LOREM IPSUM Book Title DOLOR SET AMET
CHAPTER 6 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Modern America begins around 1895-1896. The first part of this is defined as a new modern political movement. Americans move away from the idea that all levels of government were to be small and noninterfering. They embraced a new view of the government in which they are much larger and active. Its roots were planted during the Populist Movement, and there s a trend through at least 1968 where bigger government dominates, and citizens lives are much more directly influenced by governmental policy.
CHAPTER 6, SECTION 1 Beginning of the Progressive Era IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL... Understand the concept of progressivism. Recognize state and national reform efforts during the Progressive Era. Read about muckrakers. Progressivism was a middle-class based political reform movement that was, at its most simple form, a reaction to the growth of big business, the growth of cities (urbanization), and industrialization. There are many roots of progressivism, four of which are very important: 1. Populist Movement (see Chapter 4, Section 3) 2. Emergence of Social Workers--individuals in cities wanted to deal with rapid urbanization and industrialization (i.e. Jane Addams and the Hull House) 3. A new philosophy called pragmatism--john Dewey came up with a pragmatic approach to life which emphasized change and experimentation. This was a philosophical rationale for bigger government and reform. 4. Emergence of the Social Gospel and Walter Rauschenbusch--Religious leaders said the church should become involved in material needs as well as spiritual needs. This was an inevitable response to all of the evils that came up after modern America developed. A force that was very important in progressivism was a new type of journalism called muckraking. Muckrakers were journalists who wrote for magazines and newspapers. They implemented an approach that involved investigating and examining issues that would highlight problems/evils that existed in American society. The effort was to bring public attention to these problems and try to bring about positive reform. As the public was enlightened by these problems, the 2
government now had an excuse to get involved to try and solve a problem. Muckrakers delved into everything: big business and their illegal activity, political corruption, social issues like prostitution and alcoholism, and cheating in collegiate athletics. Understand, these issues were important and needed to be exposed. But they were also immensely popular with the American people, and sold a ton of newspapers. That means more money for journalists and companies like the New York Times or Chicago Tribune. State governments became very progressive and known for leading these types of forward-thinking governments. Some would even argue that progressivism was more effective at the state level rather than the federal level. One of the leaders in state progressive reform was Wisconsin governor Robert LaFollette (left). He pushed the Wisconsin Idea through the state legislature, and it included reform in taxes, railroads, and highway construction. They wanted to clean up the city and environment, and make it more attractive, healthier place to live. If the city were a more just (fair) place to live, maybe more people would want to live there. At the local level, there was a lot of money dumped into the establishment of parks and park districts. Many playgrounds and golf courses were built during this time as well. Progressives would carry out some fundamental changes at the federal level as well. There were four major constitutional amendments adopted during the Progressive Era (amendments 16-19). The most important, fundamental progressive issue was granting women the right to vote. Obviously, women s suffrage was a huge deal; if you want to make progress, then shouldn t all people have a voice in the political process? The National American Women s Suffrage Association was founded in 1890 to promote women s right to vote. It had several leaders, its first being Elizabeth Cady Stanton (above). This organization worked first at the state level to push for women s suffrage. They targeted progressive states 3
and won victories for women in these states to allow them to vote in state elections. After winning enough victories at the state level, they would work their way up to the federal government. Finally in 1920, Congress passed the 19th amendment allowing women the right to vote. Later that fall, women voted for the first time in presidential and congressional elections. The other three amendments besides the 19th were: 16th amendment: graduated personal income tax (adopted in 1913 with Woodrow Wilson in office) 17th amendment: direct election of U.S. senators, adopted in 1913 (used to prevent political corruption; often times, Senators were chosen by state legislators...the problem with this was that the state governments were often corrupted by city bosses. By having the people choose, you would eliminate corruption at the federal level.) 18th amendment: prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol, adopted in 1917 4
CHAPTER 6, SECTION 2 T.R. IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL... Learn about Teddy Roosevelt and his presidency Teddy Roosevelt Teddy Roosevelt Biography became president in September of 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley. He was (and still is) the youngest president ever to assume the position of President, at the age of 42. Roosevelt had been a public servant his entire life. He was in Short video of T.R. s life. the New York State Legislature, served on the Civil Service Commission, headed the New York City police department, was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, and was the governor of New York. He was well-known in the Republican Party, and was considered the rising star in their party. He would have likely ran for president if McKinley wasn t killed. 5
