7.4 The Progressives

urban middle class, professional associations, Protestants, older stock, Robert La Fallette, pragmatism, William James, John Dewey, scientific management, Frederick W. Taylor, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Standard Oil Company, Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, Theodore Dreiser, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, secret ballot, direct primaries, direct election of U.S. Senators, 17th amendment, initiative, referendum, recall, municipal reform, commission , manager-council plan, Charles Evans Hughes, Hiram Johnson, Wisconsin Idea, direct primary law, regulatory commissions, temperance and prohibition, National Child Labor Committee, compulsory school attendance, Florence Kelley, National Consumers' League, Lochner v. New York, Muller v. Oregon, Triangle Shirtwaist fire, Square Deal, trust-busting, bad trusts, good trusts, Elkins Act, Hepburn Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, conservation, Newlands Reclamation Act, White House conference, Gifford Pinchot, Mann-Elkins Act, 16th amendment, income tax, firing of Pinchot, Payne-Aldrich Tariff, Socialist Party, Eugene V. Debs, Bull Moose Party, New Nationalism, New Freedom, Underwood Tariff, Federal Reserve Act, Federal Reserve Board, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, Federal Farm Loan Act, Child Labor Act, racial segregation, lynchings, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Urban League, National American Woman Suffrage Association, Carrie Chapman Catt, National Woman's Party, Alice Paul, 19th amendment, League of Women Voters, Margaret Sanger

shared basic beliefs of Progressives across most reform groups

• limiting power of big business, improving democracy, strengthening social justice

• involvement of local, state, and federal government

• usually preferred moderate reform to radical reform

who were Progressives

• mostly urban middle class

• professional class - people belonging to national businesses and professional associations providing platforms to address corrupt social, political, and economic problems

• Protestants - preached against vice, belief in code of social responsibility caring for less fortunate

  • The Social Gospel

  • older stock native-born Americans

pragmatism

enabled Progressive thinkers to challenge fixed ideas blocking reform, a revolution in thinking that challenged romantic transcendentalism

• William James and John Dewey - argued that the truth should be able to pass public test of observable results, promoted experimenting with ideas and laws for better society

scientific management system (Taylorism)

organizing people in the most efficient manner

• Frederick W. Taylor’s practical studies

• widespread acceptance among Progressives

• objection to political bosses as they were antidemocratic and inefficient

muckrakers

investigative journalists creating articles exposing politics, factories, slums

• Henry Demarest Lloyd (1881) - exposed corruption and greed of Standard Oil Company and railroads

• Lincoln Steffens (1902) - wrote muckraking series Tweed Days in St. Louis, exposed corrupt big city deals in muckraking book The Shame of the Cities

• Ida Tarbell (1902) - wrote muckraking series The History of the Standard Oil Company

• How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis - depicted tenement live

• The Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens - exposed corrupt deals in big city politics

• The Financier, The Titan, both by Theodore Dreiser - novels on industrialist ruthlessness

• The Octopus, The Pit, both by Frank Norris - fictional accounts on railroad companies and grain speculation respectively

• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - portrayed immigrant life and the meatpacking industry

why muckraking declined

• became difficult to top sensationalism of previous stories

• publishers faced economic pressures from banks and advertisers

• corporations became aware of public image, public relations field developed

political reforms in cities and states

• secret ballot - required voters to mark choices in private booth to prevent intimidation of voters

• direct primaries - tried to prevent party boss control, limited effectiveness

• 17th amendment - required popular vote/direct election of U.S. senators

• initiative - method allowing voters to compel legislature to consider a bill

• referendum - allowed citizens to vote on proposed laws on ballots

• recall - enabled voters to remove a politician from office by majority vote

reform governors who battle corporate interests

• Charles Evans Hughes - fought against fraudulent insurance companies

• Hiram Johnson - fought against political power of Southern Pacific Railroad

• Robert La Follette - Wisconsin governor who won passage of “Wisconsin Idea”

  • direct primary law

  • tax reform

  • state regulatory commissions - agencies created to monitor railroads, utilities and business like insurance

Progressive movements

• temperance and prohibition

• social welfare (better schools, juvenile courts, liberalized divorce laws, safety regulations, criminal rights, etc.)

• National Child Labor Committee

• women’s labor, Triangle Shirtwaist fire (1911)

Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency

• “Square Deal” - addressing industry, favored neither business nor labor, conservation of natural resources, corporate law, and consumer protection

• trust-busting

  • “bad trusts” - harm public, stifle competition

  • “good trusts” - dominate markets through efficiency and low prices

• railroad regulation - increased regulatory powers of Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) through Elkins Act and Hepburn Act

• consumer protection

  • Meat Inspection Act (1906) - required federal inspection of meatpacking plant sanitation

• conservation

  • White House Conference (1908) - publicized need for conservation

William Howard Taft’s presidency

• Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 - allowed ICC to suspend new railroad rates and overseas telephone and telegraph companies

• 16th amendment - authorized collection of income tax

• Firing of Pinchot

• Payne-Aldrich Tariff - raised tariff on most imports despite promise to lower tariffs

• split in Republican Party: Bull Moose Party - Progressive Republicans

Socialist Party

third party founded by Eugene V. Debs, called for public ownership of railroads, utilites, major industries, and worker’s rights

election of 1912

Democrat Woodrow Wilson defeats Republican William Howard Taft and Bull Moose Party’s Theodore Roosevelt

• Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom - plan to limit big business and government, end corruption, revive competition by supporting small businesses

Woodrow Wilson’s presidency

• Underwood Tariff (1913) - substantially lowered tariffs, graduated income tax

• Federal Reserve Act - national banking system with 12 district banks supervised by a Federal Reserve Board appointed by the president, regulating interest rates and capital reserves of banks

• Federal Trade Commission - protect consumers by investigating and taking action in industries

• Clayton Antitrust Act - breaking monopolies

• Federal Farm Loan Act

• Child Labor Act - prohibited shipment in interstate commerce with products manufactured by children less than 14 years old

African Americans in the Progressive Era

• continued racial segregation and lynchings

• Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois

• NAACP - mission to abolish segregation and increase education opportunities for African American children

• National Urban League - self reliance and economic advancement, helped people migrate from the South and readjust to the North

women’s rights movement

• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) - shifted goal from votes for women on a state level to winning a suffrage amendment in the Constitution

• 19th amendment (1920) - guaranteed women’s right to vote on local, state, and national levels

• League of Women Voters - civic organization organized by Charrie Chapmann Catt keeping voters informed

• Margaret Sanger - Progressive Woman advocating birth control education, formed Planned Parenthood organization