AP Chapter 28
Transcript of AP Chapter 28
Progressive Roots
• Modern society too complex for simple gov.
• Progressive attacks in literature:
– Henry Demarest Lloyd: Wealth against Common
Wealth (attack on Standard Oil)
– Bryan Atgeld: ―boated‖ trusts=corruption
– Thorstein Veblen: Theory of the Leisure Class—attack
on the ―predatory wealth‖
– Theodore Dreiser: The Financier and The Titan—
attack on promoters & profiteers
– Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives
• Documented NY slums
• Influenced NY Police Commissioner—Teddy Roosevelt
• (see photos next slide)
Progressive Roots--continued
• Socialists—often European Immigrants
• Social Gospel—Progressivism based on
Christian principles
• Feminists: suffrage & other urban reforms
– i.e. Jane Addams (Hull House) and Lillian
Wald
Jane Addams
and Hull House
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
• “Muckrakers”—Term given by T. Roosevelt for those writers who exposed social wrongs (w/o suggested remedies)
“…the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck-rake, speedily becomes, not a help to society, not an incitement to good, but one of the most potent forces for evil.” ~Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
• 10-15 Cent Magazines— ―dirt‖ sold magazines
– Well researched to avoid legal action
– McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s, & Everybody’s
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
• Lincoln Steffens: ―Shame of the Cities‖– McClure articles about alliance of big
business & municipal government
• Ida M. Tarbell: Expose on Standard Oil Co.
• Thomas W. Lawson: ―Frenzied Finance‖– Showed dishonest dealing of fellow
stock market speculators (he had earned $50 million)
• David G. Phillips: ―The Treason of the Senate‖– 75 of 90 senators represented railroads
& trusts, not the people
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers--cont.
• Ray Stannard Baker—Following
the Color Line
– Subjugation of 9 million, mostly
illiterate, African Americans in the
South
• John Spargo—The Bitter Cry of
Children
– Abuses of child labor
• Dr. Harvey W. Wiley: Attacked
patent medicines for using harmful,
addictive ingredients
Political Progressivism
• Progressive
reformers:
– Middle class
– Pressure from upper
and lower classes
• Progressive goals:
– State power to curb
trusts
– Stop socialism by
improving common
people’s
circumstances
Political Reforms
• Direct primary elections
– Undercut power-hungry party bosses
• “Initiative”
– Voters can directly propose legislation
• “Referendum”
– Place laws on ballot for final approval by the people
• “Recall”
– Voters can remove bad elected officials
• 17th Amendment (1913)
– Direct elections of U.S. Senators
Progressivism in the Cities
• City Reform
– Some changed to expert-staffed commissions
to manage urban affairs, (i.e. Galveston, TX)
– City Manager System: designed to take
politics out of municipal administration
– Reformers also focused on ―slumlords,‖
juvenile delinquency, prostitution, & sale of
franchise for public utilities
Progressivism in the States
• Robert M. La Follette—Wisconsin gov.– Routed out entrenched lumber &
railroad monopoly interests in state government
– Regulated public utilities
• Hiram W. Johnson—CA governor– Broke Southern Pacific Railroad
control in CA politics
• Charles Evans Hughes —NY governor– Investigator of malpractice of gas &
insurance co. and coal trust
Women Suffrage
• ―Feminists‖
• Reformers believed that women’s votes would elevate the political tone
• ―No taxation w/o representation‖
• Some western states already had women voters
• By 1910—Nation-wide suffrage is still decade away
• Public Attitude: A suffragists was ―one who had ceased to be a lady and has not yet become a gentleman.‖
Progressive Women
• Settlement houses opened door
to public life for women
• Women’s clubs—focused on
social issues
• ―Separate Spheres‖
– woman’s place was in the home
– Female progressives believed
social work was extension of this
―sphere‖
– Drawn to moral and ―maternal‖
issues
• Child labor, factory conditions, etc.
