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Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Progressive Roots
Roots in the Greenback Labor Party of the 1870s and 1880s and the Populist Party of the 1890s.
Goal: use the government as an agency of human welfare.
Fought against monopolies, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice.
Progressive Roots
Against laissez-faire economics
The pen is sometimes mightier than the sword.
Muckrakers - reporters exposed injustices
The muckrakersHenry Demarest
Lloyd corruption of the
Standard Oil Company
Wealth AgainstCommonwealth
Thorstein Veblen criticized the new
rich The Theory of the
Leisure Class (1899).
The muckrakersJacob A. Riis
How the Other Half Lives
New York slums Theodore Dreiser
The Financier The Titan attack profiteers
The muckrakers1902 - aggressive
ten and fifteen-cent popular magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, Collier’s, and Everybody’s, began flinging the dirt about the trusts.
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers Lincoln Steffens
articles in McClure’s- “The Shame of the Cities”
Unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and the government.
Ida M. Tarbell exposé against Standard
Oil and its ruthlessness.
Exposed the “money trusts,” the railroad barons, and the corrupt amassing of American fortunes,
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers David G. Phillips
charged that 75 of the 90 U.S. Senators did not represent the people, but actually the railroads and trusts.
Ray Stannard Baker’s Following the Color Line was about the illiteracy of Blacks.
John Spargo’s The Bitter Cry of the Children exposed child labor.
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers The muckrakers
sincerely believed that cures for the ills of American democracy, was more democracy.
Progressives were mostly middle-class citizens who felt squeezed by both the big trusts above and the restless immigrant hordes working for cheap labor that came from below.
Jane Adams
Political reforms of ProgressivesInitiative - voters
could directly propose legislation
Referendum - people could vote on laws that affected them
Recall - to remove bad officials from office.
Political reforms of ProgressivesSecret
ballot(Australian ballot) to counteract the effects of party bosses
Direct election of U.S. senators17th Amendment
Females also campaigned for woman’s suffrage, but that did not come…yet.
Progressivism in the Cities and States
In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette wrestled control fromthe trusts and returned power to the people
Charles Evans Hughes, governor of New York, gained fame by investigating the malpractices of gas and insurance companies.
City managersProgressive cities like
Galveston, TX either used, for the firsttime, expert-staffed commissions to manage urban affairs or thecity-manager system, which was designed to take politics out ofmunicipal administration.
Progressive Women
They couldn’t vote or hold political office, but were active none-the-less.
Women focused their changes on family-oriented ills suchas child labor.
Triangle Shirtwaist Company FireMajor improvements
in the fight againstchild labor
1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in NYC which killed 146 workers, mostly young women.
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire
At the morgueRelatives identifying
victims
List of names List of Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire NAME OF FIRE VICTIM
