• What is a progressive?• Progressive Era not confined to a definitive set

of years• Progressives consisted of several groups with

different objectivesReformers fighting corruption and inefficiency in

government including civil service reform and city bosses (mugwumps)

Reformers wanting to regulate/control big businessReformers worried about the welfare of the urban

poor (settlement houses)

• The return of prosperity fueled the progressive movement

• The comfortable middle-class more tolerant and generous

• Change was now harmonious with middle-class values of social improvement

• The MuckrakersProgressive journalistic fadArticles showed the fundamental immorality at

all levels of American societyA small army of writers flooded the periodical

press wanting to expose the abuses of big businesses, social problems such as prostitution, and political corruption

• The Progressive Mind Sought to arouse the American conscience Convinced people were essentially good and that institutions

were the sources of society’s problems – reform the institution and solve the problem

The weak, including women and children, must be protected Progressives were typically paternalistic, moderate, and soft-

headed Progressives over-simplified issues and believed their values

were above question Progressives were not allies of socialists - they were believers in

capitalism

• “Radical” ProgressivesThe depression of the late 1800’s and its impact on

the poor turned many to Marxian socialismEugene V. Debs – socialist candidate for president1905 – Industrial workers of the World (IWW)

established by several socialist leadersOthers used new European ideas such as Freud’s to

advocate a new morality including sex education and birth control

These “Bohemians” congregated in sections of cities that catered to artists such as New York’s Greenwich Village

• Political Reform: CitiesAs cities grew corruption became more disgracefulMuckrakers exposed corrupt city administrationsProgressives mounted an assault on corrupt city

government including using position as mayorPolitical machines were attacked using new political

institutions such as “home rule” charters and elected commissions (Galveston)

Commissions established city managersProgressive used city office to improve society such

as minimum wage laws, parks, transportation systems, and tenement housing

• Political Reform: The StatesMunicipal reforms depended on state reformsCorrupt state government had to be reformed tooBest example was Wisconsin under Governor Robert

M. La Follette• Not above using “machine” politics to obtain reform such as

patronage • Called upon universities for advice and service• Established a direct primary system for elections• Wisconsin served as model for other states• Oregon set example by establishing initiatives and

referendums

• State Social LegislationSome states passed laws attempting to

alleviate social problems including the restriction of working hours for women & children

Other laws established rules for hazardous industries and New York established a law that set higher standards for tenement construction

Progressive laws used coercion and was seen by some judges as violating the 14th Amendment – conservative judges were against new “socialist” legislation

Lochner v. New York – overturned law limiting bakers to a 10 hour day

Hammer v. Dagenhart – Sureme Court overturned child-labor law as unconstitutional

Adkins v. Children’s Hospital – overturned law granting women a minimum wage

Laws were passed giving some protection against on-the-job accidents

1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire set stricter workplace standards

Accident insurance programs were gradually adopted

Progressive laws sent many conservatives to

court to seek redress

Muller v. Oregon • Law limiting working hours of

women laundry workers to ten hours was challenged

• Consumer’s League, represented by Louis Brandeis, defended the statute

• Brandeis prepared brief that included scientific evidence of damage to women and society

• The “Brandeis Brief” became standard practice

• Political Reform: Woman Suffrage MovementMany women bitter over failure of 14th and 15th

Amendments to give women voteFeminists split

• American Woman’s Suffrage Association (AWSA) focused on the vote alone

• More radical National Women’s Suffrage Association concerned with various issues including vote (Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony)

Women handicapped by lack of unity and Victorian morality

Women confused as to relationship to men – superior or equal?

1890 both groups combined to form the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) – Stanton and Anthony were first presidents

Women concentrated on suffrage state-by-stateWomen could vote in Wyoming in 1869, Utah,

Colorado, and Idaho by 1896

Women gained support from many males

1911 California gave women the vote

Suffrage moved to the national level led by the Congressional Union

Wilson’s refusal to support suffrage led to demonstrations

Congress approved by 1919 and the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920

• Political Reform: Income Taxes and Popular Election of SenatorsIncome taxes authorized by the Sixteenth

AmendmentDirect election of Senators authorized by the

Seventeenth AmendmentHouse of representatives reformed by limiting

the power of the House Speaker – committees formed by vote not whim of Speaker

• Theodore RooseveltAscended to presidency upon assassination of

McKinley in 1901Distrusted by conservativesMore trust-regulator than trust-busterWent after the Northern Securities Company- a

holding company for JP Morgan, James Hill, and EH Harriman

Also went after the meat packers, Standard Oil, and the American Tobacco Company

Roosevelt was not anti-corporation – made “gentleman agreements” with several as long as they cooperated with government

