Unit 6: The Progressive Era

progressive movement

trying to fix the political, economic, and social problems of the Gilded Age in a series of reform movements

political machines/corrupt

what were the political problems?

poverty, low wages, wealth gap, poor working conditions, cooperations have more power than the government

what were the economic problems?

slum aspects, child labor, alcohol problems due to water pollution

what were the social problems?

white, middle-class, college-educated, Protestant-Christian society

what were the progressive’s goal, making them think their problems will go away?

women

who was most involved in social reform movements during the progressive era?

end political corruption, end power of the political machine, want to make government more democratic (increase people’s participation in government, mainly through voting), and women suffrage

what were the political goals during the progressive era?

progressives were going to end laissez-faire capitalism, want regular capitalism, the government to set some boundaries, want the government to break up monopolies, and want the government to require better working conditions

what were the economic goals during the progressive era?

social gospel

the progressives’ philosophies, the problems are there not because of birth, but because society is corrupt, this is directly against Social Darwinism, and society has to be built based on the teachings of Jesus (if this succeeds, then society built the Kingdom of Jesus)

muckrakers

raise awareness of Gilded Age problems and reporters/journalists to publicize injustice and/or scandals

exposés

type of writing that exposes the problems to the country and people would want to fix this

jacob riis

wrote a book called How the Other Half Lives; his book raises awareness of the tenements and the conditions of them; increase support of the tenement buildings

lincoln steffens

wrote a book called “Tweed Days in St. Louis”; exposing the problems of the political machines; increase the support for getting rid of them

ida tarbell

wrote a book called The History of Standard Oil; exposed John D. Rockefeller and put his private files in the book; regulations being put on business and Rockefeller’s oil company is out of business

upton sinclair

wrote a book called The Jungle; goes undercover in Chicago’s meat-packing factories; wanted to raise awareness for the workers; created regulations on the products

city/municipal

commission government made the city, state, and federal government all into one and had 5-7 people running for government

robert lafollette

who created the “Wisconsin Idea”?

direct primary

the voters get to decide which candidate will represent their party during an election

recalls

the voters can remove selected candidates

initiative

voters can propose a law that must be voted on by the state government

referendum

laws proposed by the state government, but must be approved by the voters

president james a. garfield

an active member of the Spoils System and was assassinated by an upset job-seeker

pendleton act

congress passes this act to get rid of the spoils system

merit system

what replaces the spoils system?

17th amendment

requires a direct election of senators

national american woman suffrage association (nawsa)

the members in this association tend to be older and more conservative, meaning that they did not want to be radicals, did not want to make a scene, and were willing to be more patient for the opportunity. they had petition drives and suffrage parades. they wanted to celebrate America’s voting rights

carrie chapman catt

who was/were the leader(s) of the national american woman suffrage association (nawsa)?

national woman’s party (nwp)

this group was much younger and more radical; they wanted to push people’s buttons and wanted their voting rights immediately

alice paul and lucy burns

who was/were the leader(s) of the national woman’s party (nwp)?

silent sentinal campaign

over 2,000 women silently stand outside the White House to protest and this goes on for 18 months. they would quote Woodrow Wilson’s words at him because he was a hypocrite. about 150 women were arrested for this and faced brutal punishments

women were chained to a wall; beatings were common; leaderships thrown away; denied a trial and were not allowed to have a lawyer (fundamental rights); thrown into psych wards; and hunger strikes (force-feeding)

what were some punishments that the women faced during the silent sentinal campaign?

news of how these women were treated ended up going to the Press, making Wilson look bad and an embarrassment

what was the outcome of the brutal treatment that the women faced during the silent sentinal campaign?

carrie chapman catt

who told wilson to give women voting rights or else they were going to destroy him?

19th amendment

guarantee the right to vote for women

theodore “teddy” roosevelt

first modern-day president and proactive (wanted to be in charge)

bully pulpit

excellent/grand and wanted to influence the U.S. and the future of the nation

square deal

“teddy” roosevelt promised to treat everyone correctly and equally, especially labor and producers

the coal strike of 1902 (united mine workers)

coal workers were on strike and producers did not even talk to the workers or refused to be in the same room as them, making this turn into a national problem

white house

who mediated the end of the coal strike?

trustbuster

this is when “teddy” roosevelt wanted to break up the bad monopolies such as child labor, Robber Barons, poor working conditions, etc.

interstate commerce act, 1887

allowed the federal government to investigate bad businesses

sherman anti-trust act, 1890

allowed the federal government to break monopolies (ex: the federal government used this to break the railroad monopoly)

elkins act, 1906

allowed the federal government to fine railroad companies that use secret deals

hepburn act, 1906

put a limit on railroad transportation rates

pure food and drug act, 1906

this is still around today and its main job is to promote public health and monitor food and medical drug productions

conservation

this is when teddy wanted to preserve the american natural environment

antiquities act

created the grand canyon national park

william howard taft

next president after teddy, republican, known as the “disappointing” progressive, and will not push or advocate for additional or new progressive forms

triangle waist company

a factory that produced triangle waist shirts; 500 immigrant women were employed and they did not get paid much at all

they were locked into the factory floors from the outside, they had to light candles for them to see, and when they had fires, they had no proper fire escapes to the point where they had to jump off the building from high places

what was it like working in the triangle waist company as a women during the progressive era?

he tried to take away the republican nomination from taft

after teddy roosevelt heard about the situation with the triangle waist company, what did he do to taft?

the republicans renominate taft for presidency

what do the republicans do about taft?

bull moose party

teddy roosevelt created this to run for presidency to make taft lose

election of 1912

this was when democrat woodrow wilson won presidency easily because of the split republican vote

triple wall of privilege

this was when woodrow wilson wanted to get rid of these three things

tariffs, banks, and trusts

what were the three walls that wilson wanted to get rid of?

