Transcript Chapter 21 - HCC Learning Web

Chapter 21
The Progressive Era
1890-1920
First Exam Possible Essays
1. Explain the reasons for the Progressive era,
the major reforms enacted during that
period (no exact dates necessary), and the
legacy of the Progressive Era.
2. Discuss why the United States became a
global power after the Civil War and the
most significant U.S. involvement in Latin
America and Asia.
3. Explain the “New South” after the end of
Reconstruction in 1877.
4. Discuss the major reasons for the rapid
industrialization of the United States after
the Civil War and the impact on industrial
workers.
What does Progressives mean?
• Middle-class idealists in both parties
• Promoted reform & government
regulation to ensure social justice
• Wanted laws to end child labor,
promote workplace safety, ban alcohol,
promote economic competition & grant
women suffrage
SOURCES OF PROGRESSIONISM
• Widening gap between rich & poor since Civil War
• Unregulated industrialization
• Unplanned urbanization with many immigrants
• Social gospel movement (YMCA, YMHA, Salvation
Army)
• Reject Social Darwinism
• Muckrakers – investigative journalists
Muckraking Journalists
• Not revolutionaries – waned to reform
& regulate capitalism, not destroy it
• Assumed that government must be
more active
• “Modern” – experts investigate, educate
and legislate
• Ignited by 1890s depression
• Upper-middle-class feared revolution
• Expanded populism among farmers
• Desire for honest government
• Influence of Socialist ideas
• Settlement houses – Jane Addams set
up Hull House in Chicago
Activist President Theodore Roosevelt
• A “steam engine in pants”
• Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”
- greater government control of companies
- enhanced conservation of nature
- protect consumers against contaminated
food & medicine
MAJOR GOALS
WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
• 1880-1910: Employed women tripled from
2.6 to 7.8 million
• 15th Amendment after Civil War – voting
rights to black men, but not women
• Most men believed politics would corrupt
women’s moral purity
• 1869-1914: Women could vote only in
western states
• Excluded black women in movement
• After World War I, 19th Amendment in
1920 passed.
• 1920 election – women 40% of electorate
Political Reforms
• Direct primary within parties
• Initiative and Referendum - petitions to
have a proposal on the ballot & then
vote it up or down
• Recall – removed by petition and vote
• 1913 – 17th Amendment provided for
direct election of senators
Efficiency Movement
• “Gospel of Efficiency”
• Frederick Winslow Taylor – developed
“scientific management” for factories
• “Taylorism” to improve productivity &
profits, raise pay and reduce likelihood
of strikes
• Political progressives applied Taylorism
to operations of government
• Reduce government waste and replace
political appointees with trained
specialists
Municipal Reform
• Commission System – first in Galveston
after hurricane; commissioners
combined both legislative & executive
powers
• City Manger Plan – appointed
professional administrator ran city or
country government with policies set by
elected council & mayor
Regulate Business
• Corporate monopolies increased during
1890s depression
• 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act had NOT
been effective
• BUT, Teddy Roosevelt used it
aggressively
• Roosevelt favored large-scale capitalism,
but insisted it be regulated for the public
good
• 1902 Coal Strike – Roosevelt mediated
dispute between management & labor
• 1906 – Congress passed Hepburn Act, gave
Interstate Commission Commission pwer to
set maximum railroad freight rates
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) –
defined “unfair trade practices”
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act to promote free
competition
Economy – Federal Reserve Act
• No central bank since Andrew Jackson
killed the Second Bank of the U.S. in
1830s
• Goal – prevent panics on small banks,
five times since 1873
• Created national banking system
• Purpose of Federal Reserve System –
adjust nation’s currency supply to
promote economic growth & ensure
stability of member banks
• “monetary policy” important policy tool
ever since
SOCIAL JUSTICE
• Focused on working poor, jobless &
homeless
• Educated women active in movement
DRINKING ALCOHOL
• Spearheaded by middle-class women
• Threat to social progress & family stability,
especially domestic violence
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU)
• Favored total prohibition
• Anti-Saloon League
• Destroyed liquor and mirrors in many
saloons with axes
• 1917 – Congress approved prohibition
and later Constitutional Amendment
(Amendment not really needed)
Labor
• Most significant social reform
• 1900 – two million children aged 10-15
working
• By 1910 – Most states had laws against
child labor
• States limited hours for both children and
women
• 1911 Triangle Shirt Factor sweatshop fire in
NY with 146 deaths; doors locked to
prevent theft
• Victims teenage immigrant girls
• Led to city & state laws on fire safety,
working conditions & child labor
Progressive Income Tax
• Growing economic inequality
• Goal to redistribute wealth through
progressive tax rates & lower tariffs
• 1913 – 16th Amendment
• Top rate was only 7%
• 99% of Americans paid no tax since income
was too low
• Sales tax isn’t progressive; estate tax today
Health – Food & Medicine
• Muckracking journalists exposed abuses
• Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle
• Meat Inspection Act of 1906
• Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
• Relevant today?
• Blue Bell ice cream, etc
• FDA approval of medicines
Environmental Conservation
• Roosevelt avid naturalist
• Opposed unregulated logging & mining
• Created National Park System, wildlife
refuges, bird sanctuaries & national
monuments, including Grand Canyon
Race
• Roosevelt & other white progressives had a
major blind spot: racism
• “The people” didn’t include blacks, Indians
and some immigrant groups, especially
Catholics
• All Indians finally became U.S. citizens in
1924
Legacy
• Rise of direct democracy & expansion of
federal, state and local power
• Ended traditional “laissez-faire” idea
that government had no role in
protecting the public welfare by
regulating the economy