Politics and Progressivism

• By Jack Garrity

• Book pages 436-440

• Election 1900 McKinley vs Bryant

1900 Election• As in 1896, Bryan embarked on a speaking tour around the country while McKinley

stayed at home, this time making only one speech, to accept his nomination.

1900 Election• Teddy  Roosevelt emerged as the campaign's primary speaker and

his energetic personality dominated the election.]

1900 Election

• Free silver still a big issue to voters• Republicans focused on victory in war and prosperity at home

(war brought made the US economy boom). They favored lowing the tariff.• Bryant knew the war had been popular, even if the imperialism

was not, so democrats focused on the issue of trusts and corporate power, painting McKinley as the servant of capital and big business.]

McKinley Assassinated• On September 6, 1901, an anarchist assassinated McKinley as

he was about to give a speech at a Pan American Fair in Buffalo New York.

McKinley Assassinated• On September 6, 1901, an anarchist assassinated McKinley as

he was about to give a speech at a Pan American Fair in Buffalo New York.

McKinley Assassinated• Leon Czolgosz shot him twice in

the stomach after being encouraged to do something heroic by the anarchist Emma Goldman.

Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy) September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909

•  1. Americans began to look to the federal government to solve the nation’s economic and social problems. • 2. Executive branch of government increased its power.• 3. The ICC could set rates• 4. Agriculture Department could inspect food• 5. the Bureau of Corporations could monitor business, and the attorney general could rapidly bring antitrust lawsuits under the Expedition• 6. Expanded the National Park System• 7. US Imperialism and Social Darwinist• 8. Panama Canal

• Teddy Roosevelt's reputation was further boosted when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the Russo Japanese War.

William Howard Taft (1909-1913)•  1.  First Governor of the

Philippines. • 2. Created the Children’s Bureau

problems with child labor, and public schools for all kids.

• 3. Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, which increased the regulatory powers of the ICC.

• 4. Reduced Tariffs (they reduced completion)

• 5. Tried to break up US Steel using the Sherman Anti Trust Act (monopolies are anti completion and make industry less efficient)

• Teddy Roosevelt broke with Taft over US Steel. In late February 1912, Roosevelt tried to replace Taft as the Republican nominee, then ran as a 3rd Party.

Election of 1912• Roosevelt’s Square Deal and Taft’s campaign accepted the

economic power of the trusts as a fact of life and proposed a more powerful federal government and a strong executive to regulate them.• Woodrow Wilson countered with what he called the New

Freedom. Monopolies, he believed, were evils to be destroyed, not regulated.

• All clamed to be members of the progressive movement.

• Progressivism is the term applied to a variety of responses to the economic and social problems rapid industrialization introduced to America. Progressivism began as a social movement and grew into political movements in each party.

Wilson won the Presidency as two former Republican presidents ran, splitting the Republican vote.

Woodrow Wilson Democrat progressive 1913-1921 •  1. Summer of 1914, Wilson’ created the

Federal Trade Commission that could break up monopolies and take capitalists to court for breaking fair trade practices. (FTC)• 2. Created the Federal Reserve Bank• 3. Outlawed Child Labor in Factories

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act• 4. Adamson Act the eight-hour workday

• 5. Underwood Tariff reduces tariff by 50 percent (1890)

• 6. Women Win Right to Vote (1920)

Woodrow Wilson’s Diplomacy He strongly believed in spreading democracy, not empire, and that the United States should promote democracy, making a peaceful world free of revolution and wars.

• But Events in Mexico and Europe soon put Wilson’s belief in democracy and freedom to the test.