Progressivism and Re-forming America (1900-1915)

Flashcards covering the major presidents, social issues, legal cases, and constitutional amendments of the American Progressive Era (1900-1915).

Progressivism ($1900-1915$)

A period of reform and economic growth where political activists sought to use the government as the steering reins to guide social development and manage the economy.

Albert J. Beveridge

The senator from Indiana and one of the founders of the Progressive Party who believed English-speaking peoples were made to be master organizers of the world.

Roosevelt Corollary

A $1904$ policy statement stating the U.S. would exercise international police power in the Western Hemisphere to ensure proper governance and stability.

Panama Canal Construction Project ($1903-1914$)

The building of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama using a system of locks, costing between $337,000,000-400,000,000$ dollars.

Monroe Doctrine ($1823$)

A foreign policy principle that declared the Western Hemisphere closed to European colonization or puppet monarchs.

Big Stick ideology

The foreign policy associated with Theodore Roosevelt, based on the African proverb: Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

Dollar Diplomacy

The foreign policy strategy used by William Howard Taft that relied on financial manipulations to control foreign countries.

New Nationalism

Theodore Roosevelt's platform advocating for the federal government to micro-regulate big business and prioritize human welfare over property rights.

New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson's platform focusing on limited federal reforms in three areas: lowering tariffs, strengthening the banking system, and creating specific antitrust laws.

Muckraking

A form of journalism focused on exposing industrial and social ills, such as corruption and unsafe working conditions.

Social Gospel Movement

A movement that applied Christian ethics to social problems like alcoholism and prostitution, encouraging followers to ask What would Jesus do?

Jane Addams

A wealthy activist and leader in the settlement house movement who used her resources to improve social conditions for the poor.

Hull House

A settlement house opened in Chicago in $1889$ that provided childcare, legal services, healthcare, and education to poor immigrants.

NAACP ($1909$)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded by a multiracial group of Progressives to advocate for civil rights through lawfare.

Plessy v. Ferguson ($1896$)

A Supreme Court decision that upheld Jim Crow laws by ruling that facilities for different races could be separate but equal.

The Jungle ($1906$)

A muckraking book by Upton Sinclair that exposed horrific conditions in meatpacking plants, leading to federal safety legislation.

Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act ($1906$)

Federal laws passed in response to concerns about food safety and sanitation, largely influenced by Upton Sinclair's writing.

Triangle Waist Company Fire ($1911$)

A tragedy in NYC that resulted in the deaths of $146$ people, leading to increased support for unions and safer working conditions.

16th Amendment ($1913$)

A constitutional amendment that allowed the federal government to lay and collect taxes on incomes without regard to state population.

17th Amendment ($1913$)

A constitutional amendment that established the direct election of U.S. senators by the people rather than by state legislatures.

19th Amendment ($1920$)

The constitutional amendment that granted woman suffrage across the United States.

Federal Reserve Act ($1913$)

Legislation that created a system of regional banks overseen by a centralized Federal Reserve Board to control the nation's money supply.

Wobblies

The nickname for the International Workers of the World (IWW), a radical union founded in $1905$ with the slogan One Big Union for All.

Margaret Sanger

A Progressive activist who defied the law to open the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn in $1909$.

Muller v. Oregon ($1908$)

A Supreme Court case that upheld a $10$-hour workday for women on the grounds that their physical wellbeing was a public interest for preserving the race.

SOLAS ($1914$)

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, formed to recommend minimum safety standards for ships following the sinking of the Titanic.

Eugene V. Debs

The founder of the American Socialist Party who ran for President five times and received nearly one million votes in $1912$.

The Communist Manifesto ($1848$)

A book by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that advocated for the violent overthrow of the existing order and a dictatorship of the proletariat.

Clayton Antitrust Act ($1914$)

A law that extended the Sherman Act by specifying business practices that damaged competition and creating the Federal Trade Commission.

Birth of a Nation ($1915$)

A film romanticizing the KKK that Woodrow Wilson screened at the White House, describing it as writing history with lightning.