and improved school enrollment • U. S. Children’s Bureau was created in 1912.

Progressivism 5 • 70% of laborers worked 54 hours a week. Average pay was $1. 50 a day for men, less for women and children. • Some children worked 16 hour days with 2 million employed in 1910. • By 1912, 39 states had laws limiting child labor to 8 -10 hour days, no night work, and no work in dangerous jobs. • In the 1900’s, the U. S. had the world’s worst rate of industrial accidents. 25% of workers were hurt each year.

Progressivism 6 • In 1911, the worst workplace disaster occurred at that time. • Triangle Shirtwaist Company employed 500 people 6 days a week, many of whom were immigrant women. • A fire started and doors were locked. Many workers jumped to their deaths. 156 workers were killed. • Worker safety and workers compensation were important issues for Progressives. New York passed the first fire safety code after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.

Progressivism 7 • To reform society, Progressives had to reform government. • Government should not be controlled by political bosses and machines. • Government needed to be more efficient and accountable to the people. • Cities and states experimented with new methods of governing. • In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette reformed state government to restore political control to the people, known as the Wisconsin Plan.

Progressivism 8 • Direct Primaries-voters elect candidates to run in an election. • Initiatives-Citizens can propose laws. • Referendums-Citizens can reject laws passed by the legislature. • Recalls-Citizens can remove politicians. • Progressives also sought to reform taxes and unfair pricing of railroad rates. • Two Progressive Governors, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson would become Presidents.

Progressivism 9 • In 1913, Progressives helped to get passed the 17 th Amendment-allowed for U. S. Senators to be elected by the people, not the legislature. • By the 1900’s women were no longer content with a limited role in society. • Many found purpose in the Progressive Movement and sought women’s suffrage. • Women’s colleges like Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania and New York’s School of Social Work armed middle-class women with education and ideas.

Progressivism 10 • Most poor women continued to labor long hours in dangerous conditions. • 7. 5 million women were employed. 1/3 were in poverty. • Progressive women addressed the long work hours of women in factories, sweatshops, laundries, and domestic service. • Women were paid less and often did not get to keep their wages. • They were often intimidated and bullied by the employers.

Progressivism 11 • Muller v. Oregon-Supreme Court ruled that states could limit women’s work day to 10 hours as the court recognized the unique role of women as mothers. • Florence Kelley founded the Women’s Trade Union League to work for a federal minimum wage and 8 hour workday. • The WTUL also created the first worker’s strike fund which helped to support families who refused to work in unsafe or unfair conditions.

Progressivism 12 • Progressives also supported Temperance, or anit-alcohol. • Carrie Nation-attacked saloons with an ax and carried a Bible. • Progressives felt that alcohol led men to spend their earnings on liquor, neglect their families, abuse their wives, and led to crime. • Women’s Christian Temperance Unioncampaigned against alcohol until the 18 th Amendment in 1919 which banned the sale, manufacture, and transport of alcohol.

Progressivism 13 • African Americans also worked for women’s rights. • Ida B. Wells-founded the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. • The NACW supported day care centers for children of working parents and worked for suffrage, an end to lynchings, and to stop segregation in Chicago schools. • In 1917, Alice Paul formed the National Women’s Party. It was a radical movement for suffrage. They picketed the White House and many suffragettes were jailed.

Progressivism 14 • National American Women’s Suffrage Association -NAWSA was more popular and less radical than the National Women’s Party • Led by Carrie Chapman Catt, they promoted a two-party strategy for suffrage: • 1. NAWSA lobbied Congress for a constitutional amendment. • 2. Suffragettes, used the referendum in states to get the vote in state elections. • Many feared voting rights would distract from women’s family roles. Some feared it would disrupt society and liquor would be banned.

Progressivism 15 • Since the 1860’s Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked for suffrage. By 1890, only Wyoming and Colorado had granted women the right to vote in state elections. • States, starting in the West, gradually granted women the right to vote in state elections. • In 1919, the 19 th Amendment was passed, allowing women the right to vote in national elections. • Women participated in voting in the 1920 election.

Progressivism 16 • Most Progressives were white, middle-class Protestants who held the racial and ethnic prejudices of the era. • They envisioned an America based on Protestant ethics and white middle-class lifestyles. • Often hostile to minorities and immigrants. • Progressives believed Assimilation would turn immigrants into loyal and moral citizens. • The results were well-intentioned, but often insensitive and racists.

Progressivism 17 • While teaching English they also advised immigrants to replace their customs with middle-class practices and Protestant values. • Settlement houses and other civic groups played a major role in Americanizationimmigrants adopt white, middle-class values in place of their own cultural values. • Progressives saw immigrant customs as moral failures. • The use of alcohol, such as wine with meals, was viewed as alarming which gave strength to the Temperance Movement.

Progressivism 18 • Many Progressives supported racial prejudices. • By 1910, segregation was the norm nationwide. • In 1914, even federal offices were segregated by Progressive President Woodrow Wilson. • African Americans were split over how to end racial discrimination. • Booker T. Washington-sought a patient, gradual effort based on earning equality through education and work. • W. E. B. Du. Bois-aggressive, demanded immediate recognition of constitutional rights.

Progressivism 19 • In 1905, Niagara Movement rejected the gradualist approach. They also believed African Americans should learn how to think for themselves through the study of history, literature, and philosophy. • The Niagara Movement, followed by a race riot in Illinois, led to the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). • NAACP sought to demand voting and civil rights for African Americans. It sought to end lynching and challenge discrimination in the courts.

