Transcript The Progressive Era

The Progressive
Era
Standard 13 and 14
The Progressive Era
 From
1890 to 1920, reformers tried to
clean up problems (“progress”)
created during the Gilded Age:
 -Cities were plagued by slums,
crime, disease, tenements
 -City, state, & national gov’ts were
seen as corrupt & unresponsive to
the needs of Americans
 -Corporate monopolies limited
competition & workers’ wages
Social Gospel Movement
 In
the 1880s, many middle-class Protestant
Christians embraced the Social Gospel
movement:


To honor God, people must put aside their
own desires & help other people, especially
the poor
These ideas helped inspire Progressive
reform in U.S. cities

One of the earliest
progressive reforms
was the settlement house
movement led by Jane
Addams
 Addams’ Hull House in
Chicago offered baths,
cheap food, child care,
job training, health
care to poor citizens in
the slums
 Her efforts inspired
reformers in other
cities to build
settlement houses to
assist the poor
Urban Progressive
Reform
 Urban
reformers tried to improve the
lives of poor workers & children
 YMCA created libraries & gyms for
young men & children
 The Salvation Army created soup
kitchens & nurseries
 Florence Kelley fought to create
child labor laws & laws limiting work
hours for women
Prohibition
 Many
reformers saw
alcohol abuse as serious
urban problem:



Women’s Christian
Temperance Union
worked to end alcohol
Reformers gained
prohibition laws in most
states & outlawed
alcohol throughout the
USA with the 18th
Amendment in 1919
Hoped prohibition would
end corruption,
domestic violence, &
help “Americanize”
immigrants
 In
addition to the Social
Gospel, progressive
reformers were aided by
a new, investigative
journalism:
 Muckrakers were
journalists who
exposed problems like
poverty, corruption,
monopolization
(“Investigate,
Educate, Legislate”)
 Popular monthly
magazines, like
McClure’s & Colliers,
used investigative
journalism & photos
What did Jacob Riis’
How the Other Half Lives (1890) expose?
Jacob Riis’ How the
Other Half Lives
(1890) exposed
urban poverty &
life in the slums
What did Ida Tarbell’s
The History of Standard Oil (1904) expose?
Ida Tarbell’s The
History of Standard
Oil (1904) revealed
Rockefeller’s
ruthless business
practices & called
for the break-up of
large monopolies
What did Upton Sinclair’s
The Jungle (1906) expose?
Upton Sinclair’s
The Jungle (1906)
revealed the
unsanitary
conditions of
slaughterhouses
& led to gov’t
regulation of
food industries
Conclusions
The
Progressive movement began
as an attempt to fix urban
problems
Reformers lacked unity & were
dedicated to their own causes
But their efforts led to a shift: gov’t
began to take responsibility for
citizens & intervene in their lives
Unlike the Populists, these reform
efforts led to real change
The Women’s Movement
In
the Gilded Age,
women had more
opportunities beyond
marriage:
New urban jobs as
secretaries, store
clerks, & telephone
operators gave a
sense of
independence
More girls graduated
from high school &
attended
universities
The Women’s Movement
Women
played an important role
as Progressive reformers:
Jane Addams led the settlement
house movement
Muckraker Ida Tarbell exposed
monopoly abuses of Standard Oil
Florence Kelley helped bring
about child & women labor laws
Carrie Nation & Frances Willard
helped push for prohibition
The Women’s Movement
 Women
reformers began to call
attention to their own lack of rights:
 In most states, married women
could not divorce or own property
 Women could not vote, but black,
immigrant, & illiterate men could
 Women workers were paid less
than men for doing the same jobs
 Middle & upper class women were
expected to serve domestic & child
rearing roles in the home
Reform for Women
Women reformers gained laws
that banned prostitution &
limited work hours for women to
10 hours
Margaret Sanger promoted
birth control for women:
Her journals provided
contraceptive information for
poor & middle-class women
Sanger opened the 1st birth
control clinic in the U.S. in 1915
Women’s Suffrage
 The
most significant
reform for women was
voting rights (suffrage)
 Women demanded
suffrage since
Seneca Falls in 1848
 Were frustrated in
1870 when the 15th
Amendment gave
black men the right
to vote but not
women
 In 1890, the National
American Women
Suffrage Association
(NAWSA) was formed
Women’s Suffrage
 NAWSA
leaders Susan B. Anthony & Carrie
Chapman Catt pressured states to let
women vote & called for a national suffrage
amendment
 By the early 1900s, most western states
allowed women to vote
 Finally in 1920, the states ratified the 19th
Amendment giving women to right to vote
19th Amendment:
The right of the citizens
of the United States to
vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the
United States or by any
Women’
State on account
of sex.
s
Suffrage
Before
1900
Reform for African-Americans
By
Plessy
v Ferguson (1896): were in
1900,
African-Americans
need
of progressive
Segregation
does notreform
violate the
th amendment & can be used as
14
80% of lived in rural areas in the
long
as separate
are equal
South,
most as facilities
sharecroppers
(“separate
but equal”)
Poll taxes
& literacy
tests limited
black voting rights
Lynching & violence were
common
Plessy v Ferguson (1896) allowed
Jim Crow laws to segregate in
restaurants, hotels, schools
African-American Reforms
 But,
black leaders were divided on how to
address racial problems


