Ch. 21: The Progressive Era, 1900-1917

Ch. 21: The Progressive Era, 1900-1917How did intellectuals, novelists, and journalists help lay the groundwork for the progressive movement?What problems of the new urban-industrial order particularly disturbed progressives, and how did they address these problems?How did progressive reform affect ordinary Americans, including workers, women, immigrants, city dwellers, and African Americans?As progressivism emerged as a national movement, which politicians and issues proved most important?How did progressivism change Americans view of the proper role of government?The Many Faces of ProgressivismThe rapid growing middle class (native-born, white, and Protestant)White-collar work jumped from 5.1 to 10.5 million between 1900-1920Professional societies began to emerge (Bar, Advertising, Professors)People had new allegiances, certification, licensing, membership and standardizationWith these new identities came an effort to make their influence feltCollege educated women tripled and the divorce rate crept up the New Woman emergedThe initial push for reform came from womens clubs, settlement houses, and private groups, not from political partiesEven the urban political machines got involved laterNo matter, progressivism was a series of political and cultural responses to industrialization and its by-productsThey were journalists, academics, social theorists, urban dwellers; reformers, not radicalsThey sought the following:Regulation of businessProtection of workers and the urban poorGovernment reformImproved morality

All with the use of science and expert knowledgeIntellectuals Offer New Social ViewsThorstein Velben - The Theory of the Leisure Class William James Pragmatism Herbert Croly The Promise of American Life and the New Republic Jane Addams Democracy and Social EthicsJohn Dewey Democracy and EducationOliver Wendell Holmes The Common Lawconspicuous consumption

truth comes from experience, not theorizing

Call for an activist government

Each individuals well-being depends on the well-being of others

The key institution for a more humane and cooperative social order was the public school (7 mil.- 23 mil.: 1870-1920)

Law must evolve as society changes

Novelists, Journalists, and Artists Spotlight Social ProblemsFrank Norris The OctopusTheodore Dreiser The FinancierMcClures and ColliersLincoln Steffens Shame of the CitiesIda Tarbell The History of Standard OilLewis Hines photographs

MuckrakersCalifornias railroad vs. wheat farmers

Tycoon who lacks social conscience

Muckraking journalists

Exposing city corruption

Obvious

Reforming the Political ProcessSamuel M. (Golden Rule) Jones of Toledo, OHProfit sharing in factories, playgrounds, free kindergarten, lodging for transientsNew styles of governing like the city manager system (many times changing after natural disasters)These new systems brought in experts to run the city like a businessHowever, government changes sometimes reduced the power of the immigrant classesElectoral reform was popularSecret ballotdirect primaryinitiativereferendumRecallAll of these weakened party loyalty and voter participation (individual activity decreases while interest group activity increases)