AGE COMMENTS Aberstein, Julia 30 Adler, Lizzie 24 Altman, Anna 16 Ardito, Anna 25 Astrowsky, Becky 20 Bassino, Rosie 31 Belatta, Vincenza 16 Bellotta, Ignazia Father identified by heel of shoe. Benanti, Vincenza 22 Bernstein, Essie 19 Bernstein, Jacob 28 Bernstein, Morris 19 Bernstein, Moses Bierman, Gussie 22 Parents complained body stripped of rings. Binevitz, Abraham 20 Brenman, Rosie Brenman, Surka (Sarah) Brodsky, Ida 16 Brodsky, Sarah 21 Brooks, Ida 18 Brunette, Laura 17 Caputta 17 Carlisi, Josep 31 Caruso, Albina 20 Carutto, Frances 17 Castello, Josie 21 Cirrito, Rosie Cohen, Anna 25 Colletti, Antonia (Annie) 30 Costello, Della Crepo, Rose 19 Denent, Grances 20 Dichtenhultz (Fichtenhultz), Yetta 18 Dockman (Dochman), Dora (Clara) 19 Dorman, K Identified by registered letter. Downic, Kalman 24 Eisenberg, Celia 17 Feibush, Rose Feicisch(Feibish), Rebecca 17 Died at hospital after jumping. Feltzer 40 Fitze, Mrs. Dosie Lopez 24 Survived jump for day, then died. Forrester, May 25 Franco, Jennie 16 Frank, Tina 17 Gallo, Mrs. Mary 23 Geib, Bertha 25 Gernstein, Molly 17 Gittlin, Celina 17 Goldfield, Esther Goldstein, Esther Goldstein, Lena 22 Goldstein, Mary 11 Goldstein, Yetta 20 Gorfield, Esther 22 Grameattassio, Mrs. Irene 24 Harris, Esther 21 Broke back coming down elevator chute. Herman, Mary 40 Jakobowski, Ida Kaplan (woman) 20 Kenowitch, Ida 18 Keober 30 Kessler, Becky Tag read, "B Kessler, call for her tomorrow." Klein, Jacob 23 Kupla, Sara Jumped. Survived five days after fire. Launswold, Fannie 24 Lefkowitz, Nettie 28 Lehrer, Max 19 Lehrer, Sam Leone, Kate 14 Lermack, Rosie D. 19 Leventhal, Mary 22 Identified by gold-capped tooth. Levin, Jennie 19 Attractive woman who died with folded arms Levine, Abe Levine, Max Levine, Pauline 19 Maltese, Catherine Mother of two victims below. Maltese, Lucia 20 One of three bodies identified by her brother. Maltese, Rosalie(Rosari) 14 Manara, Mrs. Maria 27 Manofsky, Rose 22 Died at Bellevue Hospital.
Just a list of names Marciano, Mrs. Michela 25 Mayer, Minnie Meyers, Yetta 19 Miale, Bettina 18
Identified by ring on her finger. Miale, Frances 21 Midolo, Gaetana 16 Nebrerer, Becky 19 Nicholas, Annie 18 Nicolose, Nicolina (Michelina) Novobritsky, Annie 20 Nussbaum (Nausbaum), Sadie 18 Lower half of body consumed by flame. Oberstein, Julia 19 Oringer, Rose Died at St. Vincent's Hospital. Ozzo, Carrie 22 Pack, Annie 18 Panno, Mrs. Providenza 48 Pasqualicca, Antonietta 16 Pearl, Ida 20 Pildescu, Jennie 18 Pinello, Vincenza 30 Poliny, Jennie 20 Prato, Millie 21 Reivers, Becky 19 Rootstein, Emma Robinowitz, Abraham Rosen, Israel 17 Sister identified body by ring. Rosen, Julia(widow) 35 $842 found in her stocking. Rosen, Mrs. Leob 38 Rosenbaum, Yetta 22 Rosenberg, Jennie 21 Rosenfeld, Gussie 22 Last body to be identified. Rosenthal, Nettie 21 Rother, R 25 Rother, Theodore 22 Sabasowitz, Sarah 17 Salemi, Sophie 24 Identified by a darn in her stocking. Saracino, Sara Saracino, Serafina 25 Saracino, Tessie 20 Schiffman, Gussie 18 Schmidt, Mrs. Theresa 32 Schneider, Mrs. Ethel Schochep, Violet 21 Schwartz, Margaret Named victim in criminal case. Selzer, Jacob 33 Semmilio, Mrs. Annie 30 Shapiro, Rosie 17 Shena, Catherine 30 Sklaver, Berel (Sklawer, Bennie) 25 Sorkin, Rosie 18 Spear Sprunt Spunt, Gussie 19 Starr, Mrs. Annie 30 Stein, Jennie 18 Stellino, Jennie 16 Stiglitz, Jennie 22 Tabick, Samuel 18 Terdanova (Terranova), Clotilde 22 Only victim to die on tenth floor; jumped. Tortorella, Isabella 17 Ullo, Mary 20 Utal, Meyer 23 Velakowsky, Freda(Freida) 20 Survived jump for 3 days, then died. Vivlania, Bessie 15 Vovobritsky, Annie 20 Weinduff, Sally 17 Weiner, Rose 23 Weintraub, Sally (Sarah?) 17 Weintraub, Celia Welfowitz, Dora 21 Wilson, Joseph 21 Found by fiance; to have been wed in June. Wisner, Tessie 27 Wisotsky, Sonia 17 Wondross, Bertha Zeltner > 30 Died of internal injuries at St. Vincent's.