Booker T Washington was Harvard
educated, studied black urban culture, &
was 1st president of Tuskegee University
His “Atlanta Compromise” stressed black
self-improvement & accommodation with
whites
WEB DuBois
*W.E.B. DuBois was more
aggressive
-DuBois led the Niagara
Movement in 1905
calling for immediate
civil rights, integrated
schools, & promotion of
the “Talented 10th” to
be the next generation
of black civil rights
leaders
The NAACP
 In
1909, reformers formed the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) to fight for
black equality


DuBois was put in charge of The Crisis
publication to call attention to the cause
The NAACP used lawsuits to fight
segregation laws & voting restrictions
Reforms for African-Americans
Unlike
women, African-Americans
did not see significant changes:
Black reformers failed to
convince state or national
politicians to offer equality
By the end of the Progressive Era,
segregation & lynching were
common throughout the South &
in many parts of the U.S.
Government Reform
City,
state, & national
governments were in need of
reform:
Corrupt political machines
controlled city governments
Monopolists used their wealth to
influence politicians, encourage
monopolies, & fight labor laws
Political positions were gained
based on patronage not merit
Corruption scandals plagued the
national government
Urban Government Reform
In
the 1880s, reformers began to
demand change in city gov’ts:
Reformers tried to end patronage
(appointment based on loyalty)
by passing the Pendleton Act
which required merit-based exams
Reformers tried to make gov’t
more efficient & break the power
of machines by shifting power to
city commissions & managers
Progressive Reform in the States
Progressive reformers impacted
state governments too:
Most states created commissions
to oversee state spending
States began regulating railroads
& other big businesses to help
workers & promote competition
States passed laws limiting work
hours for children & women
Progressive Reform in the States
 The
most significant
state reform was
governor Robert La
Follette’s “Wisconsin
Idea”:


Used academic
“experts” from the
University of Wisconsin to
help create state laws
Wisconsin was the 1st
state to create an
income tax,
form industrial
commissions,
& regulate railroads
Progressives helped make state
governments more democratic
Recall:
Citizens
can vote to
remove an
elected
official
State of Texas
Initiative:
Citizens
can put an
Referendum:
issue
on avote
stateto
Citizens
ballot
& vote
increase
taxestofor
make
it a law
new programs
Progressive Reform in the States
 Progressives
helped make state governments
more democratic:


