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Unit 6Becoming a World Power

1898 – 1920Chapter 16 – The Progressives

Section 1 - Progressivism

MAIN IDEA - Progressives focused on three areas of reform: easing the suffering of the urban poor, improving unfair and dangerous working conditions, and reforming government at the national, state, and local levels.

WHAT WAS PROGRESSIVISM?Industrialization brought problems such as dangerous working conditions and extreme poverty. There was also a great deal of government and business corruption. The movement that fought these ills was called progressivism. Journalists known as muckrakers helped lay the foundation of the progressive movement by exposing the dark side of society. Ida Tarbell wrote about corrupt business practices. Lincoln Steffens wrote about the corruption of city governments.

REFORMING SOCIETYReformers like Jacob Riis called people’s attention tothe problems of the urban poor. In his book “How the Other Half Lives” Riis presented visual images of desperate urban poverty. In New York, the Tenement Act of 1901 brought some improvement to urban life. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was formed by a group of black and white activists in 1909. It was formed to fight for civil rights for African Americans. In 1913 the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was founded to fight anti-Semitism, or hostility towardJews.

REFORMING THE WORKPLACEFlorence Kelley worked for laws to stop child laborand limit the hours women could work. Businessowners fought such labor laws in court. In 1911 aterrible fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Companyinspired the New York legislature to pass fire safetylaws. Many workers joined unions to fight for betterpay. The International Ladies’ Garment WorkersUnion (ILGWU) won a shorter workweek and higherwages when tens of thousands of members struck.In the case of Muller v. Oregon, the Brandeis brief convinced the Supreme Court to uphold a law establishing a 10-hours work day.

REFORMING GOVERNMENTProgressives worked to make government less corrupt and more efficient. Robert M. La Follette, of Wisconsin, pushed for direct primary elections, reforms on campaign spending, railroad regulation, and reforming civil service in Wisconsin. Progressives pushed for the Seventeenth Amendment. This gave voters the power to elect senators directly. Progressives also fought for three other reforms: The initiative gives voters the power to put a proposed law on the ballot for public approval. The referendum allows them to approve or veto a recently passed law by voting on it. The recall enables voters to remove an elected official from office by special election.

Section 2 – Women and Public LifeMAIN IDEAWomen during the Progressive Era actively campaigned for reforms in education, children’s welfare, temperance, and suffrage.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMENBy the late 1800s there were more chances for womento gain education and employment. As they looked tothe world beyond their own homes, they beganworking to better society. Women began to go to college in larger numbers. By 1870 only about 20 percent of college students were women. By 1900 this increased to more than 33 percent. Women also began to work in offices and industry. By 1900 more than 2,000 women had found employment in journalism in which only 35 women worked in 1870. They were almost always paid less than men.

GAINING POLITICAL EXPERIENCEIn the Progressive Era, women reformers campaigned for civil rights, children’s health and welfare, and prohibition.As women began to work for political causes, one of their first concerns was children’s health and welfare. They succeeded in getting the Federal Children’s Bureau opened in 1912. Women also worked for Prohibition, the movement calling for a ban on making, selling, and transporting alcoholic drinks. They believed alcohol caused crime, poverty, and violence. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a national organization dedicated to Prohibition, was led by Frances Willard from 1879 to 1898. Evangelist Carry Nation spread the message of Prohibition by smashing up saloons and making fiery speeches.

In 1919 the states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment. This amendment barred the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol. The amendment was unpopular and hard to enforce.Women also worked for civil rights. In 1896 African American women formed the National Association of Colored Women. They campaigned to fight poverty, segregation, and lynching. They also campaigned against Jim Crow laws and alcohol abuse and for women’s suffrage.

RISE OF THE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENTAfter the Civil War, the Fifteenth Amendment gaveAfrican American men the right to vote but denied itto all women. Suffragists worked to change the laws.Many people, businesses, and churches were against them. Anti-suffragists feared that if women got the right to vote, they would ignore their duties at home. In 1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This organization campaigned for a constitutional amendment. In 1872 it supported the first woman to run for president, Victoria Woodhull.

Meanwhile, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) focused on changing laws state-by-state. They won in several western territories and states. In 1890 the two organizations merged and formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), first led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and then Susan B. Anthony. Women finally won the right to vote in 1920.

Section 3 – Theodore Roosevelt’s Square DealMAIN IDEATheodore Roosevelt used the power of the presidency to push for progressivereforms in business and in environmental policy.