Making Judicial ProgressMuller vs. Oregon
(1908) found attorney Louis D. Brandeis persuading the Supreme Court to accept theconstitutionality of laws that protected women workers.
Lochner v. New York invalidated a New York law establishing a ten-hour day for bakers.
Court upheld a similar law for factory workers.
Progressives challenge the Demon RumProhibitionist
organizations - Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded by Frances E. Willard, and the Anti-Saloon League were formed.
18th Amendment prohibited the sale and drinking of alcohol.
TR’s Three CsPresident Roosevelt“Square Deal” Three Cs:
control of the corporations
consumer protection
conservation of the United States’ natural resources.
Square Deal Dance
1902 Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine Strike
140,000 workers demanded a 20% pay increase and the reduction of the workday to nine hours.
Owners refused to negotiate - lack of coal (freezing schools, hospitals, and factories)
TR threatened to seize the mines and operate them with federal troops
Workers got a 10% pay increase and a 9-hour workday, but their union was not officially recognized as a bargaining agent.
Cabinet Department of Commerce and Labor
In 1903- Department of Commerce and Labor allowed to probebusinesses engaged in interstate commerce; it was highly useful in“trust-busting.”
1904 Presidential electionTR easily beat Democrat
Alton B. ParkerHowever, in 1904, TR
announced that he would not seek the presidency in 1908, since he would have, in effect, served two terms by then. Thus he “defanged” his power.
Notice the “Solid South” for Democrats
TR Corrals the Railroads1887 - Interstate Commerce
Commission – inadequate1903 - Elkins Act - fined
railroads that gave rebates and the shippers that accepted them.
1906- Hepburn Act - stated the government's regulatory power more definitivelyempowered the ICC to
change a railroad rate to one it considered "just and reasonable,“
Mann-Elkins Act - placed the burden of proof on the railroads; for the first time, they would have to actively demonstrate that a rate was reasonable.
TR as “trustbuster”TR decided that there
were “good trusts” and “badtrusts,” and set out to control the “bad trusts,”such as the Northern Securities Company, which was organized by J.P.Morgan and James J. Hill.
1904, Supreme Court ordered Northern Securities to dissolve
Angered Wall Street but helped TR’s image.
TR as “trustbuster”Crack down on over
40 trustshelped dissolve the
beef, sugar, fertilizer, and harvester trusts
He wasn’t as large of a trustbuster as he has been portrayed. He had no wish to take
down the “good trusts,” but thetrusts that did fall under TR’s big stick fell symbolically, sothat other trusts would reform themselves.
Consumer protectionUpton Sinclair’s
The Jungle - horrors of the meatpacking industry
Meat Inspection Act, preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection
The Pure Food and Drug Act tried to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals
Starting to protect the Environment
Wasting natural resources
Forest Reserve Act of 1891 - authorized the president to set aside land to be protected as national parks. Under this statute,
some 46 million acres of forest were set aside as preserves.
Starting to protect the Environment
Gifford Pinchot - head of the federal Division of Forestry – Conservationist
The Newlands Act of 1902 - initiated irrigation projects for the western states
Starting to protect the Environment
By 1900, only a quarter of the nation’s natural timberlandsremained, so he set aside 125 million acres, establishing perhaps hismost enduring achievement as president.
In 1913, San Francisco received permission to build a dam in Hetchy Hetch Valley, a part of Yosemite National Park, causing much controversy.
Roosevelt’s conservation deal meant working with the big logging companies, not the small, independent ones.