When he became president, there was a lot of concern among moderate and conservative Republicans as to what he would do. The Republicans were dividing into a couple of different groups. There were the new, more liberal Republicans who sided more with progressivism. And then there were the older, more traditional Republicans. Roosevelt had trouble keeping them together during his presidency, but tried his best to cater to both parts of his party during his two terms. Roosevelt had a strong and active foreign policy. He was known for his, speak softly and carry a big stick policy. In his first term, he governed as a moderate progressive (1901-1904). He had to do this to try and keep the Republicans together. Instead of being hostile and attacking big business, he used the power of the government to regulate them. One way he showed this was by creating the Bureau of Investigation. In the fall of 1904, T.R. ran and won easily in his second attempt for president. It was with this victory that he became more of a reformist and progressive in his policies. In 1906, he signed many pieces of legislation including: Hepburn Act (1906): Dealt with railroad regulation, dramatically increased the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission allowing them to set maximum railroad rates Meat Inspection Act/Pure Food and Drug Act: Both of these laws regulated the food industry. The Meat Inspection Act gave the government the power to regulate beef. The impetus behind food regulation actually came from a book called The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair (left). It described the horrors of the meatpacking industry, which included bad sanitary and working conditions. To address this, Roosevelt hired a commission to go get him a report of a plant and found that it was probably worse than the book had said. Here s an excerpt from the book (from chapter 14) to show you what I m talking about: [T]he meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so t they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. 6
There were the butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste of the plants, that would be dumped into old barrels in the cellar and left there. Under the system of rigid economy which the packers enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public s breakfast. new era of progressive presidents: William H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Teddy Roosevelt Photo Gallery The Pure Food and Drug Act dealt with advertising (drugs and medicines would be advertised as working miracles for people and this was obviously fraudulent). Roosevelt developed a strong interest in the environment as well. He used his power as president to implement land preservation laws. T.R. strictly enforced environmental laws, and he took a lot of private land and made it public (i.e. making them public parks). Roosevelt as a colonel in the late 1890s While Roosevelt s efforts to improve the country may have been good, older Republicans decided he became too liberal in his second term. So in 1908, they did not want him to run for president again. Roosevelt didn t; he actually went to Africa on a hunting expedition. This opened the door for a 7
CHAPTER 6, SECTION 3 Taft & Wilson IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL... Read about Taft s presidency Learn about Wilson and his New Freedom Understand the beginning push for civil rights in the early 20th century President Taft In the fall of 1908, William Howard Taft (T.R. s Secretary of War) ran for the Republicans in Roosevelt s place. His viewpoints were similar to his predecessor s in that he was a moderate progressive. Taft would be a one-term president, governing from 1908-1912. But he would struggle throughout his four years in office. The party (Republicans) that Roosevelt was able to hold together, Taft could not, and they would divide in half into two groups: the progressive Republicans and the oldschool Republicans. Taft decided to alienate the progressives and remain conservative, thus making his life difficult. There were three basic reasons why Taft struggled during his presidency. 1. Division within the Republican Party: As I previously stated, the party divided in half, and Taft was in a tough situation leading a party that was really two groups of people. For the most part, T.R. was able to keep them together. This required good leadership; obviously Taft didn t have that quality. 8
2. Taft s physique: Taft was easily the heaviest president we ever had. His weight routinely fluctuated between 300-350 pounds. Because of this, he lacked energy and his physical health was poor (rumor has it he got stuck in the bathtub once in the White House, and people had to come pry him out). Taft really never had the energy to be president in the modern era because of the job changing and becoming more active. 3. Taft lacked personal ambition: The president was not exactly the most motivated person. He didn t like politics very much, but he did enjoy public service. He didn t like campaigning, giving public speeches, working with Congress, and the political process didn t really appeal to him (makes you wonder why he became president in the first place!). He did, however, like the law. After his presidency, he was elected to the Supreme Court, and finished out his life as a justice. Despite his lack of motivation as a leader, he did have a couple major achievements in office. First was the passage of the Mann-Elkins Act which further strengthened the power of the ICC to regulate railroads. He was also probably even more active in trust-busting and breaking up big business than was Roosevelt. Toward the latter half of his term, Taft lost control of his administration from a public perspective. In 1910, Richard Richard Ballinger Gifford Pinchot Ballinger (Secretary of the Interior) took some public land and turned it back into land for private use. Gifford Pinchot (Chief Forester in charge of public land) disagreed with Ballinger s decision and took this policy difference and argued it in a public forum. Taft needed to do something, but had to make a decision as to who to let go. He decided to stand by Ballinger (whom he appointed) and would fire Gifford Pinchot (T.R. s appointment). In the eyes of progressives, this was the straw that broke the camel s back. They were already reaching the conclusion that Taft was not at all like Roosevelt, and at this point, they pretty much abandoned him. While all this was happening, Teddy Roosevelt was in Africa on a game safari. He was being updated by progressives on Taft s betrayal of their ideals. People were encouraging T.R. 9
