Chapter 23FROM ROOSEVELT TO

WILSON IN THE AGE OF PROGRESSIVISM

America Past and PresentEighth Edition

The Spirit of Progressivism

Progressivism touched all aspects of society Characteristics that gave it definition

• Concern about effects of industrialization

• Optimistic about human nature & potential for progress

• Willing to intervene in others lives, either private charity or govt

• Sense of evangelical Protestant duty & faith in the benefits of science

• Commitment to improve all aspects of American life

p.654-655

The Rise of the Professions

Professions bulwarks of Progressivism• Law

• Medicine

• Business

• Education

• Social work

Source of much of the leadership for the progressive movement*

p.655-657

The Social-Justice Movement

Ministers, intellectuals, social workers, & lawyers focused national attention on tenement house laws, more stringent child labor legislation, & better working conditions for women• More interested in social cures than individual

charity

Applied scientific methods to social reform Social work became a profession

p.656-657

The Purity Crusade

Reformers were stricken by the degree alcohol affected lives• Wages squandered, violence

1911~ Membership in Women's Christian Temperance Union hit 250k

1916 ~ 19 states prohibit alcohol 1920 ~ 18th Amend prohibits alcohol

p.657-658

Woman Suffrage, Woman's Rights

Women filled Progressive ranks• National Conference of Social Work

• General Federation of Women's Clubs

1890 ~ National American Woman Suffrage Association formed

1920 ~ 19th Amendment passed Suffrage seen as empowering women to

benefit the disadvantaged & purify govt

p.658-660

Women’s Suffrage Before 1900

p.659

A Ferment of Ideas:Challenging the Status Quo

Progressives & pragmatists valued truth & the “conduct it dictates” ~ Wm James

Reject social Darwinism John Dewey: Education should stress

personal growth, free inquiry, creativity• And, learning by doing ~ Most influential

Judge Lindsey, Louis Brandies and “Sociological Jurisprudence” ~ Later

p.660-662

A Ferment of Ideas:Challenging the Status Quo (2)

1901 ~ Socialist party formed uniting intellectuals, factory workers, tenant farmers, miners, lumberjacks

By 1911, 32 cities have Socialist mayors Promises Progressive reform rather than

overthrow of capitalism 1912 ~ Socialist presidential candidate

Eugene Debs polls over 900k votes

p.660-662

Reform in the Cities & States

Progressives wanted govt to follow the public will

Reform govt• Reorganize for efficiency, effectiveness

• New agencies address particular social ills

• Posts staffed with experts*

Govt power extended at all levels

p.662

Interest Groups & the Decline of Popular Politics

Decline in voter participation• 77% from 1876–1900

• 65% from 1900–1916

• 52% in the 1920s

• Remained near 52% thru 20th century

Interest groups got favorable legislation thru lobbying

p.662-663

Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1876–1920

p.662

Reform in the Cities

Urban reform leagues worked to increase efficiency & get results

Reformers created regulatory commissions which hired engineers to oversee utilities, physicians to improve municipal health, & city planners to oversee park & road development• City manager idea spread

Reform mayors • Tom Johnson of Cleveland

• "Golden Rule" Jones of Toledo

p.663-664

Action in the States

State regulatory commissions created to investigate business conduct

Initiative, referendum, & recall created All but 3 states used primary elections

by 1916 1913 ~ Seventeenth Amendment

provided for direct election of US Senators

p.664-665

Action in the States:Reform Governors

Robert La Follette of Wisconsin• “Wisconsin Idea” tapped experts in higher

education for help in sweeping reforms

• Most famous reform governor

Other Progressive governors• Hiram Johnson of California

• Charles Evans Hughes of New York

• Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey

p.664-665

The Republican Roosevelt

Following assassination of Wm McKinley, took office at age 42

In contrast to McKinley, he was open, aggressive & high-spirited

Regularly met with a multitude of visitors to the White House ~ BT Wash

Surrounded himself with able associates Often “stood on booth side of the fence”

p.665-666

Busting the Trusts

1902: Wave of trust-busting led by suit against Northern Securities Company ~ Sherman Anti-Trust violation

1904: Northern Securities dissolved Roosevelt reputed a "trust-buster" Comparatively few antitrust cases under

Roosevelt, Taft did almost twice as many in half the time

p.666-667

"Square Deal" in the Coalfields

1902: United Mine Workers strike for better working conditions in PA • Threatened US economy ~ TR “brokered”