Most states had direct primary elections to allow
voters to choose candidates, not parties
In 1912, the 17th Amendment was ratified which
allowed for the direct election of Senators by the
people
Direct Primary
Elections
Increased Democracy in America during
the Progressive Era: Pictionary Review
In groups of 6, play Pictionary to test your
knowledge of progressive reforms that
increased democracy in America
One student per group will be “it”; Get a
vocabulary term from the teacher & draw
the idea on paper (1 minute limit)
Students in each group guess the term by
writing down their answer & delivering it
to the teacher; First 3 correct guesses per
team wins
A new “it” receives a topic for Round 2
For Teachers: Pictionary Terms
1.
Pendleton Act: Political
5.
appointments made by meritbased exam (not patronage)
2.
City Commission Gov’t:
City gov’t with a board of
commissioners not a mayor
3.
Wisconsin Idea: Governor
Bob LaFollette’s agenda of an
income tax & agencies to
regulate industry & railroads
4.
City Manager Gov’t:
Hired a trained manager to
handle the day-to-day details
of running a city government
Referendum: Citizens
get to vote on tax increases
to pay for gov’t programs
6.
Initiative: Citizens can
put an issue on a state ballot
and vote to make it a law
7.
Recall: Citizens can vote
to remove an elected official
& replace him with a more
qualified candidate
8.
17th Amendment:
Citizens (not state gov’ts) can
directly elect U.S. Senators
President Theodore Roosevelt
VP Theodore Roosevelt became
president after the assassination of
William McKinley in 1901
TR was a different kind of president
He thought the gov’t ought to
take responsibility for the welfare
of the American people
His agenda of progressive reform
was called the “Square Deal”
Theodore Roosevelt:
A “Modern” President
TR“It
was
committed
is the
duty of theto a
president
act upon the
series of to
reforms:
theory that
is the
Breaking
upheharmful
steward
of
the
people,
monopolies (called
and…to assume that he
“trustbusting”)
has the legal right to do
Regulating
businesses
whatever
the needs
of the
such as
railroads
& the
people
demand,
unless
meat
industry or the
the
Constitution
laws
explicitly forbid

Conservation
of him
do it”
naturaltoresources
Trustbusting
 During
the Gilded Age, Congress passed a series
of laws designed to keep big business in check:


The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was
formed in 1886 to regulate railroads
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 made it illegal for
companies to restrict trade
 But
neither of these laws were strict enough to
control monopolies
Trustbusting
 Roosevelt
saw the benefit
of efficient monopolies, but
wanted to control bad
trusts:


In 1902, the gov’t ordered
the Northern Securities
Company (a giant
railroad monopoly) broken
up because it violated the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Roosevelt
administration “busted” 25
trusts in 7 years
Supporting Workers
 In
1902, the United
Mine Workers went on
strike to demand higher
pay & an eight-hour
work day

The anthracite
coal strike lasted
11 months &
threatened the
nation as winter
approached
Supporting Workers
Unlike the Gilded Age
presidents, TR did not side with
the owners & break up the strike
TR forced both
sides to arbitrate
or face gov’t
seizure of the
coal mine
The result was
a “square deal” for both sides
Supporting Workers
Unlike the Gilded Age
presidents, TR did not side with
the owners & break up the strike
TR forced both
sides to arbitrate
or face gov’t
seizure of the
coal mine
The result was
a “square deal” for both sides
Regulating Business
 When
muckraker Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was
published, Roosevelt pushed for regulation of the
meat packing industry


Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906
To ban harmful products & end false medicine claims,
the Pure Food & Drug Act passed in 1906
Unregulated Food & Medicines:
The Need for the Pure Food & Drug Act
Conservation of the Environment
During
the Gilded Age,
corporations clear-cut forests &
viewed America’s natural resources
as endless
Roosevelt began the 1st national
environmental conservation
program
The gov’t protected 195 million
acres as off limits to businesses
The Reclamation Service to place
natural resources (oil, trees, coal)
under federal protection
The Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt


In 1908, Roosevelt
decided not to run for
re-election as president
TR’s presidency was
important because for
the first time, the
national government:



Regulated big business
Protected the
environment
Assumed responsibility
for the welfare of
workers & consumers
The Presidency of Taft
 Like
TR, Taft believed that the U.S. needed
progressive reform:



