APUSH Progressive Terms

Election of 1900

The Election of 1900 was a presidential election in the United States in which incumbent President William McKinley defeated Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan. This election focused on issues such as imperialism, economic prosperity, and the ongoing Philippine–American War.

• Imperialism- U.S. foreign policy and overseas expansion following the Spanish-American War

  • Mckinley: expansion Bryan: condemned it

Influence of William Mckinley

Mckinley's presidency was marked by a focus on economic growth and imperialism, notably leading the U.S. into the Philippine–American War and promoting international trade.

Jane Addams

A prominent social reformer and leader in the Progressive Movement, Jane Addams co-founded Hull House in Chicago, providing social services and advocating for women's suffrage and labor rights.

Jacob Riis

A social reformer and muckraking journalist, Jacob Riis is best known for his work "How the Other Half Lives," which exposed the living conditions of the urban poor and helped spur reforms in housing and labor.

muckrakers

Reform-minded American Jounralists, writers, and photographers during the Progressive Era who exposed corruption, waste, and scandal in government and big businesses.

industrial capitalism + creation of labor unions

An economic and political system where private individuals own factories, heavy machinery, and tools of mass production, hiring wage-laborers to generate profit.

Created harsh working conditions and vast corporate power, driving workers to form labor unions in order to demand better treatment.

How progressive reformers regulated business to protect economy

Expanded federal and state government powers to break up monopolies, set safe standards, and protect consumers/workers

Sherman Antitrust Act

Landmark for 1890 federal law to prohibit commercial monopolies and coordinate efforts that restrain free trade.

• laid the foundation for “trust-busting” era of Presidents

• Based on congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce

Hepburn Act

1906 Federal law gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad shipping rates and enforce its rulings.

Payne-Aldrich Act 1909

Made only minor reductions to import tariff rates (taxes on imported goods) and raised duties on key raw materials under Taft.

• Split the Republican Party as progressive republicans felt betrayed.

diversity among progressives

The progressive coalition brings together various racial, ethnic, gender, and religious groups.

• disagreements between moderate and far-left factions regarding pace/depth of change

Direct Election of Senators

The 17th Amendment (ratified in 1913) established the direct election of U.S. senators by the people

• previously chosen by state legislatures (led to corruption and political deals)

• reduced political corruption and increase democracy by giving citizens direct voice

Trust-busting vs. Trust-regulating

Trust-busting; legal breaking up of monopolistic corporations through federal antitrust lawsuits

Trust-regulating: ongoing government oversight of corporate behavior to prevent abuses

Ballinger Pinchot affair

1909-1910 political scandal over conservation and department authority that split the Republican party

• Ballinger (secretary of the interior under Taf) favored private leasing and development of public lands

• Pinchot (chief of Forest Service) and ally of TR. Championed strict federal regulation and conservation

• Pinchot accused Ballinger of corruption + insubordination which prompted Taft to fire Pinchot

  • congressional committee exonerated Ballinger + public backlash forced him to resign

Taft and Roosevelt Controversy

Stemmed from Taft shifting away from TR’s progressive policies after succeeding him —> 1912 election showdown

• Taft governed with more legalistic and conservative approach

• Taft aggresively filed twice as many antitrust suits

  • U.S. steel undermined TR’s past administration decisions

tenement houses

crowded, low-quality rental buildings that housed working-class immigrants during the industrialization of American cities.

• enabled immigrants to settle in those cities

• proximity to jobs and cultural enclaves

populist movement and influence on government

Populist and progressive era movements interconnected and sought to curb power of corporate elites and expand democracy

• populist movement laid groundwork for national progressive policies

Government shifted awa by Gilded Age laissez-fiare policies toward active government intervention on behalf of the public.

social darwinism

late 19th-century misapplication of the biological theory of evolution and natural selection to human society

• survival of the fittest justifies differences in wealth, power, and social status

social gospel

a Protestant social reform movement that applied Christian ethics to industrial-era social problems from 1880s to 1920s.

• poverty, crime, inequality were morla problems rooted in unfair social and economic structures rather than personal sins

• humansociety eliminate social evils through cooperative effort

issues of nativism

Ideology that promotes the interests of native-born inhabitants over immigrants to preserve an established cultural, ethnic, or national identity

• jobs/resources only for native citizens b/c of fear they drive down wages + competition for employment ‘

• racial hierarchies integrated into immigration control

good and bad trusts

Good trusts - efficient businesses that served the public fairly

bad trusts.- Monopolies that use predatory practices to exploit consumers and crush competition

clayton anti-trust act (1914)

Strengthened Sherman Antitrust Act by stopping anticompetitive and monopolistic business practices in their early stages

effects of urbanization and industrialization

transform human society by shifting populations from rural farms into manufacturing and urban centers

• job creation

• class shifts (new classes)

• better education, healthcare, and lifestyle changes

• labor conflict from dangerous working conditions

• overcrowding, sanction and disease, pollution

keating-owen act (1916)

used Congress’s power over interstate commerce to ban the sale of goods made by child labor (under 14 for shops, 16 for mines)

• where children work under 16 worked at night and more than 8 hours a day

john spargo

A Progressive Era author, socialist, and reformer who exposed the harsh conditions of child labor. Brought public attention to exploitation through his 1906 book.