ROOSEVELT’S VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCYTheodore Roosevelt was a progressive reformer. Political bosses thought they could silence him by making him vice president. However, when President William McKinley was shot, Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt used the presidency as a bully pulpit. This meant that he used it to publicize and get support for important issues. In 1902 coal miners in Pennsylvania struck for higher wages, shorter hours, and recognition of their union. Roosevelt became involved and forced both sides to accept arbitration. This meant allowing a third person, who would not take sides, to act as judge and settle the dispute. The result

was a compromise. Roosevelt called the results a Square Deal. This expression became Roosevelt’s campaign promise and belief. It meant that the needs of workers, business, and consumers should be balanced. The popular Roosevelt easily won the election of 1904.

REGULATING BIG BUSINESSRoosevelt wanted businesses to act responsibly. He used the Sherman Antitrust Act to sue a railroad for forming a monopoly and won. Roosevelt’s administration filed hundreds of lawsuits against monopolies. He went after trusts and monopolies that sold bad products, competed unfairly, or corrupted public officials. In 1903 Congress passed the Elkins Act, which forced the railroads to charge the same prices to all their customers. The Hepburn Act of 1906 authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to set maximum railroad rates. In 1906 writer Upton Sinclair wrote a book about the filthy conditions in the meat packing industry called The Jungle. Roosevelt acted to protect the consumer. The Meat Inspection Act required federal government to inspect meat shipped across state lines. The Pure Food and Drug Act outlawed making, selling, or transporting food and medicine with harmful ingredients.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATIONRoosevelt signed laws creating many nationalmonuments and parks. Naturalist John Muir, whoconvinced the government to protect Yosemite,thought all wilderness should be kept natural.Roosevelt thought some lands should be protected butothers should be put to use. Accordingly, theNewlands Reclamation Act allowed the governmentto build irrigation projects to make dry landproductive. Conservationist Gifford Pinchot, whofirst used the word conservation, supported Roosevelt.He became the first head of the U.S. Forest Service.

Section 4 – Taft and WilsonMAIN IDEAProgressive reforms continued during the Taft and Wilson presidencies, focusingon business, banking, and women’s suffrage.

PROGRESSIVISM UNDER TAFTTheodore Roosevelt’s friend and adviser William Howard Taft became president in 1908. Taft did not seek new reforms. He did support increasing the nation’s forest reserves and creating a Department of Labor to enforce labor laws. He also passed the Sixteenth Amendment, which allowed Congress to collect taxes based on an individual’s income. Taft eventually lost the support of the Progressives. Theodore Roosevelt refused to support President Taft’s reelection, and the Republican Party split after the Ballinger-Pinchot affair. This began with a bill meant to lower tariffs but which actually did the opposite. Conservationists turned against Taft when it came out that his secretary

of the interior, Richard Ballinger, allowed the illegal purchase of protected land in Alaska. When Gifford Pinchot accused Ballinger of sabotaging government conservation efforts, Taft fired Pinchot. By the1912 election, many Progressive Republicans had formed the new Progressive Party. Their candidates for president and vice president were Theodore Roosevelt and the popular California governor Hiram W. Johnson. With the Republicans split, the Democrats won.

WILSON’S NEW FREEDOM. Woodrow Wilson became president. He proposed a reform program called the New Freedom. It called for lower tariffs, banking reform, and stronger antitrust laws. In 1913 tariffs were lowered. To make up for the loss in income, a graduated income tax was introduced. This meant that people paid taxes according to their income level. Another of Wilson’s reforms was the Federal Reserve Act, which was meant to prevent bank collapse during financial panics. The Clayton Antitrust Act, which clarified antitrust laws, finally made strikes, boycotts, and peaceful picketing by workers legal. The Federal Trade Commission enforces antitrust laws and unfair business practices like deceptive advertising.

WOMEN GAIN THE VOTE. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in 1914. These activists picketed the White House, chained themselves to railings, and went on hunger strikes. By patriotically supporting U.S. troops in World War I, women won more support. Wilson, too, supported women’s suffrage. Ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment finally gave women the vote.

PROGRESSIVISM AND THE RIGHTS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS. The Progressives had a mixed record on civil rights. In 1906 African American soldiers were falsely accused of a shooting spree. Their entire regiment was discharged. The injustice of what became known as the Brownsville incident was not corrected until 1972. With people devoting energy to the war and not the reform movement, progressivism came to an end.