• The Coal Strike1902 United Mine Workers (UMW) stopped

work demanding higher wages, shorter hours, and recognition of the union

Mine owners shut down mines determined to starve the workers into submission

Miners refrained from violence and won public support

Onset of winter and need for coal forced Roosevelt to act

Roosevelt brought both sides to Washington but management refused to deal with the union

With public support behind him Roosevelt announced that unless settlement was reached he would order troops in – not to break the strike – but to seize and operate the mines

Threat of government intervention brought owners to terms

Example of Roosevelt’s Square Deal – all won something

• TR’s TriumphsElected by landslide to

second termHepburn Bill – regulated

railroads and made the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) more powerful

Pure Food and Drug Act passed after Roosevelt read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

• Roosevelt Tilts Left Became more Progressive as

time passed Conservation laws Favored income tax, regulation

of interstate corporations, and reforms for industrial workers

Roosevelt lost support of conservatives and the courts and failed to pass further reform legislation as his term ended

• William Howard Taft Chosen by TR as his

successor 1908 Election – Taft versus

Bryan Loyal to TR but also

acceptable to conservatives due to his lack of aggressiveness

Lacked stamina of TR Signed the Manns-Elkins

Act of 1910 giving more power to the ICC

• Ballinger-Pinchot ControversyBallinger, Secretary of the Interior, took

actions concerning waterpower sites that alarmed conservationists and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot

Pinchot launched attacks on Ballinger when he seemed to surrender to mining interests

Taft supported Ballinger and dismissed Pinchot

Pinchot was a close friend of TR’s

Pinchot as well as other leaders such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge complained to TR about Taft

The friendship between Taft and TR was ruptured – a split also between Republican conservatives and Progressives

TR came out with a new Progressive program he called New Nationalism that called for expansion of federal power

Taft’s order to break up US Steel was the final blow to his relationship with TR who had made deals with some of the corporations – it made TR look like a fool or a dupe

Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination of 1912

The Republican machine supported Taft and Roosevelt lost the nomination

Supporters urged Roosevelt to run on a third party ticket – the Bull Moose Party (Progressive Party)

• The Election of 1912 Democrats nominated

Woodrow Wilson, governor of New Jersey

Wilson a Progressive His reform policies called

New Freedom – federal government best suited to advance the cause of social justice

Goal to break the trusts and control business

Republican split gave victory to Wilson

• Wilson and New Freedom1913 Underwood Tariff – reduced duties with lowered

revenue to be replaced by income taxFederal Reserve Act

• Divided nation into 12 banking districts each under a a federal reserve bank (a bank for bankers)

• All participating banks had to invest 6% of capital and surplus in reserve bank

• Reserve bank empowered to exchange paper money for commercial and agricultural paper used by borrowers as security

• Gold no longer dictated volume of currency

Federal Reserve Board in Washington had some control over interest rates and member banks which could influence money supply during inflation and recession

1914 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – protected the public against trusts

Clayton Anti-Trust Act – made certain business practices illegal – exempted unions

Wilson was done – did not seek further reforms

• Progressives and Minority RightsGenerally, Progressives were not sympathetic to non-

whites and certain immigrant groups including Asians, Southern and Eastern Europeans

1907 Gentlemen’s Agreement excluded Japanese from immigrating

Indians were seen as inferior and second-class citizens

1902 Dead Indian Land Act made it easier for Indians to sell lands

Segregation for blacks became even stricterEducation and equal rights were argued

against by conservatives and Progressives alike

Between 1900 and 1914 over 1100 blacks were murdered by mobs

The influence of Booker T. Washington was waning and accommodation was no seen as desirable

• Black Militancy W. E. B. DuBois

• First black to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard

• Cooperated with Washington but broke away and became more militant

• Elitist – blacks would be saved by the “talented tenth”

• Met at Niagara Falls in 1905 – issued list of demands including unrestricted right to vote and equal justice in courts

• Attracted some sympathy from descendents of abolitionists

• 1909 – White liberals and blacks established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)- leadership primarily white

• Roosevelt no different than earlier presidents and Wilson antipathetic to blacks- believed segregation in the best interests of both races

• DuBois attacked Wilson’s policies in The Crisis