The “Roosevelt Panic” of 1907 Widespread popularity Conservatives branded him as a
dangerous rattlesnake, unpredictable in his Progressive moves.
In 1907, a short but sharp panic on Wall Street placed TR at the center of its blame
He lashed back Panic died down. 1908 - Aldrich-Vreeland Act –
authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of collateral. This would lead to the
momentous Federal Reserve Act of 1913
Need for an elastic currency
The Rough Rider Thunders Out
In the 1908 campaign, TR chose William Howard Taft as his “successor,” hoping that the corpulent man would continue his policies
Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan
surprise came from Socialist Eugene V. Debs, who garnered 420,793 votes.
TR’s LegacyProtected against
socialismConservationistExpanded the powers
of the presidencyShaped the
progressive movementLaunched the Square
Deal—a precursor to the New Deal
Opened American eyes to the fact that America shared the world with other nations so that it couldn’t be isolationist.
Meet President TaftWilliam Taft was a
mild progressive, quite jovial, quite fat, and passive. He was also
sensitive to criticism and not as liberal as Roosevelt.
The Dollar Goes Abroad as Diplomat
Taft - “Dollar Diplomacy” -called for Wall Street bankers to invest their surplus dollars into foreign areas of strategic concern to the U.S. (Far East and in the
regions critical to the security of the Panama Canal)
This investment, in effect, gave the U.S. economic control over these areas.
Bad Neighbor Policy Roosevelt carried the big
stick in the America’s while Taft promoted “Dollar Diplomacy”
In 1909, perceiving a threat to the monopolistic Russian andJapanese control of the Manchurian Railway, Taft had Secretary of State Philander C. Knox propose that a group of American and foreign bankers buy the railroads and turn them over to China.
Taft also pumped U.S. dollars into Honduras and Haiti, whoseeconomies were stagnant, while in Cuba, the same Honduras, theDominican Republic, and Nicaragua, American forces were brought in to restore order after unrest.
The real “trustbuster” President Taft
In his four years of office, Taft brought 90 suits against trusts.
In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company.
After Taft tried to break apart U.S. Steel despite TR’s prior approval of the trust, Taft increasingly became TR’s antagonist.
Taft Splits the Republican Party
Two main issues split the Republican party: (1) the tariff and (2) conservation of lands. To lower the tariff and
fulfill a campaign promise, Taft and theHouse passed a moderately reductive bill, but the Senate, led by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, tacked on lots of upward revisions, and thus, when the Payne-Aldrich Bill passed, it betrayed Taft’s promise, incurred the wrath of his party (drawn mostly from the Midwest), and outraged many people.
Old Republicans were high-tariff; new/Progressive Republicans were low tariff.
Taft even foolishly called it “the best bill that the Republican party ever passed.”
Rhode Island
SenatorNelson Aldrich
Ballinger Pinchot AffairBallinger-Pinchot Quarrel
Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger opened public lands in Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska to corporate development and was criticized by Forestry chief Gifford Pinchot, who was then fired by Taft.
Old Republicans favored using the lands for business; new/Progressive Republicans favored conservation of lands.
1910 “off year” electionsIn the spring of 1910,
the Republican party was split between theProgressives and the Old Guard that Taft supported, so that theDemocrats emerged with a landslide in the House. Socialist Victor L.
Berger was elected from Milwaukee to Congress.
The SocialistVictor L. Berger
The Republican Party SplitsIn 1911, the National
Progressive Republican League was formed,with Robert M. La Follette as its leader
February 1912, TR began dropping hints that he wouldn’t mind being nominated by the Republicans (he had meant no third consecutive term, not a third term overall)
1912 Presidential ElectionRejected by the Taft
supporters of the Republicans, TR became acandidate on the Progressive party ticket, shoving LaFollette aside.
In the Election of 1912, it would be Theodore Roosevelt(Progressive Republican or Bull Moose Party) versus William H. Taft (Old Guard Republican)versus the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson.
Welcome President Wilson