Regulating Business, Protecting WorkersJ.P. Morgans U.S. Steel Company owned 80% of the nations production; he also had the one major farm-implement company, International HarvesterWorkers wages did increase from $532 to $687 by 1915 (annual wage)However, whole families had to workAverage work day: 9 hours1907 4,534 railroad workers died; 3,000 minersFrederick Winslow Taylors Scientific Management focuses on efficiency: standardizationReformers felt that since business benefited from governments high tariffs, government should regulate these businessesWisconsins Robert Fighting Bob La Follette led the wayDirect primary, railroad regulatory commission, increased corporate taxes, limited campaign spending, legislative reference libraryBy 1907, thirty states had child labor laws1903, Oregon limited the work-day of women to 10 hrs.Political bosses even got involved, especially after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory FireMaking Cities More LivableBy 1920, the urban population surpasses 20%There are campaigns for parks, streetlights, laws against billboards and electric wiresConcern for public health (they had a social-class agenda)Typhoid Mary (Irish cook)Infant mortality dropsAntismoke campaignProgressivism and Social ControlSelf-righteous nature of the Progressive Movement (pitted native-born vs. immigrant)AlcoholProstitutionMann Act (1910) cant transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposesDrugsNarcotics Act (1914) also known as the Harrison Act, bans the distribution of morphine, cocaine, and other addictive drugsImmigration Restriction and EugenicsNW vs. SE EuropeansImmigration Restriction League and the American Federation of Labor fear job competition and endorse restrictionLiteracy bills passed then vetoed repeatedly; overridden in 1917Sterilization of inferior genetic stockProposal: Eugenics gave a scientific justification to anti-immigrant sentimentRacism and ProgressivismThe Great Migration to the Northern cities1.4 million African American in the North by 1920Fed up in the South; growth of the cities; Birth of a Nation (glorifies the KKK); 75 lynchings occur yearlyW.E.B. du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington1905- Niagara Movement (meet annually and eventually form the NAACP)Revival of the Womens Suffrage Movement1910- Women can vote in WY, CO, UT, and IDMiddle-class women upset that immigrant men can voteGB movement helped fuel U.S. womenCalifornia campaignMunicipal reforms, public-school issuesJoined with labor leaders and male progressives1911 suffrage in CAOrganized Womanhood however had limitsElite and middle-class women mostlyNational American Woman Suffrage AssociationSusan B. Anthony retires and Carrie Chapman Catt takes overThey adopted the Winning Plan: grassroots organization with tight central coordinationLobbied legislatures, held parades, ran newspaper ads, put up posters, held fundraisers, arranged photo ops, distributed items emblazed with suffrage message1917- NY approved a woman-suffrage referendumNAWSA membership was mostly white, native-born and middle classAntisAlice Paul (who studied the British approach) grew impatient with the state by state methodShe formed the Womens PartyShe targeted the White House and the Democratic PartyAccused Wilson of being a hypocrite Enlarging Womans SphereWomen were active in Progressive reforms (it was natural)Contraception and birth-control information were key issues1914- Margaret Sanger began her crusadeHer journal The Woman Rebel was obscene1916- she opened the first birth control clinic1921- founded the American Birth Control LeagueMary Ware Dennetts The Sex Side of Life was declare obsceneIt was a pamphlet for youthShe lobbied efforts to amend obscenity lawsShe argued that contraception should by free (Sanger thought you should have them prescribed)Workers Organize; Socialism AdvancesAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL) grew to 4 million by 1920; but only in skilled trades and only 20% of the workforceIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW; Wobblies), led by Big Bill Haywood; mostly western miners, lumbermen, fruitpickers and itinerant laborersSocialism gains followersEnd to capitalismPublic ownership of factories, RR, utilities, communications systems1900- Socialist Party of AmericaThe Masses radical magazineHeight was in 1912: Debs receives 900,000 votesNational ProgressivismPhase I: Roosevelt and Taft, 1901-19131905: La Follette goes to Washington as a SenatorTR cowboy, state assemblyman, New York City police commissioner, U.S. civil serviceman, Asst. Sec. of the Navy1902 Pennsylvania Coal Strike: United Mine Workers Union; arbitration and the threat of a govt. takeover; miners get 10% wage increase and a reduction of hours to 9

TrustbustingSuit against the Northern Securities Company (5-4 in favor of dissolution)He announced his square dealDuring his presidency, 43 antitrust lawsuits; Standard Oil is broken up and American Tobacco Company is reorganizedDuring TRs second term he turned to RR regulationHepburn Act (1906) set maximum RR rates and free passes; govt. could examine financial recordsConsumer Protection and Racial IssuesPure Food and Drug ActMeat Inspection ActBooker T. Washington to the White HouseBrownsville IncidentDishonorable discharge of three companies, without due processRescinded in 1971Environmentalism Progressive-Style1891- 35 million acres of public lands for national forests had be set asideBoy Scouts formed in 1910; Girl Scouts in 1912Gifford Pinchot (head of U.S. Forest Service) stresses conservationJohn Muir stresses preservation1902- National Reclamation Act: water management in arid western regions; construction of dams and irrigation projectsNewlands Act required farmers to repay the construction costsAntiquities Act (1906) - protected archeological sitesTR helps create 53 wildlife reserves, 16 national monuments, and 5 national parks1916- National Park Service set upTaft in the White HouseRunning on a conservative ticket, he beats William Jennings Bryan Taft actually prosecutes more anti-trust cases than TR, but he doesnt garner the publicityReform turns to Congress and the Insurgents (La Follette is one)Payne-Aldrich Tariff makes them madBallinger-Pinchot Affair: makes matters worseTR returns and supports Insurgent Candidates in 1910 and proposes the New NationalismElection of 1912Taft (R), TR (Bull Moose Progressive), Wilson (D), and Debs (S)National ProgressivismPhase II: Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1917Tariff and Banking ReformUnderwood-Simmons Tariff lowers rates by 15%Federal Reserve Act of 1913- 12 regional banks and the FRBRegulating Business; Aiding Workers and FarmersFederal Trade Commission Act FTC is a watchdogClayton Antitrust Act- listed actions that would bring a lawsuit such as price discrimination and exclusive dealings (was ineffective due to business links)Federal Highway Act matching funds to statesKeating Owen Act banned from interstate commerce products manufactured by child labor (but declared unconstitutional)Progressivism and the ConstitutionMuller v. Oregon womens 10-hr. workdayLouis Brandies was the first Jewish Supreme Court justice16th Amendment income tax17th Amendment direct election of Senators18th Amendment Prohibition 19th Amendment Womens right to voteCh. 21 Notes Quiz1. What were three goals of the Progressives?2. What book did John Dewey write? Describe its content.3. What was the significance of McClure's and Colliers?4. What is a referendum?5. What were the limits of the womens suffrage movement? Give two (not just men didnt like them)6. Who opened Americas first birth control clinic?