Chapter 20: Progressive Era (1895–1914)

Initiative process

This Progressive-supported process allowed any citizen to propose a law

Referendum process

This process allowed citizens (instead of legislatures) to vote on proposed laws

Recall process

This process allowed voters to remove an elected official from office before his or her term expired

Direct primary

This process allowed party members to vote for prospective candidates; previously most had been chosen by party conventions

Hull House

Settlement house in Chicago founded by Jane Addams; it became a model for settlement houses around the country

National American Woman Suffrage Association

Created in 1890 by a merger of two womens suffrage organizations and led in its early years by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony was instrumental in demanding womens right to vote

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)

Fire in New York City that killed 146 female factory workers

The Jungle

Novel written by Upton Sinclair that highlighted numerous problems of the meatpacking industry and inspired the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act

1879

Progress and Poverty by Henry George published

1888

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy published

1889

Formation of National Consumers League

1890

National American Woman Suffrage Association founded

1901

Theodore Roosevelt becomes president after the assassination of William McKinley

1901

Progressive Robert La Follette elected as governor of Wisconsin

1901

Progressive Tom Johnson elected as mayor of Cleveland, Ohio

1903

Founding of Womens Trade Union League

1904

The Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens published

1905

IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) established

1906

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair published Meat Inspection Act enacted

1908

William Howard Taft elected president

1909

Foundation of the NAACP

1910

Ballinger-Pinchot controversy

1911

Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire

1912

Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party) founded by Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow

1913

Establishment of Federal Reserve System

1914

Clayton Antitrust Act ratified

1915

First showing of D. W. Griffiths film Birth of a Nation

1905

Establishment of U.S. Forest Service

1906

Pure Food and Drug Act enacted

1912

Wilson elected president Establishment of Industrial Relations Committee

1913

Ratification of Sixteenth Amendment, authorizing federal income tax

1913

Ratification of Seventeenth Amendment, authorizing direct election of senators

1914

Outbreak of World War I in Europe

1914

Federal Trade Commission Act ratified

Henry George

He wrote *Progress and Poverty (1879)*

Edward Bellamy

He wrote *Looking Backward* (1888)

**muckrakers**

Many newspapers and magazines investigated political corruption and business monopolies. These exposés were widely read and spread Progressive ideas. Theodore Roosevelt called these investigators "___________.”

Upton Sinclair

He famously criticized the meatpacking industry.

*The Shame of the Cities*

Written by Lincoln Steffens, this criticized machine politics.

Jacob Riis

*How the Other Half Lives* (1890) by __________ exposed urban poverty.

Tom Johnson

He was the Cleveland "reform mayor" that received national attention for his efforts to clean up local government and improve city services.

Initiative process

Enabled a citizen to propose a law and get it on the ballot during the next election.

Referendum process

Allowed citizens to vote for the adoption of a proposed law during an election.

Recall process

Made it possible for voters to remove an elected official from office.

Direct primary

Traditionally party nominees had been picked at political conventions dominated by the party leadership. This allowed rank and file party members to pick a nominee through a public vote.

Florence Kelley

She founded the National Consumers League, which advocated for workplace and home protections for women and children.

Hull House

In 1889, located in Chicago, this began serving the poor under Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr.

Anti-Saloon League

As working men spent their paychecks in bars, the _______ claimed that alcoholism caused poverty.

Idaho

The first western state to allow women to vote in local elections during the Gilded Age.

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

In 1890, two women's suffrage organizations merged to form the _________________.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Susan B. Anthony

Founders of NAWSA

National Woman's Party

The radical British suffragette movement influenced Alice Paul's 1916 founding of the ______.

feminism

In 1914, a group of women in New York City coined the term ________.

Margaret Sanger

A nurse who worked with New York City's poor, promoted birth control.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Many Progressives believed workplace safety regulations were necessary after the __________, which killed 146 workers in a poorly maintained factory.

Square Deal

used to describe Roosevelt's policy of using the government to protect everyone's interests.

railroad regulation power

The Interstate Commerce Commission had more _______________ after the Hepburn Act.

**Sherman Antitrust Act**

This was revived by Roosevelt. Though passed in 1890, the law had not been used to break up illegal trusts or monopolistic holding companies.

Northern Securities Company

Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department to sue the _____________, a holding company that controlled most northwest railroads, under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Sherman Antitrust Act

Roosevelt used the __________ against corporations he believed had exploited consumers.

**William Howard Taft**

Roosevelt's chosen successor was **_____________**. He was a judge and Roosevelt's cabinet member.

**Payne-Aldrich Tariff**

Taft didn't have Roosevelt's political and PR skills. He was more respectful of Congress. This led him to support the _____________ of 1909, which angered many Progressives because it kept tariffs on many products too high, hurting consumers.

Richard A. Ballinger

Taft's interior secretary.

Gifford Pinchot

Forest Service chief, was furious; he publicly accused Ballinger for corruption.

**Republican "Old Guard"**

The **_________________** supported Taft by 1910. He opposed some Progressive critics in the 1910 primaries.

Sixteenth Amendment

This was supported by President Taft and a wide range of the public as a way to raise revenue and offset tariff cuts; Income taxes were initially thought to be paid by the wealthy.

Bull Moose Party

The Progressive Party, also known as the ____________, was founded by Roosevelt and his supporters.

New Freedom policy

Wilson's ______________ reflected Democrats' longstanding distrust of a strong federal government.

1912

Given the candidates' records, __this year__ was the Progressive Era's electoral peak.

Underwood Tariff Act of 1913

The new income tax made up for the ______________ 's largest tariff cuts since the Civil War.

Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

The ____________ outlawed price discrimination and other corporate abuses.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The 1914 Federal Trade Commission Act established the _______________. It worked closely with businesses to help them avoid illegal activities.

Federal Reserve System

In 1913, Wilson created the __________ to solve currency supply and financial panics.

Federal Reserve notes

The current _________ were issued by a Washington-based Federal Reserve Board.

Federal Reserve Act

By creating a decentralized bank support system and a stable, flexible currency, the ___________ was intended to boost the American economy.

*Birth of a Nation*

an epic Civil War and Reconstruction film by D. W. Griffith.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

African American and white reformers founded the ________________ in 1909 to fight racism and promote equal rights.

Progressive Era

American intervention in WWI ended the _______________.