Progressivism 20 • Urban League-created a network of local clubs and churches to assist African Americans migrating to northern cities. • Helped in finding jobs, housing, clothing, and schools for children. • Jews-B’nai Brith to provide religious education and self-help. Anti-Defamation Leauge-defended against physical and verbal attacks. • Mexican Americans-Mutualistas to provide legal assistance and disability insurance. • Native Americans-Society of American Indians to protest federal policy of land ownership.

Progressivism 21 • In 1901, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt became the youngest U. S. President at 43. • He was Progressive, smart, educated, opinionated, and energetic. • He fought corruption in New York City, served as Asst. Secretary of the Navy under President Mc. Kinley. • Left to lead the Rough Riders in the Spanish American War and came back a hero, elected Governor of New York. • Mc. Kinley then chose him as his Vice President in 1900. • When Mc. Kinley was assassinated in 1901, Teddy became President.

Progressivism 22 • Square Deal-TR’s promise of fairness and honesty from government. • He used the power of government on behalf of workers and the people. • In 1902, TR threatened a federal take-over of coal mines unless owners and workers came to an agreement over a strike. • This was the first time government had stepped into a labor dispute on the side of workers. • Department of Labor-created to prevent capitalists from abusing their power.

Progressivism 23 • TR also took on railroads after the Supreme Court weakened the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate railroad rates. • Elkins Act-allowed the government to fine railroads that gave special rates to favored shippers, which hurt farmers. • Hepburn Act-Empowered the ICC to enforce prices limits charged by railroad companies. • TR was known as a Trustbuster-used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to challenge monopolies and trusts that bullied small businesses or cheated consumers.

Progressivism 24 • TR sought Progressive laws to protect consumers and make government responsible for safety. • After reading The Jungle, TR secured passage of the Meat Inspection Act-allowed for federal monitoring and inspections of meat plants. • Pure Food and Drug Act-required labels and banned impure or mislabeled shipments between states. • Today FDA monitors and tests safety of food and medicine. • TR had a strong love for nature.

Progressivism 25 • TR supported Gifford Pinchot who believed that natural resources should be preserved for public use. • TR also admired John Muir who helped establish Yosemite National Park and advised TR to set aside millions of acres of forestland. • TR added 100 million acres to the National Park System. • Congress passed the National Reclamation Act of 1902 -allowed the federal government to distribute water in the West were it was arid and confrontations over was use was frequent.

Progressivism 26 • In 1908, TR retired. But he soon disagreed with his chosen successor William Howard Taft on several issues. • He did not think Taft was doing enough for Progressive Reform. • Taft did not share TR’s views on Trusts. Taft believed a monopoly was acceptable as long as it didn’t unreasonably squeeze out smaller companies. • When Taft fired Gifford Pinchot and overturned an earlier antitrust decision, TR angrily decided to oppose Taft and ran for President again in 1912.

Progressivism 27 • TR promised to restore government trustbusting in a program he called New Nationalism. • TR’s candidacy split the Republican Party, which nominated the incumbent Taft. • TR then accepted the nomination by a third party, the Progressive (Bull-moose) Party. • This set up a three-way race for President. • The Republican Party was split between those that supported Taft and those who supported TR and the Bull-moose Party.

Progressivism 28 • The split ensured the Republicans could not win and allowed the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson to win the electoral college. • Wilson served as a college professor, President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey and was a Progressive. • He was the first southerner elected President in almost 60 years. • New Freedom-Wilson’s program. Similar to TR’s New Nationalism, it called for strict government controls over corporations.

Progressivism 29 • He focused on tariffs, banks, and trusts. • Underwood Tariff Act-cut tariffs and lowered consumer prices. • It also created the graduated income tax under the new 16 Amendment-first income tax. • Progressives like Wilson, thought it only fair that the wealthy pay a higher percentage of the income in taxes than the poor. • Revenue from the income tax more than offset the loss of funds from the lowered tariff.

Progressivism 30 • Federal Reserve Act 1913 -established a system of regional banks to hold reserve funds for the nation’s commercial banks. • It protects against any one person, bank, or region from controlling the interest rates. • The Federal Reserve controls the interest rates by establishing the loan rate to member banks • Previously, a few wealthy bankers could manipulate interest rates for their own profit. • Federal Trade Commission-monitor business practices to prevent monopolies, false advertising, and dishonest labeling.

Progressivism 31 • Wilson also only opposed trusts that engaged in unfair practices. • Clayton Antitrust Act-defined activities in which businesses could not engage. • It protected labor unions from being defined as trusts, allowing them more freedom to organize. • Labor unions joined Progressives to improve work conditions. • Closed Shop-a workplace where all workers had to be in a union. • Open Shop-nonunion workplace.

Progressivism 32 • Courts usually sided with business against labor unions. • Workingman’s Compensation Act-provided wages for temporarily disabled civil service employees. • Adamson Act-provided an 8 hour workday for railway workers. • Progressive Reform had a huge impact on the U. S. in sanitation, corruption, government authority, natural resources, workplace safety, women and child labor, alcohol, banking, and business.

Progressivism 33 • Progressivism declined after passage of the 19 th Amendment and attention began focusing on WWI. • 16 th, 17 th, 18 th, and 19 th Amendments were all Progressive amendments.