Gilded Age – Progressive Era

Gilded Age – Progressive Era

Gilded Age

• Gilded – cheap center covered w/ thin layer of gold (Mark Twain)

• Gov’t followed Laissez – Faire policies

• 1877-1900

Political Party Differences

Republican

• Gold based $

• High Tariffs

• $ for Union soldiers

• Aid to RR

• Limits on Immigrants

• Enforce Blue Laws

Democrat

• Silver based $

• Lower Tariffs

• High farm prices

• Less aid to RR

• Fewer Blue Laws

Presidents of the Gilded Age

Rutherford Hayes

• Republican

• Ended Reconstruction

• Reformed Spoils System


James A Garfield

• Republican

• Killed by a lawyer, Charles Guiteau


Chester Arthur

• Republican

• Created Civil Service Commission

• Check qualifications


Grover Cleveland

• Democrat

• Gov’t control over RR


Benjamin Harrison

• Republican

• Sherman Anti Trust Act

• Country begins a Depression


Grover Cleveland

• Democrat

• Stops Pullman Strike

• Only Prez elected twice not in a row!


William McKinley

• Republican

• Increases US Tariffs

• Supported the Gold Standard


William McKinley• Spanish –

American War• Annexation of

Hawaii• Killed during 2nd

term – Leon Czolgosz

Progressive Era

• 1890-1920

• A variety of reforms were enacted at all levels

• Many Progressives believed that political action and reform were required for progress in society.

Progressives were not a single unified movement. Their efforts fell into four

categories:

The Progressives: Their Goals and Beliefs

Social Reform

Moral Reform

Economic Reform

Political Reform

Social Reform

Government should be givenexpanded powers so that it couldbecome more active in improvingthe lives of its citizens.

Social Reform Examples

1.Women’s rights–Suffrage (voting)

–Owning Property

–Divorce

–Clothing

–Birth Control

Women’s Reform Leaders

• Susan B Anthony – activist who worked towards gaining suffrage for women– Created National

American Woman

Suffrage Association

(NAWSA)


• Florence Kelley – activist who worked towards gaining better working conditions


• Alice Paul – radical activist who worked towards gaining suffrage for women– Created Congressional

Union (CU): wanted an

Amendment giving

Women right to vote

Social Reform Examples2. Protection of the Environment

– Antiquities Act of 1906» Allows President to designate National

Monuments» Protect and Preserve Wildlife Areas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Muir_and_Roosevelt.jpg

3. Tenement Life

Over Crowding of the Cities

Poor Living Conditions

Unsanitary Conditions


Social Reform Examples4. Unsafe working conditions and Child

Labor

– Fewer Hours

– Higher Wages

– Safer Factories

– Unions

• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory operated on the top 3 floors of the 10 story Asch Building in New York City

• Notice that the tallest ladders owned by the fire department only reach the 6th floor

• In 1911, Unsafe working

conditions lead to a deadly fire

• Rather than burn alive in the swift moving fire, many women jump from windows

• This is actually a photo of the building after the fire! Note how there is very little damage on the outside of the building

•

Eight months after the fire, a jury acquitted the factory owners, of any wrong doing.

• Twenty-three individual civil suits were brought against the owners of the Asch building. On March 11, 1913, three years after the fire, the owners settled. They paid 75 dollars per life lost.

• This tragedy led to a push for comprehensive safety and workers compensation laws.

Social ReformExamples

5. Safer Medicines– Restriction of Harmful

Drugs– Proper Labeling – Government Approval of

Future Drugs/Medicines

Patent MedicinesPatent Medicines

• Medicines at the turn of the century did not require a

prescription.

• Making exaggerated claims, they were used for a variety of ailments.

• Many contained dangerous ingredients.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Pink_pills_for_pale_people.png

Cocaine was a common ingredient – even for children's medicines

Notice it's from the makers of Bayer Aspirin...


6. Safer Food– Government Inspection of

Food– Proper Labeling

– Cleanliness

Have you read “The Jungle”?

yuck.

The Jungle

• Written by Upton Sinclair

• Talks about the horrors of the meat packing industry

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

Created Food and Drug Administration, responsibility of testing all foods and drugs destined for human consumption

The requirement for prescriptions from licensed physicians before a patient could purchase certain drugs

The requirement of label warnings on habit-forming drugs.

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

All animals were required to pass an inspection by the FDA prior to slaughter

All carcasses were subject to a post-mortem inspection

Cleanliness standards were established for slaughterhouses and processing plants.