In his 4 years as president, Taft helped break up
twice as many monopolies as Roosevelt
Created the Children’s Bureau & pushed for child
labor laws
Helped create safety codes for coal miners &
railroad workers
The Presidency of Taft
But,
Taft did not always trust the
gov’t to solve problems & often
sided with conservative
Republicans
He angered progressives when
he supported a high tariff which
helped monopolies
He allowed a cabinet secretary
to sell 1 million acres of
conservation land to businesses
Progressive politicians hoped that
TR would run for president again
Progressives (& Roosevelt) began to view
Taft as having made a mess of TR’s reforms
The Election of 1912
TR
decided to run for president
in 1912 but the Republican Party
picked Taft as their candidate
TR created the Progressive
(“Bull Moose”) Party
Taft was the Republican
nominee & the Democrats ran
a reform governor, Woodrow
Wilson
Republican voters were divided
in whom to support: Roosevelt or
Taft
The Election of 1912 &
the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party)
I’m feeling as fit as a
“bull moose”
The Election of 1912
With the Republicans divided, Democrat
Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1912
Republicans divided by a Bull moose
equals a Democratic victory!
President Woodrow Wilson
“Progressive Amendments”
 President
Wilson oversaw a great wave of
progressive reforms:




16th Amendment created the
1st income tax in U.S. history
17th Amendment allowed for the direct-election of U.S.
Senators
18th Amendment outlawed alcohol (prohibition)
19th Amendment granted women the right to vote
(suffrage)
President Woodrow Wilson
President
Wilson oversaw a great
wave of progressive reforms:
Created the Federal Reserve to
regulate the economy by adjusting
the money supply & interest rates
The Clayton Anti-Trust Act limited
the ability of companies to form
monopolies & protected workers’
right to strike
The Federal Trade Commission
monitored unfair business practices
The End of Progressive Reform
 The
Progressive Era (1890-1920) brought major
changes:



Gov’t regulation of big business
Improvements in U.S. cities
More democracy for the people
 But,
the outbreak of World War I in Europe
distracted Americans & brought an end to the
Progressive Era
America’s Changing Role in the
World
 From
1790 to 1900, the U.S. expanded its role in
world affairs:
In 1796, George Washington promoted a policy
of neutrality &
warned against
“Thealliances
Greatwith
rule of conduct for [the U.S.],
foreignto
nations
in regard
foreign Nations is in extending
(especially Europe)

our commercial relations to have with them
as little political connection as possible...
'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances, with any portion of the foreign world”
—George Washington, Farewell Address (1796)
America’s Changing Role in the
World
 From
1790 to 1900, the U.S. expanded its role in world
affairs:
In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine asserted neutrality
but proclaimed that
U.S. would continents…are henceforth
“ThetheAmerican
protect the western
nothemisphere
to be considered
as subjects for future
from
European influence
colonization
by any European powers.

We should consider any attempt on their
part to extend their system to any portion
of this hemisphere as dangerous to our
peace and safety”
—The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
America’s Changing Role in the
World
 From
1790 to 1900, the U.S. expanded its role in world
affairs:
“The
American claim is by the right of our
In 1845, the U.S.
manifest
useddestiny
treaties &to overspread and to possess
wars to of
pursue
its
the whole
the
continent
which
Providence
“Manifest Destiny”
has& given
for the development of the
expandus
to the
Pacific Ocean

great experiment of liberty and federated
self-government entrusted to us”
—John O’Sullivan, New York Morning News (1845)
 From
America’s Changing Role in the
World
1790 to 1900, the U.S. expanded its role in world
affairs:

By the 1890s,
the U.S.
gained new
overseas
colonies &
developed a
more active
foreign policy
“American factories are making more than
the American people can use; American soil is
producing more than they can consume. Fate
has written our policy for us; the trade of the
world must and shall be ours.”
—Senator Albert Beveridge (1898)
Reasons for U.S. Imperialism
In
the late 1800s, the United States
emerged as an imperialist nation:
Imperialism is the act of strong
nations exerting their power over
weaker nations, often by gaining
new colonies
From 1867 to 1904, the U.S,
annexed Alaska, Hawaii, Guam,
Puerto Rico, the Philippines & built
the Panama Canal
Reasons for U.S. Imperialism
Americans
were motivated by a
variety of factors to imperialize:
In 1890, the U.S. census declared
that the frontier was closed & there
were no new lands in the “west”
for Americans to expand into
During the Gilded Age, American
industry grew so large that new
overseas markets & new sources
of raw materials were needed
European powers had acquired colonies
& many Americans believed that the USA
had to imperialize in order to keep up
Reasons for U.S. Imperialism
At the urging of Admiral Alfred
Mahan, the USA developed a
modern navy, allowing the U.S. to
compete with other powerful
nations
Many believed that Social
Darwinism gave Americans a duty
to “civilize” the “inferior races” of
the world by introducing medicine,
technology, Christianity, &
democracy
The White Man’s Burden
Civilization
Vice
Ignorance
Barbarism
Superstition
Oppression
From 1820 to 1890,
In 1891, Queen
U.S.
Imperialism:
HAWAII
Americans moved
Liliuokalani came to
to Hawaii as
power & tried to reduce
missionaries & fruit the power of Americans
plantation owners
living in Hawaii
Americans overthrew Queen Liliuokalani in
1893 & Hawaii was annexed by the USA in 1898
By the 1890s, European imperial powers
U.S.
Imperialism:
carved
China intoCHINA
spheres of influence, giving
them exclusive trade rights in Chinese ports
In 1899, the USA declared an
Open Door Policy in China to allow
free trade by any nation in any port
In 1895,
Cubans declared
theirthe
independence
U.S. newspapers
sensationalized
events in Cuba
U.S. from
Imperialism:
(known
as “yellow
CAUSE
Spain;
To CUBA
putjournalism”)
down theMAJOR
revolution,
Spain used brutal tactics (like starvation)
In 1898, the U.S. sent the USS Maine to
Cuba to protect American interests there;
After the ship mysteriously exploded,
Americans declared war on Spain
The Spanish-American War was fought to
liberate Cuba & the Philippines from Spanish
control; The war lasted only 113 days
Teddy Roosevelt & the Rough Riders
As a result of the Spanish-American War,
Cuba was liberated & the USA annexed the
Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico
Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba
became a US Protectorate, a
country whose affairs are partially
controlled by a stronger power.
The US recognized Cuba’s newly
formed government. The US
forced Cuba to add provisions,
known as the Platt Amendment, to
their Constitution.
U.S. Imperialism: PUERTO RICO
After the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico
was placed under military control and then
became a territory of the US. The people of
Puerto Rico are US citizens. Puerto Rico is
still a U.S. territory; Lots of poverty &
unemployment.
the Philippines
were annexed by
U.S.When
Imperialism:
PHILIPPINES
the USA & not granted independence
after the Spanish-American War, the
Filipino-American War began in 1898
The Filipino-American War lasted 3 years
& cost more in money & American lives
than the Spanish-American War
TR added
When the
Theodore
Roosevelt
Roosevelt
Corollary
became
to the
U.S.
Imperialism:
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
Monroe
president,
Doctrine,
he used
giving
“Bigthe
Stick
United
Diplomacy”:
States
“police
Developpowers”
an active
toU.S.
protect
foreign
Latin
policy
America
with a
strong
from European
navy to accomplish
imperialism
goals
Taft used Dollar Diplomacy to give bank
loans to foreign countries to keep
European powers out of the Caribbean.
TR used “Big Stick Diplomacy” to build the
U.S. Imperialism:
PANAMA
Panama Canal by encouraging the
Panamanians to rebel from Colombia
Panamanians declared their
independence from Columbia with
the support of more that a dozen
American Warships.
The Debate over American Imperialism
Not all Americans supported
imperialism:
The Anti-Imperialist League formed
in 1899 to fight U.S. annexation of
the Philippines
Many argued that the U.S. had no
right to force American culture
upon others
The U.S. Becomes a World Power
By
the 20th century, the USA was a
world power:
Built the world’s 3rd largest navy
Annexed Hawaii, the Philippines,
Puerto Rico, many Pacific islands
Asserted itself in Latin America
(Spanish-American War, Panama
Canal, & Roosevelt Corollary
Influenced Asia (Open Door Policy)