Post on 20-Mar-2020
The Progressive EraThe Progressive Era
Four Goals of Reformers1. Protect social welfare
2. Promote moral development
3. Secure economic reform
4. Foster efficiency
Social Gospel
• Jane Addams
WCTU
Economic Reform
Debs encouraged workers to reject American capitalism
• The Panic of 1893 (and 1907)
Muckrakers
• Ida Tarbell
• Upton Sinclair
Fostering Efficiency
• Frederick Taylor
Cleaning Up Local Government
• Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants’ influence on local governments.
Regulating Big Business
• La Follette promoted partnership between government and the experts at the University of Wisconsin.
Robert La Follette
Protecting Working Children
• Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918
Efforts To Limit Hours
• Laws reducing women’s hours of work.
• Worker’s compensation
Election Reform• Secret ballots,
referendums, and recalls.
• Petitions and initiatives
• In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system.
Direct Election Of Senators
• Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen U.S. senators.
• Progressives pushed for popular election of senators.• WHY?
• 1913: 17th Amendment
Women in Public Life
• By the late 19th and early 20th century, women were joining the workforce.
Women in the Work Force
• Opportunities for women increased especially in the cities. By 1900, one out of five women worked.
• The garment industry was popular as were office work, retail, and education.
Women Lead Reform
• Many of the leading Progressive reformers were women.
Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel
Women and Reform
• In 1896, black women formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).
• Suffrage Issue
Three-Part Strategy for Winning Suffrage
• Suffragettes
1. Convincing state legislatures to adopt the vote.
2. Pursuing court cases to test 14th
Amendment.
3. Pushing for national Constitutional amendment.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• When President William McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th president
McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
A Modern President
• BULLY PULPIT
Trust-Busting
• By 1900, trusts – legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies – controlled 80% of U.S. industries.
• Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
1902 Coal Strike• In 1902, 140,000 coal miners
in Pennsylvania went on strike
• Roosevelt called in both sides and settled the dispute.
• Precedent set: Govt. would help settle disputes
The Progressive EraThe Progressive Era
“The Jungle” Leads to Food Regulation
• Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906
• Truth in labeling
• Illegal to sell unsafe drugs
Roosevelt and the Environment
• New Govt. role: Conservation
Roosevelt’s Environmental Accomplishments
• TR set aside 148 million acres of forest
• 1.5 million acres of water-power sites
• 50 wildlife sanctuaries
• Several national parks
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Roosevelt and Civil Rights
• Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans.
• He did, however, support Booker T. Washington• Tuskegee Institute
1909: NAACP Formed
• The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914
• Methods
• W.E.B. Du Bois.
Progressivism under President Taft
• Taft “busted” 90 trusts in 4 years–more than Theodore Roosevelt during his 8 years in office.
Taft, right, was Roosevelt’s War Secretary
Taft Loses Power
• Unpopular president
• He called the Presidency, the “lonesomest” job in the world.”
1912 Election
• Republicans split (TR returns from African safari to run)
• Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party): Roosevelt.
• Democrats: New Jersey governor, Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson’s New Freedom
• Attack on “the triple wall of privilege”
• Trusts• Tariffs• Wall Street
1914: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• A “watchdog” agency
• Protects consumers from business fraud.
Federal Income Tax Arrives
16th Amendment
Sports in the Progressive Era
• Football: Popular in Elite Schools
Harvard Football, 1890
Football Soon Became Most Popular in What Region?
• A. Northeast (Ivy League)
• B. Midwest
• C. South
• D. Far West (California)
Boxing
Boxing in 1860Boxing in Progressive Era
Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race
• Jack Johnson: Heavyweight Champion
Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race
• Jack Johnson: Black Champion
• Jim Jeffries Refuses to Fight
Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race
• Jack Johnson: Black Champion
• Jim Jeffries Refuses to Fight
• Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson (1908)
Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century
Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era
Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century
• Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era
• “Hope of the White Race” vs. “The Negroes Deliverer”
Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century
• Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era
• “Hope of the White Race” vs. “The Negroes’ Deliverer”
• Johnson Wins Big
White Reaction to Johnson’s Victory
• TR: “A blot on our twentieth century American civilization”
• Days of Rioting; Eighteen Killed and Hundreds Injured.
• The FBI and the Mann Act