to run against Taft in 1912 to beat him. So in 1910, he returned to the states and decided that, indeed, Taft was abandoning progressive principles. In the beginning of the election in 1912, Roosevelt wanted to run as a Republican. But at their convention, older Republicans decided they were happy with how Taft had governed (remember, the party is split into two parts). Taft s handling of the Pinchot/Ballinger situation, along with other scenarios, enabled him to get the Republican nomination for the election. Now Roosevelt was in a pickle. He could do one of two things: form a third party and challenge in 1912 or wait until 1916 to run again. He decided to take the first route and formed the Bull Moose Party (progressive party). The hallmark feature of their party was Roosevelt proposing a progressive philosophy to big business called New Nationalism. In this, he believed that the federal government needed to become Woodrow Wilson stronger in regulating business and watch over them. The government didn t need to attack them, and they said the public just needed to allow the government to regulate these organizations. Taft and Roosevelt would oppose Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was a very smart and capable person. He was the president of Princeton University, and was our only president (up to this point) to have a Ph.D. (in political science). Throughout the 1912 election season, Wilson mounted a strong progressive campaign to rival T.R. The biggest difference, though, was what Wilson called New Freedom. Under this ideology, the federal government (in Wilson s eyes) needed to trust-bust and eliminate monopolies. If this happened, more economic opportunity would be created for Americans. When November rolled around, Taft was basically a nonfactor. The public was caught up in progressive reform, and in the eyes of many, he was too old school. But the question remained: would they vote for Wilson s approach to New Freedom, or Roosevelt s New Nationalism? Come election day, Americans made this point loud and clear. Wilson got 41.9% of the popular vote and an astounding total of 435 electoral votes (compared to Roosevelt s 88 and Taft s 8). This election was fascinating in the sense that it dealt with third parties, but the bigger deal was that progressive reform was taking root in America. Wilson proved to be a strong and active president, and got a lot done in a short period of time. Before the outbreak of World War I, Wilson used his power to create some 10
domestic reform. He passed four major pieces of legislation that came to define his administration, including: 1. Underwood Tariff (1913): Provided for the first individual income tax in American history; that same year, the 16th amendment was ratified. 2. Federal Reserve Act (1913): Created a Federal Reserve which was simply a national banking system (1st time we had one since Jackson in the 19th century), created a Federal Reserve Board which regulates private banking, interest rates, and the printing of money 3. Federal Trade Commission (1914): Takes the place of Roosevelt s Bureau of Investigation; regulated big business (and was actually more powerful than T.R. s organization) 4. Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914): Dramatically strengthened anti-monopoly laws (including the Sherman Antitrust Act) Not only was Wilson very smart, but he was able blend the progressive branches of government together (unlike Roosevelt and Taft before him). His four legislative acts increased the role of the federal government, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your personal preferences. One thing Wilson did not support was women s right to vote or civil rights issues. He s what we d call a mainstream progressive on civil rights. This means he didn t care much for civil rights; he kind of just blended in with what everyone else believed. At this time, civil rights was separate from the progressive movement. By 1900, a younger generation of black leaders emerged and challenged Wilson s views and said that his approach to civil rights was not working. These new leaders argued that things were getting worse for African Americans, and at the turn of the century, a much more militant and activist civil rights movement began. W.E.B. DuBois (right), one of these new black leaders, pushed for immediate social and political changes. DuBois was very smart. Using his intellect, he earned scholarships and got a doctorate from Harvard University (first black man to do so). Many blacks, including DuBois, decided that Booker T. Washington s approach to civil rights was not working (if you recall, Washington had a more reserved approach; he basically said, if we just wait, we ll gain our rights over time ). DuBois argued that blacks 11
needed to become more active in working for civil rights. He also said that people needed to take pride in their heritage, and not be apologetic about it. DuBois blamed black people for their oppression as well. He said they became complacent; if they hadn t let white people take advantage of them, then perhaps they wouldn t be in the situation they were now. As a way to combat the civil rights issue, DuBois and a handful of other powerful whites founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P). This organization was (and still is) dedicated to civil rights for blacks, including political and social equality. From the beginning, the N.A.A.C.P. determined that it would try to achieve its goals by working through the court system, and challenged various laws at the state and federal level. By winning legal victories for blacks, they hoped that they could gain equality through a legal and just process, not by being violent through public protesting. In the middle of his first term, Wilson s focus shifted overseas. European problems heated up, and before he could even blink an eye, they were engaged in a war that changed the world. 12