Progressive Presidents and Imperialism Study Guide

Problems Progressives Trying to Address

* Greed 
* Poverty
* Racism
* Nativisim and Fear of/Hatred toward Immigrants
* Class Warfare
* Violence
* Lack of education
* Environmental problems
* Corporate greed
* Voter fraud and election issues 
* Political corruption/Political Machines and Political Bosses

Progressivism

Combination of many new ideas to change society; believed that the government should control businesses and they wanted to help those who lacked wealth and influence and protect all people

Goals of Progressive Presidents

* Efficient workplace 
* Believed Government could be a food for change
* Urge Americans to register to vote
* Fight political corruption/Political Machines and Political Bosses
* Progressive politicians believed strong companies and corporations were good for America, but should not be allowed to get out of hand.
* Establish fairness in economic matters.
*  Attempts to reject Social Darwinism

Muckrakers 

* Journalists who wrote about society’s ills.
*  helped reformers by exposing corruption
* Muckrakers wrote about problems that were hidden and exposed them
* They “Raked the Muck” or cleaned up the dirt and corruption in the world. 

Lincoln Steffens

Exposed corrupt machine politics in NYC, Chicago, and other cities

Ida Tarbell

Described the unfair practices of the oil trust

Upton Sinclair

wrote the book *The Jungle* about the meatpacking industry

Temperance Movement

movement against the sale of alcohol

Prohibition

a law to prohibit the making and selling of alcohol

18th Amendment

(1917) - made it illegal to sell or make alcohol in the U.S

19th Amendment

1919- Senate gave women the right to vote

Teddy Roosevelt

(1901-1909)- Political Boss urged him to run as Presidential Candidate William McKinley’s Vice President to get him out of New York Politics. McKinley won and was assassinated six months after the start of his second term and he later became President.

How Teddy Roosevelt became President

First gained national attention when he became a hero during the war against Spain when he lead his cavalry the Rough Riders to win the Battle of San Juan hill in Cuba. and he had been a New York Governor.

Teddy Bear

named after Teddy Roosevelt, when Roosevelt, an accomplished outdoorsman, and ardent conservationist and believer in natural preservation, spared a bear on a hunting trip and it became a popular toy. 

Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive Accomplishments

* became youngest president at 42 years old
* Believed federal gov’t should take control of problems that states would not.
* Believed the American people deserved a powerful federal govt.
* Believed that as president he should use the media as a “bully pulpit” to shape legislation.
* Believed that if big business took advantage of workers, then it was his job as president to help the workers get “a square deal.”

Square Deal

* term to describe a variety of Roosevelt’s progressive reforms.

Trust Busting

* Roosevelt was one and he worked to break up big corporations that were trying to eliminate competition.
* Trusts are legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies – the trusts were lowering prices to drive competitors out of the market.

1902 Coal Mine Strike

* When 140,000  coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike \n and demanded a 20 percent raise, a nine-hour workday, and the right to organize a union . 
* Mine owners would not bargain.
* After five months of striking coal reserves ran low. 
* Roosevelt intervened and threatened to take control of the mines,
* Opposing sides finally agreed to an arbitration commission—a third partythat would work with both sides to mediate the dispute. 
* Miners won a 10 percent pay hike and a shorter, nine-hour workday. They had to give up their demand for a closed shop—in which all workers must belong to the union—and their right to strike during the next three years.
* Roosevelt’s actions led to a new presidential practice when a strike threatened the public welfare, the federal government was expected to intervene.

Meat Inspection Act

* dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers and created the program of federal meat inspection that was in use until it was replaced by more sophisticated techniques in the 1990s.

Pure Food Drug Act

1906, Congress passed an Act, halting sale of contaminated foods and medicines and requiring truth in labeling. It did not ban harmful products outright, but progressive believed that accurate labeling information would give people information they needed to make smart decisions about the products.

Roosevelt’s Land Conservation

He set aside:

\-148 million acres of forest reserves, 

\-1.5 million acres of water-power sites \n - 80 million acres of land that experts from  

  the U.S. Geological Survey would explore for

  mineral and water resources. 

\-50 wildlife sanctuaries, and 

\-Numerous national parks.

Howard Taft

* Taft easily defeated democrat William Jennings Bryan
* He was not as exciting as Roosevelt but he won more anti-trust cases, busting over 90 trusts in four years.

16th Amendment

Passed in 1909 & Ratifed 1913 – Gave Congress power to implement income taxes on individual’s incomes to spread to cost of running the government among more people. The income tax soon became the government’s main source of federal revenue.

17th Amendment

Ratified 1913 – Enacted direct election of Senators. Formerly, they had been chosen by state legislatures which proved to be a politically corrupt process. The 17th Amendment gave people a more direct voice in electing their Senators to Congress.

Election of 1912

Roosevelt decided to run against Taft.

Taft won the republican nomination over Roosevelt, but Roosevelt was still very popular

Roosevelt and his supporters formed the Progressive Party called the Bull Moose Party. They nominated Teddy Roosevelt. 

The republican vote was split between Roosevelt and Taft.

Woodrow Wilson

the democrat, with deep division in the Republican Party, won the election. He won 42% of the popular vote, Roosevelt got 27% and Taft got 22%. 

Wilson almost swept the election, receiving 435 of 531 electoral votes. 

Woodrow Wilson’s Progressive Beliefs

\-Believed gov’t should break up monopolies.

\-Wanted gov’t to help workers in their struggles against business owners.

\-Supported Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 – rules and regulations that forbid business practices that lessen competition, for example

Federal Reserve Act

improved the nation’s monetary and banking system and established the Federal Reserve which controls the nation’s money supply.

Federal Trade Commission

 a “watchdog” agency given power to investigate possible violations of regulatory statutes, requiring periodic reports from corporations to put an end to unfair business practices. Under Wilson, they administered almost 400 cease-and-desist orders to companies engaged in illegal activity.

Progressive President’s Impact (or lack of) on Racial Matters

\-the three presidents had little interest in them. 

\-Wilson won the support of the NAACP’s black intellectuals and white liberals by promising to treat blacks equally and to speak out against lynching, however, once he was president, he opposed federal antilynching legislation arguing that lynching crimes fell under state jurisdiction.

\- After Wilson’s election, the Capitol, which was desegregated during Reconstruction, went back to being segregated.

\-Wilson appointed people to his cabinet who extended segregation policies in the federal government.

3 Motivations for U.S. to Imperialize

• desire for military strength

• thirst for new markets

• belief in cultural superiority

U.S. Acquisition of Alaska

In 1867, Seward arranged for the U.S. to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million. Seward had some trouble persuading the House of Representatives to approve funding for the purchase. In 1959, Alaska became a state. For about two cents an acre, the United States had acquired a land rich in timber, minerals, and, oil.

U.S Acquisition of Hawaii

American planters in Hawaii called for the United States to annex the islands so they wouldn’t have to pay the duty. On August 12, 1898, Congress proclaimed Hawaii an American territory, although Hawaiians had never had the chance to vote. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.