UMW & owners invited to White House Roosevelt won company concessions by

threatening military seizure of mines• Leaked the information

TR saw fed govt as a broker between powerful elements in society

p.667

Roosevelt Progressivism at Its Height

1904—A four-way election• Republican—Theodore Roosevelt

• Democrat—Alton B. Parker

• Socialist—Eugene V. Debs

• Prohibition—Silas C. Swallow

Roosevelt won 57% of popular vote, 336 electoral votes

p.667

The Election of 1904

p.668

Regulating the Railroads 1903: Elkins Act prohibited railroad rebates,

strengthened Interstate Commerce Commission Widespread popular demand for further railroad

regulation after Roosevelt’s reelection 1906: Hepburn Act further strengthened

Interstate Commerce Commission • Membership from five to seven

• May fix reasonable maximum rates

• Jurisdiction broadened to include oil pipeline, express, sleeping car companies

p.667-668

Cleaning Up Food and Drugs Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) prompted

fed investigation of meatpacking industry 1906: Meat Inspection Act

• Sets rules for sanitary meatpacking

• Requires govt inspection of meat products Samuel Hopkins Adams exposed dangers of

patent medicines 1906: Pure Food & Drug Act

• Required manufacturers to list certain ingredients

• Banned manufacture & sale of adulterated drugs

p.668-669

Conserving the Land

Estab’d Natl Commission on the Conservation of Natural Resources• TR worked with Gifford Pinchot, Chief of Forest

Service

• Policy defined “conservation” as wise use of natural resources

Quadrupled acreage under fed protection

p.669-670

National Parks & Forests

p.670

The Ordeal of William Howard Taft

Taft: Able administrator, poor president• He had a long list of successful administrative

positions behind him• Ohio judge, solicitor general of US, fed circuit judge,

governor general of Philippines, Sec of War

• Weighing close to 300 lbs, he was not nearly as active as TR

• He preferred the solitude of a judge Republicans spt’d a return to a conservative

stance

p.670-671

The Election of 1908

p.670

The Ballinger-Pinchot Affair

Gifford Pinchot leading conservationist, Roosevelt appointee

Pinchot accused Interior Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger of selling public lands to friends

Taft fired Pinchot Pinchot had been right which antagonized

the Progressives against Taft

p.672

Taft Alienates the Progressives

1910: Taft successfully pushed Mann-Elkins Act to strengthen ICC

• Empowers ICC to fix railroad rates• An anit-progressive move

• Progressives became anti-Taft 1910: Taft opposed Progressive Republicans

in mid-term elections, Demos gained Congress

p.672

Taft Alienates the Progressives

Successfully backed laws to regulate mine & railroad safety

Sixteenth Amendment created income tax Taft a greater trustbuster than Roosevelt Taft & TR attack one another publicly 1912: Taft renominated by Republicans, little

chance for victory

p.673

Differing Philosophies in the Election of 1912

Roosevelt: Progressive ~ "Bull Moose" • “New Nationalism”

• Fed regulation of economy

• Wasteful competition replaced by efficiency

Woodrow Wilson: D-Gov of NJ• Promised "New Freedom" for the individual

• Restrain big business, govt

Democrats won White House & Congress

p.673-675

p.674

p.674

Wilson won because of the split in the Republican Party*

Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson: Former president of Princeton & Governor of New Jersey

Progressive, intellectual, inspiring orator His was rapid & he came to office w/ limited

experience in national issues, but he learned fast• Very little political baggage

One of America's most effective presidents

p.675

The New Freedom in Action

1913: Underwood Tariff• Lowered tariffs 15% & removed completely from

some consumer goods

1913: Federal Reserve Act ~ Most important domestic law of Wilson admin

1914: Clayton Antitrust Act outlawed unfair trade practices, protected unions

1914: Federal Trade Commission• Oversee business practices

p.675-676

New Freedom in Action: Retreating from Reform

1914 ~ Wilson announces "New Freedom" has been achieved• Tariff, banking & antitrust promise a brighter future

Many progressives stunned that he thought society’s ills were so easily cured, the New Republic wrote, his statements “cast suspicion either upon his own sincerity or upon his grasp of the reality of modern social & industrial life.”

p.675-676

Wilson Moves Toward the New Nationalism

Distracted by the outbreak of war in Europe in Aug 1914 ~ Beginnings of WWI• Recession struck the economy

• Some blamed Wilson’s tariff changes

Refused to spt a minimum wage for women bill & another on child labor

Failed to block attempts to segregate fed workers

p.676-680

Wilson Moves Toward the New Nationalism

1916 ~ Presidential election was close, but Wilson won on issues of peace (stay out of WWI) & progressivism

By end of 1912 ~ He had enacted most of the important parts of TR’s progressive party platform of 1912• It was a blend of two competing doctrines

(Demo & Rep) of progressivism

p.676-680

The Fruits of the Progressivism

Reform of government at all levels Intelligent planning of reform World War I ends Progressive optimism

p.680-681

Chapter 23FROM ROOSEVELT TO

WILSON IN THE AGE OF PROGRESSIVISM

America Past and PresentEighth Edition

End