Progressivism Day 1—Notes

Mr. Mac January 22, 2012

The Early Progressive Movement

• Chapter 28

• Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt

Chapter Themes

• Theme1: – The strong progressive movement successfully

demanded that the powers of government be applied to solving the economic and social problems of industrialization. Progressivism first gained strength at the city and state level, and then achieved national influence in the moderately progressive administrations of Theodore Roosevelt.

• Theme 2:

– Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor, William H. Taft, aligned himself with the Republican Old Guard, causing Roosevelt to break away and lead a progressive third-party crusade.

What was Progressivism?

MANY HISTORIANS BELIEVE IT WAS THE URBAN COUNTERPART TO RURAL POPULISM

IT CAN ALSO BE DEFINED AS THE BEGINNING OF MODERN “LIBERALISM”

LIBERALS/PROGRESSIVES BELIEVED:

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE MORE ACTIVE

SOCIAL PROBLEMS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED THROUGH GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

PUBLIC FUNDS SHOULD BE USED TO ADDRESS SOCIAL PROBLEMS

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ORIGINS OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT

MOVEMENTS THAT LED TO PROGRESSIVISM

NEW INTEREST IN

THE POOR CHARITY

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

SOCIAL GOSPEL

SETTLEMENT HOUSES

GOOD GOVERNMENT

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WHO WERE THE PROGRESSIVES?

small business

owners

teachers

and social

workers

reform

minded

politicians

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PROGRESSIVISM

Immigration

restrictions

Prohibition

End of child

labor

Anti-trust legislation

Rate regulation

of private utilities

Women’s suffrage

End of urban

political machines

Americanization

of immigrants

End to white

slavery, prostitution

,

and sweat shops

Political reform

Progressives

• Against:

– Monopolies

– Corruption

– Inefficiency

– Social injustice

– Laissez-faire policy

Alcohol

• 1900 – 1 saloon for every 200 people in cities

– Gambling and prostitution

• Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

– Anti-saloon League

– 1 million members

• By WWI (1914) – ½ of pop lived in dry territories

– Major cities wet

Role of the Media in Exposing and reporting Problems in America

Magazines and newspapers

Muckrakers

Upton Sinclair

Ida Tarbell

Jacob Riis

Ray Stanndard Baker

Lincoln Steffens

Frank Norris

“Muckrackers”

• Named by T.R. in 1906 • Mudslinging magazines • Attacked governments, corporations, oil,

railroads, trusts, and social evils – “The Treason of the Senate“ by David Phillips

• Paid up to $3000 to receive accurate info • $.10 - $.15 Magazines • Led to books:

– “Following the Color Line” (1908) – “The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906)

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES EXPOSED THE PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

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THE MUCKRAKERS

Lincoln Steffens

Ida Tarbell

Upton Sinclair

Jacob Riis

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John Spargo

Ray Stanndard Baker

Frank Norris

Lewis Hine

"Men with the muckrake

are often indispensable

to the well-being of

society, but only if they

know when to stop

raking the muck." TR

1905

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FRANK NORRIS

This literary novel

exposed the

stranglehold

railroads had over

wheat and other

farmers. It called

for regulation of

railroad

corporations.

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UPTON SINCLAIR

HIS BOOK, THE JUNGLE DESCRIBED THE FILTHY

CONDITIONS IN THE MEAT PACKING INDUSTRY

AND LED TO THE PASSAGE OF THE FEDERAL

MEAT INSPECTION ACT OF 1906

MOVIE MADE

FROM THE BOOK

IN THE EARLY

1900’S

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“…old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and

white – it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped into

the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There

would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and

sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted

billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great

piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it,

and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in

these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over

these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of

rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put

poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread,

and meat would go into the hoppers together… the 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.”

EXCERPT FROM THE JUNGLE

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IDA TARBELL

Miss Tarbell, in her book, revealed

after years of diligent research the

illegal means used by John D.

Rockefeller to monopolize the early

oil industry.

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CARTOON SHOWING THE

“OCTOPUS” STANDARD OIL

SEIZING THE NATION’S OIL

BUSINESSES

IDA TARBELL

T.R. and Muckrackers

• "the man who did nothing else was certain to become a force of evil.”

• “I hail as a benefactor…every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in turn remembers that that attack is of use only if it absolutely truthful”

Political Progressivism

• Goals

– (1) use state power to curb the trusts

– (2) improve common person’s condition to prevent socialism

• Mostly middle class

• Widespread

Power to the People

• Referendums and Initiatives

• Recalls – remove corrupt officials

• Secret ballots

• Limit donations and gifts

• Direct election of U.S. Senators

– 17th amendment (1913)

• Women – “Taxation Without Representation”

Progressivism in cities and states

• Business outside of politics

• Juvenile delinquency

• Prostitution

• Sale of franchises

• Regulation of railroads, trusts, and public utilities

Progressivism and Women

“An extension, not rejection of social norms” Settlement house movement

Side door to public life Open eye to poorer class conditions

Literary Clubs Focused later on politics and current events

Women’s Trade Union League and National Consumer League

Children’s Bureau (1912) and Women’s Bureau (1912)

Settlement House Movement

The settlement house movement began in the late 1880’s and lasted up through the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

Middle-Class educated women and men volunteers lived and worked in settlement houses.

