PROGRESSIVE ERA: Policies & Reforms

Piernick & Maddox

The Gilded Age1. Mark Twain coined the term

Gilded Age implies a thin layer of gold (symbolizing prosperity)covering all the problems of the era.

 2. The practice of laissez-faire in

the 19th century limited government involvement in business practices

 3. Social Darwinism proclaimed

that God had granted power and wealth to those who deserved it most

(laissez--‐faire)  

4. The Republican administrations of the late 19th century expressed pro‐business stance by maintaining very high tariff rates to protect American industry

 5. The financial success of robber barons

like J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller benefitted the United States by using their wealth to fund universities, medical research, and transportation networks

6. Horizontal and Vertical Integration practices were used to monopolize industry.

•The wealthy showed off their wealth and were snobbish and stuck up…….Ostentatious wealth

or conspicuous consumption

•Time of corruption, scandals in local, state and national government.

•President Grant’s scandals

•Election of 1876

•William Boss Tweed

•President Garfield’s assassination

Gilded Age 1870 to 1900

Under the Spoils System (patronagepatronage), it allowed the victorious party in any election to reward their loyal supporters by giving them government jobs

During the Gilded Age, the Republicans and Democrats had roughly the same number of supporters. – To keep party members loyal, candidates rewarded

supporters and tried to avoid controversial issues.

The Republicans appealed to the

industrialists, bankers, and eastern farmers.

They favored the gold standard (sound moneysound money)

and high tariffsBlue laws, regulations that prohibited certain

activities people considered immoral.

The Democratsattracted the less privileged groups.

such as northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters, and

western farmers.Supported soft money

and silver coinage.

President President Rutherford HayesRutherford Hayes

Elected in 1877 Reformed the civil service,

appointing qualified political independents

instead of giving positions to supporters.

No Congressional support or from the Republican

Party. Hayes did not seek a

second term.

President James A. President James A. GarfieldGarfield

1880 election, Republicans were split into 3 factions.

Stalwarts defended the spoils system—Senator Roscoe Conkling

Half-Breeds reform but still supported it– Senator James Blaine

Independents opposed the spoils system.

Garfield wanted reforms. His running-mate was Chester

Arthur, a Stalwart. July 2, 1881 Garfield was assassinated by a Stalwart who

wanted Arthur as president.

•Garfield was assassinated because a man was outraged that he was passed over for a job that he thought he should gotten through the spoils system

•Led to VP Chester Arthur becoming

president

•Supported a change to the corrupt spoils system.•Arthur Chester Signed into the law the Pendleton ActPendleton Act

also called the Civil Service Actthe Civil Service Act.

•Required candidates applying for government positions to a test to determine their qualifications.

Arthur Reforms the Civil Service After the assassination, President Arthur was able to get congressional support for the Pendleton Civil Service Act. which created a commission of classified government jobs

Political MachinePolitical Machine• Organized group that

controls a city’s political party

• Give services to voters, businesses for political, financial support

• After Civil War, machines gain control of major cities

• Machine organization: precinct captains, ward bosses, city boss

The Emergence of The Emergence of Political MachinesPolitical Machines

The Role of the Political Boss• May serve as mayor; he:

• controls city jobs, business licenses• influences courts, municipal agencies• arranges building projects, community services

• Bosses paid by businesses, get voters’ loyalty, extend influenceImmigrants and the Machine

• Many captains, bosses 1st or 2nd generation Americans• Machines help immigrants with naturalization, jobs, housing

Election Fraud and Graft• Machines use electoral fraud to win elections• GraftGraft—illegal use of political influence for personal gain• Machines take kickbacks, bribes to allow legal, illegal activities

•Corrupt political leader put New York City in debt

Political bossPolitical boss

•1851 elected to city council

•1852 served in Congress

•Kept Democratic Party in power in NYC called Tammany Hall

•Formed the Tweed Ring

•Bought votes, encouraged corruption, controlled NYC politics

Received large fees for interests

(*kickbackskickbacks) from the Erie Railroad

Tweed Ring milked the city with false

leases, padded bills, false vouchers,

unnecessary repairs and over-priced goods

*Return of a portion of the money received in a sale or contract often illegal and corrupt in return for

special favors.

