Becker US History. Reaction to corruption of Gilded Age Social reforms react to abuses of industry...

BeckerUS History

Reaction to corruption of Gilded Age Social reforms react to abuses of industry

Ex. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Political reforms react to gov’t corruption Maternalist welfare programs WI governor “Fighting Bob” La Follette Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

Writers expose problems in industry McClure’s Magazine, Cosmo, Collier’s Magazine Lincoln Steffens: “The Shame of the Cities” Jacob Riis: urban slums, How the Other Half Lives Ida Tarbell, oil industry, History of Standard Oil Upton Sinclair, meatpacking industry, The Jungle Theodore Dreiser, banking industry, The Financier Frank Norris, rail industry, The Octopus

Regulate big business stop abusive trusts/monopolies

Humanize big business stop abuses of workers’ rights

Add a gov’t role in economy & private life End to laissez faire economic policy

Reform boss and spoils system Merit system for government jobs

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 First laws governing labeling of food products Ingredients must be disclosed Health inspections of production/preparation Safety inspections of production/preparation

Meat Inspection Act of 1906 Sanitary conditions in meat packing facilities

Desire to make society more moral and more just

Desire to distribute income more equitably

Desire to broaden opportunities for individual advancement

Women were active in progressivism--Suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony

Put power back into the hands of the people

Innovative changes in city government City managers and commission model

The Direct Primary Initiative, Referendum and Recall The Secret Ballot Direct Election of Senators

17th Amendment, 1913 Suffrage for Women

19th Amendment, 1920

1. Convince state legislatures to adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado)

2. Pursue court cases to test 14th Amendment

3. Push for national constitutional Amendment

1908 Muller v. Oregon Shorter working hours for women Men/women are different physically/mentally Men/women can be treated differently at work

Lochner v. New York Maximum workday laws violate freedom of contract Can’t deprive citizen of right to work w/o due

process 1917 Bunting v. Oregon overturned, 10-hr workday

upheld Hammer v. Dagenhart

Congress cannot ban child labor State responsibility

• Keating Owen

• Hammer v. Dagenhart

• Child Labor Tax Law

• Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Company

• Child Labor Amendment?

• 1941 Fair Labor Standards Act

• 1941 U. S. v. Darby

1910 Mann Act uses Interstate Commerce Clause to ban

prostitution “City Beautification” movement

Tear down slums and tenements 1927 Buck v. Bell

Eugenics; mandatory sterilization of mentally disabled

Prohibition 18th Amendment (Volstead Act), 1919

Businessman’s businessman Gold standard: hated by populists,

socialists September 1901 attends Pan-American

Expo "Why should I? No one would wish to hurt me." Anarchist Leon Czolgosz in receiving line Conceals gun in “bandage” on hand Shoots president twice before being punched

out McKinley: "Don't let them hurt him!“

McKinley remains standing until in private Kidney, pancreas ruptured; bullet lodged in back Edison’s X-ray machine shipped in, too late

Drive, energy and personality TR’s interests and early years NYC police commissioner Spanish-American War: Rough

Riders Rise from NY Governor to VP McKinley’s assassination Youngest prez @ 42

TR wants to regulate to get businesses to act “right”

TR gets reputation as trustbuster Interstate Commerce Commission had no teeth 1903 Elkins Act bans giving/accepting rebates 1906 Hepburn Act gives teeth to ICC

Northern Securities Case TR sues JP Morgan’s NW railroad monopoly Declared an illegal trust Sues a total of 44 “bad” trusts

Federal Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act

Unregulated product claims and unhealthy products Halts sale of contaminated foods and medicines Calls for truth in labeling

The Election of 1908 William Jennings Bryan - again TR promised not to run again Endorses Taft, Sec of War

Taft’s political experience Not a dynamic politician Living in TR’s shadow Never comfortable as

President “The lonesomest job in the

world” Taft’s weight Taft’s foreign policy

Controversy over the Tariff More conservative than TR,

but also more trust suits 90 trust-busting lawsuits Growing tension with Teddy The “Ballinger-Pinchot” Affair

TR’s Conservation Record Taft’s misunderstanding

Growing split within the Republican Party

Creation of “Bull Moose” Party

Progressive Party Platform: “New Nationalism”

Democrats drafted Woodrow Wilson

Results of the Election

Progressive and dynamic speaker

Sympathetic to small businessmen

Could be a stubborn, moral crusader and ideologue

Wilson’s brand of progressivism

Wants to recreate the “golden age” of small business

Wilson wants to open channels for free and fair competition

Historic Jeffersonian approach to federal power

Triple Wall of Privilege Banking, tariffs, trusts

Underwood Tariff Act (1913)

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)

Federal Trade Commission (1914)

Wilson not a progressive in social reform Appointment of Brandeis to

Supreme Court Congress takes over the

progressive agenda Civil Rights Federal Highways Act Women’s suffrage

Progressive movement peaks by 1917 Success of the movement led to its decline Advent of WWI actually hurt progressives Progressives weary of their reform zeal Ironically, voter participation has steadily

declined since the election of 1912