The Progressive Era 1895 1915
Growing Division Affluence flaunted by the wealthy Progressives Social Darwinism Philosophical approach Big business running small shops out 2% controlled most of the wealth Low-Wage Workers mines factories Docks farms Unions more popular not a movement Transcended politics Safety & health not just wages (Milk, Food) Women s suffrage & temperance Middle Class Government protection Capitalism
Taking on Big Business Theodore Teddy Roosevelt Roosevelt a populist? Mediator of strikes Youngest President (42) Filed suits against trusts VP to McKinley Pragmatic assassinated, September, 1901 public interest top priority Energy & Enthusiasm Northern Securities Trust Big Little Kid J.P. Morgan Lecturer Cornered transportation market Athlete Likeable Roosevelt uses Sherman Anti-Trust Act Saved a bear cub SCOTUS upholds Teddy Bear Broken up Believed the country was at a crossroads
Taking on Big Business Standard Oil Trust John D. Rockefeller Cornered oil market Secret deals railroads Roosevelt uses Sherman Anti-Trust Act l SCOTUS upholdsl Trustbuster Strengthens the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) William Howard Taft Roosevelt promised not to run in 1908 Taft (Secretary of War) Taft easily defeats William Jennings Bryan Infighting Taft & Roosevelt drift apart Philosophical differences Taft files suit against many trusts regulates big business Taft didn t support new reforms Transportation Taft an executive Oil Telecommunications Square Deal not policy-making one
Taking on Big Business Election of 1912 Roosevelt runs again Republicans nominate Taft Progressive Bull Moose Party Progressive Republicans follow Roosevelt Bull Moose Statement New Nationalism Democrats New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson New Freedom Competitive market for the small guy Wilson Presidency Wilson wins Cuts tariffs Lost income necessitated new income 16h Amendment Income Taxes Banking System No central authority supply in hands of individual banks Banks operated independently Federal Reserve Act Federal Reserve holds bank funds in emergency times Sets loan rates & issues currency Private institution of banks Public Board of Governors Appointed by the President
Preserving Nature Part of Progressive Reforms National Parks and National Monuments Animal Sanctuaries Roosevelt was a conservationist Also a realist limited natural resource extraction National Park System Established in 1916 Big business conservationists advocate Public demand for creation of the NPS NPS runs all national parks, monuments & historical sites
Working Life Labor vs. Industry Industrialists suppress workers Industrialists used benefits Enticed workers through: private security Free medical care Intimidation Pensions Union options Kindergarten Fired union members Sports Blacklists Kicked union families out of company homes Substitute workers Labor counteracts Closed Shop Collective Bargaining
Working Life Henry Ford Revolutionized auto industry Reduced costs: Assembly line process Model T standardized auto parts Improved machinery Produced more cars for less Passed savings on to consumers Passed benefits on to employees $5 a day Ford s Rules for $5 workday Workers worked 1 year before deal kicked in Men must live with their families No gambling excessive drinking Investigators checked on workers Company housing available if they didn t form unions Well paid workers bought his products 8-Hour workday
Working Life Unions Racial & ethnic issues Strikes Families didn t support violence Disrupt life causing financial issues Shut down transportation Unions didn t relied on themselves Government Slow Corrupt (Ludlow Massacre) Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) One-World Union Sex, race or skill didn t matter Anti-thesis to the AFL Workplace Safety Journalistic Investigations Showed workers were seldom responsible for injuries Employers pay more attention to workplace safety SCOTUS Usually sides with big business Employers allowed to fire union workers
Women s Voice Women wanted equal working rights Muller v. Oregon States regulate women s working hours Alcohol consumption doubles from 1885 to 1900 reproductive health Home Defenders Alcohol New Temperance Movement Women were champions of temperance Alcohol Illegal Women s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Alcohol illegal in Most states by 1917 Frances Willard (18 th & 19 th Amendments) Saw saloons as bad Carrie A. Nation individual counties banned alcohol in wet states All the result of suffrage 64 year-old religious woman Smashed bars up with her small ax and Bible
Child Labor Children worked to keep families financially going Character building to some Exploitation by big business to others Some claimed it ruined childhood Damaged health Lack of educational opportunities New laws passed SCOTUS found them unconstitutional School attendance chips into child labor
Reforming the Government The Jungle Upton Sinclair Struggling immigrant family (poverty and working conditions) Showed the reality of the food industry rotten meat severed fingers rat feces Champions of socialism Meat Inspection Act (1906) Pure Food and Drug Act New rules for improved utilities Government fines companies for false advertisement No government takeovers Corruption Councilmen replace ward bosses Direct primaries Initiatives Government can condemn meat Referendum The Jungle made people call for change Recalls
Reforming the Government Muckrakers Overzealous journalists Investigate government scandals & corruption Americans support a new amendment Weed out corruption 17th Amendment Allows voters, not state legislators, to appoint Senators to Congress
African Americans during the Progressive Era Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Challenged Jim Crow Separate but Equal Separate buildings, restrooms & other facilities equal with white facilities W.E.B. DuBois Prominent Black intellectual Elite professionals & teachers Prominent Black intellectual around 1900 Tuskegee Institute Wanted black economic improvement Not social justice Economic equality with whites would allow equal rights later on Immediate Civil Rights Booker T. Washington not vocational workers Economic betterment not possible without Civil Rights Co-Founder of NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Overturning Jim Crow further civil rights
African Americans during the Progressive Era Ida B. Wells Co-Founder of NAACP in 1909 Documents lynchings in the South White on black violence meant to control African-Americans Suffragette as well