Exposed for his corruption by cartoonist and

editor, Thomas Nast

Tweed Ring fell and 1873 Tweed

convicted of embezzlement

Later Tweed was arrested on a civil

charge and jailed in NYC, later died

there

Credit MobilierCredit Mobilier•Phony construction company

owned by stockholders of Union Pacific Railroad.

•Hired Credit Mobilier to build the transcontinental railroad

•Charged the U.S. government nearly twice the actual cost of the project.

•Bribed Congress to stop the investigation. •Largest scandal in U.S. history, and led to

greater public awareness of government corruption.

Whiskey RingWhiskey Ring•A group of President Grant’s officials

imported whiskey

•Used their offices to avoid paying taxes

•Cheated US treasury of millions.Salary GrabSalary Grab

•Congress gave itself a raise, $5,000 to $7,500 annually.

•Congressmen received a retroactive check for $5,000, plus their raise……

•Became a political issue….Later repealed.

Section 1:The Progressive Movement

People who believed in political; economics and social reform came to be known as progressives.

Muckrakers

Muckrakers used their writing to crusade for changes in government and the way businesses operated; an end to child labor; and safer working conditions; among other causes.

Famous Muckrakers

Jacob Riis-publicized the unsafe and unhealthy living conditions of immigrants in NYC.

Lincoln Steffens-wrote about corruption in city politics.

John Spargo-used his writing to campaign for an end to child labor.

Upton Sinclair Sinclair wrote

about unsafe and unhealthy conditions in the meatpacking industry.

Sinclair

He uncovered disgusting truths including, meat falling on the ground, rats and other rodents being grounded into the meat, and mislabeling the products.

Congress responded by passing the Meat Inspection Act in 1906, along with the Pure Food and Drug Act, banning the sale of harmful food

Section 2: Government Reform

Corruption included officials accepting bribes and party leaders or “bosses” buying votes at election time.

Candidates were chosen by the political machine boss.

Now state voters could choose their candidates in a Primary

17th Amendment

Progressive changed the way U.S. Senators were elected.

The constitution allowed state legislatures to vote for senators directly.

In 1912, Congress passed the 17th Amendment to the constitution to allow direct election of Senators.

This means that voters in a state were now able to vote for the candidate they wanted.

Section 3: Social Reforms

Several progressives wanted reforms to improve people’s lives

Tenement House Law in 1901- provided stricter building codes for the construction of tenement houses

1906-Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act & the Pure Food & Drug Act.

National Child Labor Committee was formed to abolish child labor.

Prohibition-legal ban on selling alcohol. Alcohol was closely associated with corruption.

Success

The anti-alcohol movement grew in the 1900’s. People that wanted to ban alcohol for social

reasons joined together with people who wanted to ban alcohol for religious or moral reasons.

In 1917, the 18th Amendment made it illegal to sell alcohol in the United States.

Section 4: Women’s Suffrage & Discrimination

Women were angry when the 15th Amendment did not give them the right to vote.

Suffrage is the right of women to vote. A person who fought for the right to vote

was a Suffragist Famous ones were Elizabeth Cady Stanton

and Susan B. Anthony.

Two Groups

The National Women’s Suffrage Association fought for an amendment to the constitution

The American Woman Suffrage Association focused on winning suffrage in state elections.

In 1890 the two groups came together, women’s voting rights.

Victory in the West

New Western States started to allow suffrage

Wyoming led the nation and was first to let women vote in 1890. Between 1910 and 1913, five other states adopted woman suffrage.

By 1919, women could vote in most elections.

Fight for an Amendment cont…

By 1917, New York granted suffrage and the national tide began to turn.

The senate passed the 19th Amendment in 1919, which game women the right to vote.

President Wilson passed it in fear he would lose national support. (At the time World War I was taking place)

Prejudice

Non-White, Non-protestant, -Non Native residents faced Discrimination – unequal treatment because of one’s race, religion, ethnic background, or place of birth.

Around this time there was: Anti-Catholicism – Anti Catholics Anti-Semitism – Anti Jewish Anti-Asian – Prejudice against all countries in

Asia

Discrimination Against African Americans

4/5 African Americans lived in the South

The Supreme Court passed Plessy vs. Ferguson, a court case that legalized segregation which was separating a group based on race. The court case recognized “separate, but equal”.