Progressive Women
• Women’s Trade Union League & National Consumers League
– Mobilized women workers and consumers to pressure for laws protecting women & children workers
• Children’s Bureau & Women’s Bureau
– Part of Department of Labor
– ―National stage for social investigation & advocacy‖
• Florence Kelley—IL first chief factory inspector
Progressive Women
• Judicial role:
– Muller v. Oregon (1908)
• Laws protecting women workers are constitutional
– Lochner v. New York(1905)
• Supreme Court invalidated 10 hour work day for bakers
– 1917—Court upheld 10 hours work day for factory workers
Progressive Women
• Safety Laws not often enforced
– Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire
• Violation of fire code
• 146 female workers died because doors were
locked shut
• Incidents caused public pressured for stronger
safety and working hours laws
Progressive Women
• Female progressives
versus ―Corner Saloons‖
– Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union
(WCTU)
• Frances E. Willard—
leader
• 1 million women members
– Some states passed
―dry‖ laws
– Big cities remained
―wet‖—immigrant
customs
TR’s Square Deal for Labor
• Teddy Roosevelt—focused
Progressivism
– ―Square Deal‖—for capital, labor, and the
public
– 3 “C’s‖ --control of:
• Corporations
• Consumer protection
• Conservation of natural resources
TR’s Square Deal for Labor
• Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine—
1902
– 140,000 workers on strike
– Owners refused to negotiate
– Roosevelt acts as mediator
• TR Has to threaten owners with federal control
of mine
TR’s Square Deal for Labor
• Department of Commerce & Labor-
1903
– Helped with issues between labor and
owners
– Bureau of Corporations
• Authorized to investigate interstate businesses
• Helped break monopolies
TR Corrals the Corporations
• “Taming” the railroad
octopus
– Elkins Act (1903)—Heavy
fines for giving rebates
– Hepburn Act (1906)—Free
passes (bribery) restricted
– Interstate Commerce
Commission —power to
nullify existing rates and set
maximum rates
TR Corrals the Corporations
• ―good trusts‖ and ―bad trusts‖
– TR did not go after ALL trusts
– ―Bigness‖ wasn’t necessarily bad
– Wanted government, not business to
control the company
• Northern Securities Company
– Monopoly of all Northeast Railroads
– TR attacked and it was disbanded
– Action held up by Supreme Court
• Teddy goes after 40 other trusts
Caring for the Consumer
• American meat— botulism
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair—
book about meat packing plant
– Purpose was to show plight of workers
– Public reaction was unsanitary
conditions
• T. Roosevelt appointed special
investigating commission—led to:
– Meat Inspection Act (1906)
• Inspection of meat crossing interstate lines
– Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
• Prevent adulteration & mislabeling of food
and drugs
Theodore Roosevelt and the Environment
“We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the cola, iron, gas, and the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would.”
~Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Earth Control
• Wasting of natural resources
– TR wanted to protect land & use resources wisely—able to set aside 125 million acres, coal deposits, & water resources
• Desert Land Act (1877)
– Cheap arid land if irrigated it in 3 years
• Forest Reserve Act (1891)-
– Set aside public forests as national parks
• Carey Act (1894)
– Federal lands to states if irrigated & settled
Earth Control
• John Muir —naturalist, influenced TR
• Gifford Pinchot —head of federal Division of Forestry
• Newlands Act (1902)– Collect $ from public lands in west
and use for irrigation projects• i.e. Roosevelt Dam
• Call of the Wild by Jack London– This & other books about nature
read in cities
• Sierra Club—preserve wilderness in West
The Roosevelt Panic of 1907
• Roosevelt easily re-elected in 1904
• Conservative Republicans didn’t trust him
• Announced would not run again 1908– Reduced his power—would be
gone in 4 yrs
• Panic of 1907– Panic on Wall Street
– TR blamed
– Led to fiscal reforms• Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908)
– Authorized national banks to issue emergency currency
The Rough Rider Thunders Out
• Election of 1908
– Teddy Roosevelt bound by promise not to run for 3rd
term
– Handpicks Secretary of War, William Howard Taft
– Democrats pick William Jennings Bryan
– Dull campaign—voters chose stability
• Socialist did have 3rd party candidate: Eugene V. Debbs
• T. Roosevelt’s legacy
– Nature conservation
– Held back socialism by regulating business
Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole
• William Howard Taft
– Moderate Progressive
– Lacked Roosevelt’s force of
personality & enjoyment of
conflict
– Passive toward Congress
– Misread public opinion
– ―foot in mouth‖ disease
The Dollar as a Diplomat
• Taft used ―dollar diplomacy‖ to boost
American foreign interests
– Wall Street bankers would invest in
countries, such as the Far East and
Panama
– Strengthen defenses & preempt other
countries from investing
• Haiti & Honduras —give money to
keep stability and prevent other
foreign interests (Monroe Doctrine)
• Cuba, Honduras, Dominican
Republic Nicaragua —American
forces sent to ensure stability
Taft the Trustbuster
• Taft attacked more trusts than T. Roosevelt (90 in 4 years versus 44 in 7 years)
• 1911-Supreme Court ordered dissolution of Standard Oil Company– Violation of Sherman Anti-Trust Act
(1890)
– ―Rule of reason‖—doctrine that combinations that ―unreasonably‖ restrained trade were illegal
• Taft attacked U.S. Steel Corporation trust– Infuriates TR who had personally
helped merger
Taft Splits the Republican Party
• Protective tariffs— ―mother of all trusts‖– Taft campaign promise to reduce tariffs
• Payne-Aldrich Bill (1909)– Moderate changes + hundreds of upward tariff
revisions
– Progressive wing of G.O.P. feel betrayed by Taft
• Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel– Secretary of Interior Ballinger opened up some
western lands to the public
– Pinchot disagrees and Taft fires him for insubordination
• T. Roosevelt returns to NY and openly criticizes Taft
• Republicans lose majority in congressional elections of 1910