Progressives

"Wealth Against Commonwealth"

A book written by Henry Demarest Lloyd. He advocated free trade and attacked the Standard Oil Company, in this book, in 1894.

"How the Other Half Lives"

A book written by Jacob A. Riis, in which he shocked middle-class Americans in 1890 by exposing and describing the dark and dirty slums of New York.

Progressives

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the ethnically and racially mixed American people were convulsed by a reform movement. These people waged war on many evils including monopolies, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice. Progressive reformers were mainly middle-class men and women.

Muckrakers

Magazines that began to appear in American newsstands in 1902. They exposed the corruption and scandal that the public loved to hate.

Examples of Muckrakers

"The Shame of the Cities" : In 1902, New York reporter, Lincoln Steffens launched a series of articles in McClure's, which unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal government.

*Some of the most effective attacks of the muckrakers were directed at social evils* >>>>

"The Bitter Cry of the Children": John Spargo wrote of the abuses of child labor.

The progressives sought 2 goals

1. to use state power to control the trust

2. stem the socialist threat by generally improving the common person's conditions of life and labor

*Progressives wanted to regain the power that had slipped from the hands of the people into those of the "interests."

Progressives supported:

1. Progressives supported direct primary elections and favored "initiative" so that voters could directly propose legislation themselves, thus bypassing the boss-sought state legislatures.

2.They also supported "referendum" and "recall."

17th Amendment

A result of pressure from the public's progressive reformers, It established the direct election of U.S. senators. (1913)

Referendum

entire population votes on legislation (state and local level not federal)

Recall

would enable the voters to remove corrupt officials.

Progressivism in the Cities and States

**States began the march toward progressivism when they undertook to regulate railroads and trusts.

**In 1901, the governor of Wisconsin, Robert M. La Follette took control from the corrupt corporations and returned it to the people.

**Governor of California, Hiram W. Johnson helped to break the dominant grip of the Southern Pacific Railroad on California politics in 1910.

Settlement house movement

A crucial focus for women's activism was the settlement house movement. Settlement houses exposed middle-class women to poverty, political corruption, and intolerable working and living conditions.

Women's Trade Union League

a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women formed in 1903 to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. (where most woman progressive reformers worked under).

National Consumers League

formed in the 1890's under the leadership of Florence Kelly, mobilized female consumers to pressure for laws safeguarding women and children in the workplace. (where most woman progressive reformers worked under).

Square Deal

Enacted by President Roosevelt, who believed in progressive reform. This program consisted of 3 parts: control of the corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources. It was an economic policy that favored fair relationships between companies and workers

Department of Commerce

Was created in 1903 due to the fact that Congress was now aware of the increasing hostilities between capital and labor.

Elkins Act

(1903) which allowed for heavy fines to be placed on railroads that gave rebates and on the shippers that accepted them. (Railroad companies would offer rebates as incentives for companies to use their rail lines.)

Hepburn Act of 1906

restricting free passes and expanding the Interstate Commerce Commission to extend to include express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipelines. (Free passes: rewards offered to companies allowing an allotted number of free shipments; given to companies to encourage future business.)

Northern Securities Company

President Roosevelt challenged this in 1902, it was a railroad trust company that sought to achieve a monopoly of the railroads in the Northwest. The Supreme Court upheld the President and the trust was forced to be dissolved.

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

After botulism was found in American meats, foreign governments threatened to ban all American meat imports. The act stated that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

was designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.

Desert Land Act of 1887

The first step towards conservation came with this, under which the federal government sold dry land cheaply on the condition that the purchaser would irrigate the soil within 3 years.

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

This was a more successful step towards conservation. It authorized the president to set aside public forests as national parks and other reserves.

The Carey Act of 1894

distributed federal land to the states on the condition that it be irrigated and settled.

Newlands Act of 1902

President Roosevelt, a naturalist and rancher, convinced Congress to pass this act, which authorized the federal government to collect money from the sale of public lands in western states and then use these funds for the development of irrigation projects.

multiple-use resource management

Under President Roosevelt, professional foresters and engineers developed this policy. They sought to combine recreation, sustained-yield logging, watershed protection, and summer stock grazing on the same expanse of federal land. Many westerners soon realized how to work with federal conservation programs and not resist the federal management of natural resources.

The "Roosevelt Panic" of 1907

Theodore Roosevelt was elected as president in 1904. President Roosevelt made it known that he would not run for a 3rd term. A panic descended upon Wall Street in 1907. The financial world blamed the panic on President Roosevelt for unsettling the industries with his anti-trust tactics.

Aldrich-Vreeland Act in 1908

Congress passed this act in response to the "panic". It authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of collateral.

Election of 1908

the Republican Party chose William Howard Taft, secretary of war to Theodore Roosevelt. The Democratic Party chose William Jennings Bryan.

William Howard Taft won the election of 1908.

President Taft

He generally adopted an attitude of passivity towards Congress. He encouraged Wall Street bankers to invest in foreign areas of strategic interest to the United States. New York bankers thus strengthened American defenses and foreign policies, while bringing prosperity to America. Taft was a strong conservationist.

Payne-Aldrich Bill

Taft signed this in 1909, it was a tariff bill that placed a high tariff on many imports. With the signing, Taft betrayed his campaign promises of lowering the tariff.