7. Civil Rights MovementAfrican Americans were still fighting for basic rights guaranteed them in the Constitution

Problems African Americans fought Against

• Voter Restrictions– Poll Tax – Pay a fee to vote

– Literacy Test – prove you could read & write to vote

– Grandfather Clause – exempts a group of people from obeying a law provided they met certain conditions before law was passed


• Jim Crow Laws – System of laws that segregated public services by race


• Plessy v. Ferguson – “Separate but Equal”– Supreme Court ruled

against Homer Plessy saying segregation was legal as long as separate facilities were equal


• Lynching – mob’s illegal seizure & execution of a person, usually by hanging

African American Leaders

• Booker T. Washington – encouraged African Am. To become educated & learn a trade


• WEB DuBois – encouraged African Am. To attend college & become leaders; Also started NAACP


• NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People–Worked through courts to gain

equal rights for African Am.

Moral ReformMany felt the Morals of our society were at the

root of many turn of the century problems. - Moral Reformers sought to promote Moral

Improvements:

• End Prostitution• End Gambling• End Drunkenness

• Education for Children

• Americanization and Restriction of Immigrants

Economic Reformers sought to curb the power and influence of wealthy interests.

Economic Reform

» Monopolies» Trusts» Gap between Rich

and Poor

• Governments should become more efficient and less corrupt so that they can competently handle an expanded role.

Political Reformers demanded Political Honesty and Accountability

» Patronage/Spoils System» Only Politicians can introduce bills» Only Legislatures can pass laws» Only Courts can remove corrupt officials» Political Machines» Bribery

Political Reform

• The giving of jobs or other political favors to supporters – even if they are not qualified

• Even Presidents did it! …until…

Patronage

Progressive Political Reforms

BEFORE

• Party leaders chose candidates for state & local offices

AFTER

• Direct Primaries – Voters select their party’s candidates


BEFORE

• State legislature chose US Senators

AFTER

• 17th Amendment – US Senators are elected by popular vote


BEFORE

• Only members of state legislature can introduce bills

AFTER

• Initiative – Voters can put bills before the legislation


BEFORE

• Only legislatures pass laws

AFTER

• Referendum – voters can vote on bills directly

• DE voters control raising school taxes


BEFORE

• Only courts or legislature can remove corrupt officials

AFTER

• Recall – voters can remove elected officials from office


MUCKRAKERS• Journalists that exposed turn of the

century problems such as illegal business activities, putrid food, quack medicines, squalid living conditions, dangerous working conditions, etc.

• The uncovering of these awful truths led progressives to demand changes.

• Exposed the shameful living conditions in city tenements

• Exposed Big City Political Corruption

• Exposed the ruthless practices of big business

• Exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry

• The Jungle

• History of Standard Oil

SOME FAMOUS MUCKRAKERS

• How the Other Half Lives

• Ida Tarbell• Lincoln

Steffens

• Shame of the Cities

• Jacob Riis

• Upton Sinclair

Progressive Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt

• Republican

• Youngest Prez

• Took office after McKinley is shot


• Led the fight to dissolve 40 monopolies as a “trust buster“

• “Square Deal" promised a fair shake for the average citizen, including:– regulation of railroad rates and pure foods

and drugs. – promotion of the conservation movement,

emphasizing efficient use of natural resources.


William H Taft

• Republican

• Promised to continue TR’s ideas

• Tried but lacked TR’s energy


• Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set railroad rates.

• Initiated 80 antitrust suits

• Submitted to the states amendments for a Federal income tax and the direct election of Senators.


• Ballinger-Pinchot Affair

• Gifford Pinchot – Head of Forest Service

• Richard Ballinger – Sec. of Interior

• Pinchot accused Ballinger of taking bribes for mining rights in Alaska

• Taft fired Pinchot!


• Progressive Republicans are upset w/ Taft & want TR back

• TR loses in the primaries so he creates his own political party

• Progressive Party aka Bull Moose Party

Election of 1912

• Rep – William Taft

• Dem – Woodrow Wilson

• Prog – Teddy Roosevelt

Wilson Wins!!!!Candidate Popular Vote Electoral Vote

Wilson 6,296, 547 435

Roosevelt 4,118,571 88

Taft 3,486,720 8

Other 1,135,637 None


Woodrow Wilson

• Democrat

• Continued Progressivism

• Prez during WWI


• Anti-trust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

• Laws prohibiting child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day.

• Lowered Tariffs


• Louis Brandeis – 1st Jewish Supreme Court Justice

• Dept. of Labor

• Women’s Bureau


• 16th Amendment – Congress can levy income taxes

• 17th Amendment – Direct Election of Senators

• 18th Amendment – Prohibition of Alcohol

• 19th Amendment – Women’s Suffrage

Documents

Gilded Age – Progressive Era