The Progressive Era

(1890s-1920s)

Problems during the Gilded Age?

• Unequal distribution of wealth• Poor working conditions– long hours, few safety precautions, child labor

• Few protections for consumers• Overcrowding, sickness, disease, unsanitary• Racism, discrimination (race, gender)• Inadequate (no) health care• Moral vices• Political corruption…

Response to the Gilded Age?

• The Progressive Movement– Personal Responsibility v. Social Baseline

• If the “system” or those with the ability to do so are not going to look out for the best interest of the people, who will?

Progressivism• Not a single, unified movement, but most

progressives held four common beliefs:

1. Gov. should be more accountable to its citizens

2. Gov. should curb power and influence of wealthy interests

3. Gov. should be given expanded powers to become active in improving lives of citizens

4. Gov. should become more efficient and less corrupt (so that they could competently handle this expanded role)

Progressives Overall

• Were of average wealth/status

• Wanted a government free of corruption that would guard the welfare of workers and the poor

Socialism

• An economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of property and income

• Progressive era saw rise in popularity of socialism, but NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES WERE SOCIALISTS!

Urban Conditions:

Settlement Movement

• Hull House, Chicago 1889

• Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr

Jacob Riis

• Emmigrated from Denmark (1870, 21yrs)

• Flash Photography

• Photojournalism

• (The one who bought the gun!)

• How the Other Half Lives (1890)

Building Codes

• Second NYC Tenement Act (1879) mandated an outward facing window in every room

• Led to creation of dumbbell tenements with “air shafts” between buildings to let in fresh air/light

• Garbage tended to accumulate between buildings, attracting rats

Municipal Corruption

• Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of Cities (1904)– Originally published as articles in McClure’s

• Thomas Nast – Harper’s Weekly Cartoonist

Big Business

• Unionization– Knights of Labor – Uriah Stephens (1869)– American Fed. of Labor – Samuel Gompers (1881)

• Ida Tarbell – The History of the Standard Oil Co. (1904)

• Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (1906)

Progressive Reforms

Early Federal Reforms

• Interstate Commerce Act (1887)– Created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)– Regulated Railroads

• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)– Not all trusts broken up, but maintained competition– Designed to prevent “Price Fixing,” or the artificial

raising of prices– Not strictly enforced

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)

• Republican, Progressive, Outdoorsman, Conservationist

• Veteran of Spanish American War

TR’s “Square Deal”• 1902 United Mine Workers coal strike

• Union ignored an injunction

• Used arbitration and threatened federal intervention

• 1903 “Square Deal” became slogan of his presidency

Antitrust Activism

• TR Enforced Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890– Northern Securities Company in 1904– Beef trust, Standard Oil, and American Tobacco

Company broken up

• TR administration filed 42 antitrust actions

• Gained “trustbuster” nickname

Railroad Regulation

• Used presidential mandate to pass 1906 Hepburn Act– Gave the ICC strong enforcement powers– Authorized ICC to set and limit RR rates to

prevent against “price gouging”

Protecting Public Health

• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

• Meat Inspection Act (1906)

• Laws required accurate labelling of ingredients, strict sanitary conditions, and a rating system for meats

Conservation

• National Reclamation Act (1902)– Money from sale of public lands used for irrigation

projects in arid states

• US Forest Service (1905)– Headed by Gifford Pinchot– “managed” resources

• TR set aside 200 million acres – Forests, reserves, and water projects

New Constitutional Amendments

• 16th Amendment (1913)– Authorized Congress to collect federal income tax

• 17th Amendment (1913)– Direct election of senators

• 18th Amendment (1919)– Prohibition

• 19th Amendment (1920)– Women’s suffrage

Progressive Political Reforms

• Power to the People (Populism)– Direct primaries– 17th: Popular vote of senators– Initiative: voters can put bills before legislature– Referendum: voters can vote on bills directly– Recall: voters can remove elected officials from

office– 19th: Women’s suffrage

Other Significant Legislation

• Cabinet-level Department of Labor (1913)

• Federal Reserve Act (1913)– Created federal reserve system of gov. banks to

provide flexible money supply

• National Park Service (1916)