Nothing was separate but equal in reality

Racial Hatred

People who lost their jobs between 1893 and 1907 blamed minorities.

More than 2,000 African Americans were lynched. Lynching were used against Chinese in the West.

Struggle for Equal Opportunity

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery, learned to read, and founded the Tuskegee Institute

He believed of African Americans should achieve economic independence. Political rights would come later.

W.E.B Du Bois

Leader of the Niagara Movement. They believed African-American should achieve political equality before economic equality.

Formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Goals to end segregation and racial discrimination.

Section 5:

Progressive Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was elected to the office of Vice President

Roosevelt became president in 1901 when President William Mckinley was assassinated.

Roosevelt wanted to regulate trusts; but not do away with them.

Trustbuster

Roosevelt was extremely progressive He earned the nickname “trustbuster”

for his enforcement of antitrust laws. He wanted to break up big corporations.

Roosevelt’s administration prosecuted 43 antitrust cases in 7 years.

Square Deal

When Roosevelt ran for president in 1904, he promised a Square Deal – equal treatment for all.

He also promised government would regulate business

Before this, the country practiced Laissez-faire. This French term generally means, “let people do as they choose.”

He supported the pure food and drug act, which gave government permission to visit businesses and inspect products

President Taft

No president had run for more than two terms. So Roosevelt did not run again

Taft easily defeated democrat William Jennings Bryan

He was not as exciting as Roosevelt, but won more anti-trust cases in 4 years than Roosevelt did in 7 years.

Under Roosevelt

He supported policies to conserve or save the environment

Forest Service was established in 1905 and 100 million acres were protected as national forests.

5 national parks; 51 federal wildlife reservation and 150 national forests were set up.

Problems for Taft Taft was expected to continue Roosevelt’s

policies. Taft supported the 16th Amendment – which

gave congress the power to tax people’s incomes. (Money they make)

Progressives believed Taft would use the money to lower tariffs, but tariffs stayed the same and progressives were angry.

Roosevelt was watching and was disappointed and enraged.

Roosevelt Challenges Taft

In 1912 Roosevelt decided to run against Taft.

Taft won the republican nomination over Roosevelt, but Roosevelt was still very popular

Roosevelt and his supporters formed the Progressive Party. They nominated Roosevelt.

Election of 1912

The republican vote was split between Roosevelt and Taft

Woodrow Wilson, the democrat snuck in and stole the election. He gained 42% of the popular vote, Roosevelt got 27% and Taft got 22%.

Wilson almost swept the election, receiving 435 of 531 electoral votes.

Wilson continues Progressivism

Wilson’s asked Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act that gave the federal government authority over banking industry.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was to look for unfair trade; or business; practices in the way companies operated.

In the end; Wilson was more of a progressive than Roosevelt. Many of the reforms begun in Roosevelt’s term were carried out in Wilson’s term.

•President McKinley had just been re-elected in 1900 and beginning his 2nd term when he was assassinated in

1901…

•VP Roosevelt became President (huge shift).

William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt

Gilded Age Politics

James Blaine (Republican) accepted free railroad stock while voting to support bills favorable to the railroad industry (lost election to Cleveland)Grover Cleveland (fathered a child before he has married) became the first Democratsince 1856 to be elected president.The issue of tariffs remained a major one throughout the 1880s and into the 1890s, withEastern business interests leading the charge for higher tariffs William McKinley (1896 Election) first “modern” president, amassed a large amount ofPower in the office of the presidency

The EndReform MovementsProgressive Era Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

Roosevelt TrustbusterPresident Theodore Roosevelt sought to limit the effects of industrial consolidation by bringing suit against specific monopolies under the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890);In Northern Securities Company v.United States (1904), the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of a proposed monopoly in the railroad industryo Gospel of Wealth was the philosophy that wealthy Americans bore the responsibility ofUsing their great fortunes to further social progressThomas Nast sought to fight political corruption through his creation and publication of political cartoons.Edward Bellamy wrote Looking Backward which showed that cooperation between the workers and the bosses had replaced the ruthless capitalism that existed in the Gilded Ageo Jacob Riis published How the Other Half Lives which accounted slum life in New York City (contained photographs)o Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle which exposed the meatpacking industry and created aNeed for reform and regulation