16th amendment

allowed congress to tax one’s income. this wanted to increase government revenue and have the producers pay more to increase the wealth gap rather than the middle-class people

reduce the tariffs

make products more affordable for the middle class

banks

wilson convinces congress to pass the federal reserve act, which created the federal reserve system that manages the money supply

trusts

wilson did not believe in “good” monopolies and believed that they were bad for the economy and middle-class

clayton anti-trust act

this made the sherman anti-trust act stronger and wilson breaks monopolies up more

social reform

women were very important and they would become national figureheads

slums and child labor

what were the two social reforms during the progressive era?

jane addams

known as the “progressive crusader”; accomplishments: Chicago, Illinois to regulate tenements and Hull House

hull house

this was set in a poor immigrant area in chicago. this provided a wide range of services to the neighborhood: kindergarten, daycare, after-school clubs for teenagers, education classes for adults, a playground, a library, and a boarding school for girls

florence kelly

educated at the hull house, investigated and pushed reforms, investigated factories and tenements, and convinced the state of Illinois to do these three things: ban child labor, have Illinois regulate factories, and Illinois will put a limit on the number of working hours for women (middle-class women were expected to stay home and raise their children)

julia lathrop

“national leader”, president taft will appoint her as the head of the children’s bureau, and first woman to be in charge of a federal city

children’s bureau

this will improve the conditions of child labor, able to reduce the childbirth rates, reduce the juvenile rate, and improve the care for the ill

prohibition movement

this movement’s goal was to ban alcohol; alcohol problems affected more of the women than the men

carrie a nation

figurehead during the prohibition movement; she would go around the city telling people to stop drinking alcohol and that they would go to hell if they kept doing it

anti-saloon league

this was pushing the goal of banning alcohol

18th amendment

ban on the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol

expansionism

a policy of exerting economic, political, and/or military control over a weaker territory/country

looking for extra-economic markets to sell all of the surplus goods to; want to expand the territory to make the country bigger/stronger; want to spread progressivism all around the world

what were the three reasons why Americans participated in this process?

russia

in 1867, america bought the alaskan territory from ___

queen liliuokalani

she believed that the american plantation owners were getting too pushy; she dismissed some pro-American legislatures in her Congress and reduced the rights of American settlers on the island; in 1893, these American settlers staged a coo and overthrew her

sugarcane plantations

why was america interested in buying cuba and puerto rico from spain?

native filipinos

they moved to open revolt and demanded independence from spain

torture, targeting civilians, and starvation

spain’s response to the native filipinos

USS Maine

in february 1898, this ship blew up killing 260 sailors

yellow journalism

sensationalized news reporting that uses exaggeration, melodrama, and sets out lies for readers; they blamed the Spanish people without any evidence and the U.S. declared war against Spain

commandeer george dewey

he quickly captured the philippines and destroyed the spanish fleet and the spanish navy in the process

battle of san juan hill

U.S. victory is going to earn teddy roosevelt’s rough-riders; spain lost and this battle was led by a lot of african americans

treaty of paris, 1898

spain will officially grant independence to cuba; spain will “donate” the islands of puerto rico and san juan to the U.S. as U.S. territories; in return, the U.S. agreed to buy the philippines from the spanish for $20 million

cuba

this colony gained independence from the treaty of paris, 1898 because they agreed to lease some land to the U.S. Navy

san juan naval space

what was the U.S. Navy going to build in Cuba?

the philippines-american war

the filipino nationalists were going to continue to have war against the U.S., still demanding independence; the U.S.’s response is the same as Spain’s: torture, target civilians, and starvation

big stick diplomacy and the roosevelt corollary

this was developed by teddy roosevelt and the U.S. will intervene in Latin American affairs when the U.S. believes it to be necessary

extend american influences around the world, but especially in Latin America

what was the goal of the big stick diplomacy and the roosevelt corollary?

teddy roosevelt is going to build a really strong navy and adopt an aggressive form policy outlook; negotiate peacefully where they can, but not be afraid to show off their military strength to scare them into doing what they want them to do

what were the methods used during the big stick diplomacy and the roosevelt corollary?

panama canal

the U.S. wanted to build this where it would connect the atlantic and pacific ocean; seen as an economic and military necessity for the U.S.; colombia did not want the U.S. to be involved

big stick diplomacy

teddy roosevelt used the ________ to incite the people in panama to rise and rebel against the colombian government

U.S. Navy

what did teddy roosevelt offer to help the people in panama?

panama

finally gained indepedence and leased the land to the U.S. for them to build the canal, opening in 1914