National Progressive Republican League

was formed with La Follette as its leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

In February of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, with his new views on Taft, announced that he would run again for presidency, clarifying that he said he wouldn't run for 3 consecutive terms.

The Taft-Roosevelt explosion happened in June of 1912 when the Republican convention met in Chicago. When it came time to vote, the Roosevelt supporters claimed fraud and in the end refused to vote. Taft subsequently won the Republican nomination.

Sewards Folly

people thought that buying alaska was a bad idea but when all of its value was discovered they removed there remarks, bought alaska for 2 cents an acre.

White Man's Burden

idea that many European countries had a duty to spread their religion and culture to those less civilized

manifest destiny

Phrase commonly used in the 1840's and 1850's. It expressed the inevitableness of continued expansion of the U.S. to the Pacific. It was "God's will".

Turner Thesis

Suggest that as the American frontier closed, interests would turn outward to foreign frontiers

Spanish-American War

War with Spain that began in 1898 that occurred from an incident that occurred on Havana harbor (the explosion of the USS Main) because they believed it was Spanish sabotage.

Justifying the Spanish-American War

1. "Remember the Main" (was also the rally cry)

2. Giving indépendance to Cuba and the Philippines from horrible Spanish rule.

(but in reality they wanted the Cuban and Philippine provinces for themselves)

Yellow Journalism

Journalism that stretched the truth (ex: Hearst vs. Pulitzer news competition who stretched the truth on the war to have their papers sell more)

De Lome Letter

A letter from the Spanish minister that was leaked and it angered the public because it criticized the president

Teller Amendment

Passed to justify the war, McKinley approached Congress and they said they would only declare war if Cuba was granted independence, which is what this amendment promised.

Platt Amendment

Passed as part of the Cuban constitution which gave the U.S. Guantanamo Bay as a permeant military base.

Land results of the Spanish American War for the U.S.

U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippine Islands for $20 mil. (because we take nothing by conquest of course, just great deals)

Woodrow Wilson

The democrats chose him as their residential candidate for the election of 1912. The Democrats saw in Wilson an outstanding reformist leader of whom they felt would beat Republican Taft. Woodrow Wilson won the governorship of New Jersey waging a reform campaign in which he attacked the predatory trusts and promised to return the state government to the people.

(ran against Roosevelt)

Wilson/Democrat Views of Progressivism

The wanted stronger antitrust laws, banking reform, and tariff reductions. President Wilson was an anti-imperialist and withdrew from aggressive foreign policy.

Treaty of Paris

This treaty officially ended the Spanish American War in 1898. It stated that the US had to pay $20million for the Philippines.

Results of Treaty of Paris

1. Puerto Rico and Guam fell under American control.

2. Cuba gained independence.

3. America controlled the Philippines in exchange for 20 million dollars.

Fighting in the Philippines

The Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Prez. McKinley was Roosevelt. He went against orders and took the Philippines from Spain. They were able to surprise the Spanish fleet and take Manila Bay without a fight. Filipino rebel forces (led by Aguinaldo) attempted to defeat the Spanish, but once the Americans won against the Spanish and the Philippines were ceded to the US, Aguinaldo continued to fight against the US.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

refers to Roosevelt Diplomacy, which allowed for aggressive foreign policy. "big stick" = the US Navy

Panama Canal

Roosevelt helped Panama break free from Colombia and authorized the building of the canal.

Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine

unrestricted American right to determine Caribbean affairs.

Open Door Policy

A policy proposed by the US in 1899, under which ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Boxer Rebellion

A 1900 Uprising in China aimed at ending foreign influence in the country. The US joined European powers in resisting the Chinese Boxer's attack on foreign embassies in Peking.

Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft used this to counter Japanese Power in Asia. It was a Foriegn Policy idea by Taft to make countries dependant on the U.S. by heavily investing in their economies.

Pancho Villa

Mexican revolutionary leader (1877-1923). He raided across the New Mexico border causing Wilson to send troops led by Gen. Pershing into Mexico to capture Villa but they never did.

muller v. oregon

1908 - Supreme Court upheld Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health

lochner v. new york

overturns new york law setting 8 hr maximum working hours for bakery workers- 1905

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans, got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional

margaret sanger

United States nurse who campaigned for birth control and planned parenthood

Payne-Aldrich Tariff

Signed by Taft in March of 1909. Was supposed to lower tariff rates but Senator Nelson N. Aldrich of Rhode Island put revisions that raised tariffs. This split the Repulican party into progressives (lower tariff) and conservatives (high tariff).

The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy

was a dispute between U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard Achilles Ballinger that contributed to the split of the Republican Party before the 1912 Presidential Election and helped to define the U.S. conservation movement in the early 20th century.

underwood tariff

1914, lowered tariff, substantially reduced import fees. Lost tax revenue would be replaced with an income tax that was implemented with the 16th amendment.

graduated income tax

tax on earnings that charges different rates for different income levels

Federal Reserve

controls America's money supply, by controlling the interest rates of banks, also america's central bank., the central bank of the United States.

Clayton Antitrust Act

law that weakened monopolies and upheld the rights of unions and farm organizations

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions.

Mexican revolution

1810 to 1823.They fought for independence from Spain and for social justice; they wanted equal rights for Indians, mestizos. It took an ugly turn when the president was murdered and replaced by General Victoriano Huerta. Because of the chaos in Mexico, millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants came to America.