Settlement houses were often converted residential buildings in poor urban neighborhoods. By 1910, there were over 400 settlement houses in the U.S.

The goal was to improve the lives of poor families by providing amenities and services that were not provided by government.

They offered clubs, classes, social gatherings, playgrounds, arts programs, sports and summer camps, clean milk stations, well-baby clinics and other innovative programs.

Settlement workers saw their mission as social reform. The settlement houses became laboratories for developing new techniques and offering training in the new field of social work.

• The first settlement house in the United States, University Settlement in New York, was founded in 1886.

• It served as a school, community center, research institute, and welfare agency.

• The settlement house pioneered many services, including kindergartens and public baths, which were later supported or assumed by municipal government.

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• JANE ADDAMS AND ELLEN GATES STARR WERE THE CO-FOUNDERS OF HULL- HOUSE WHICH WAS THE CUTTING EDGE OF REFORM FOR THE NATIONS IMMIGRANTS AND POOR.

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ELLEN GATES STARR JANE ADDAMS

Problems in the Rapidly Growing Cities

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INCREASED IMMIGRATION AND MASS MOVEMENT TO URBAN AREAS CREATED SERIOUS PROBLEMS

The lure of city jobs attracted

Americans from farms and small

towns.

Millions of immigrants poured

into the U.S, the majority settling

in the new urban centers.

Slums

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TENEMENTS WERE APARTMENT BUILDINGS WITH MANY SMALL ROOMS WHERE WHOLE FAMILIES WOULD LIVE, CROWDED TOGETHER WITHOUT

ADEQUATE AIR, WATER OR SANITARY FACILITIES.

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“5 CENTS A SPOT” THE PRICE FOR A BED

FOR THE NIGHT

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WHERE THE POOR SLEPT

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PROBLEMS IN THE NEW CITIES #2 DISEASE

Poor sanitation,

backed up

sewers, crowded

poorly ventilated

apartments led to

the rapid spread

of disease.

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By the end of the 19th century

a bacterial disease called

tuberculosis was the most

dreaded illness known to

mankind. It was also known

as "TB" or the "White Plague.”

As the disease worsened, its

victims became pale in skin

color, hence the term. It

spread from person to person

by the inhalation of airborne

germs from coughs or

sneezes. At the time, there

was no cure and its victims

often died.

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“DON’T TALK TO US ABOUT DISEASE, IT’S BREAD WE’RE AFTER!”

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Evicted

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Mueller v. Oregon (1908)

• Constitutionality of laws protecting women workers

• Closed male jobs to women

• Paved way to less employer control in the workplace

Fire at Triangle Shirtwaist Company - 1911

• NYC

– Lack of enforcement of factory regulations

– 146 workers died

– Emergence of workmen’s comp

T.R’s Square Deal

• 3C’s (KNOW THESE)

– Control of Corporations

– Consumer Protection

– Conservation of Natural Resources

1902 Coal Strike

• PA

• Schools and hospitals shut down

• T.R. threatened to seize mines

• 10% pay raise and 9 hour days

• 1903

– Department of commerce

• Bureau of Corps – interstate commerce

T.R. the trust smasher

• Elkins Act (1903) – Fines for giving and receiving rebates

• Hepburn Act (1906) – Bribery and free enterprise restricted

• Dissolved the Northern Securities Company – J.P. Morgan and James J. Hill

• Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

• GOAL: Prove government power

The Environment – pre T.R.

• Desert Land Act of 1877 and Carey Act of 1894

– Purpose to irrigate and use western land

• Forest Reserve Act of 1891

– 46 million acres

T.R and Beyond

• Newlands Act (1902) – Irrigation projects from sale of

public land

– Dams (Roosevelt Dam in 1911)

• Banned Xmas tree

• Other projects – Jack London “Call of the Wild”

– Boy Scouts

– Sierra Club

“Roosevelt Panic of 1907”

• Selling of stocks

• Criminal indictments against speculators

• Fiscal Reforms – Aldrich-Vreeland Act –

national banks to issue emergency currency backed with collateral

• Led to Federal Reserve Act of 1913

William Taft

• Elected in 1908

• Politically handicap (political cartoon pg 675)“

• Dollar Diplomacy”

– U.S. $$ in foreign markets

– Strengthen defense and foreign policy

• Trustbuster

– Dissolved Standard Oil in 1911

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act

“Read my lips…”

• Raised tariffs instead of lowering them

• Allowed public lands to be opened for development

• Split the Rep. party

• T.R. became an enemy

– Taft broke up U.S. Steel which T.R. had helped to form

Election of 1912…

• T.R. decided to run for 3rd term

• Convention in Chicago

– Roosevelt supporters claimed fraud and didn’t vote

– Taft won the nomination

– Roosevelt was not giving up…