APUSH Unit 1: The Progressive Era

Monopoly

1 company controls all aspects of an industry

Gives an unfair advantage and too much power to one entity

Trust

Several Companies colluding to monopolize

Sherman Anti-Trust Law

This law is passed in the 1890s to stop monopolies and trusts. Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft use it extensively

Middle

Industrialization led to the emergence of a ___________ class

Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain

• Appears to be gold, but has problems underneath the gold coating

During this age, industrialization is scaled to huge degrees

Economy of Scale

The more a company dominates, the cheaper it is to produce its goods

• Exponential

Robber Barons

• Titans of industry, innovators ⇒ made their riches themselves through both honest and dishonest means

  • Government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation instead of for the people

  • Businesses no longer on a small scale ⇒ become corporations

Ida Tarbell / History of Standard Oil

an investigative reporter writes an expose book on Standard Oil’s control of political and social aspects

Muckrakers

 Investigative reporters / photographers that uncovered the bad sides of corporations

Andrew Carnegie

Typical “Rags to Riches” story ⇒ worked his way up to make a steel company

• “Anyone can do this” myth ⇒ ethos of America that attracted many immigrants

Cornelius Vanderbilt

This Robber Baron controlled railroads and was particularly nefarious

John D. Rockefeller

This robber baron was very rich, but also a philanthropist

• Created Standard Oil which was later broken up by Roosevelt

J.P. Morgan

A banker that did many corporate takeovers ⇒ buys Carnegie Steel and TN Coal and Iron to form U.S. Steel, which becomes the largest steel corporation

• Self sustaining: entire production process within the company

• Felt that he was above the common man

  • Had run-ins with Theodore Roosevelt

Chinese Exclusion Act

This act banned all Asian immigrants

First

During this wave of immigration, immigrants mostly came from Western Europe (Ireland, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany) in the 1820s

Second

During this wave of immigration, immigrants came from Eastern Europe (Slavs, Poland, Russia) and Southern Europe (Italy)

Nativisim

Hatred / Fear of Immigrants

• Racism against Italians, Eastern Europeans, Asians

Jacob Riis

This photographer took photographs showing urbanization problems in NYC “How the Other Half Lives”

• His pictures showed overcrowding, poverty, sanitation problems, neglect, and crime

Middle Class Reformers

These were the first to begin trying to fix problems at small, loval levels

Racism, Income Inequality

These problems were pushed to the side in favor of focusing on labor and city problems

Labor + Capital

Economy =

lack

Unionizing saw a ______ of success

Collective bargianing

Unions used this strategy to try to peacefully negotiate with capital wokers

Strikes / Picketing

Unions used this strategy to cause disruption: stop work

American Federation of Labor

A union that restricted membership to only skilled workers

• Wanted an 8 hour work day

Pullman Railroad Strike

Workers went on strike in an influential railroad company in Chicago

• Wages were cut due to a recession, however rents in the Pullman sanctioned apartments was kept the same

• Eugene V. Debs (socialist) led workers on a strike and boycott of the rail cars

  • The president ends up sending federal troops ⇒ on the side of capital

Corporate Police

Corporation owners hired these as strike breakers / thugs in order to dispel strikes

Pinkerton Detective Agency

Spies like this company infiltrated the workplace and attempted to find leaders of unions

Homestead Steel Strike

This company shut down their factories for a few weeks to prevent strikes

Haymarket Riot

• Demonstrators were calling for an 8 hour workday

• 100k walked out on May 1st

  • By May 4th, 60 police were killed

  • The following trials rounded up the union leaders and hung them without evidence

City Boss

A 1st generation American or an immigrant that gains power in a city by “pulling strings”

People can get jobs, lodgings, etc. through connections in exchange for favors

Grafting

being privy to projects and strategically buying out real estate

Tweed Ring

This corruption circle was broken up by political cartoons: people did not have to be literate to understand them

Lincol Steffens

This was the author of “Shame of the City”, who investigated Philadelphia’s practice of giving jobs through patronage

Progressivism

Belief in progress to solve society’s problems

• Developing moral / ethical will ⇒ wanting to help those less fortunate, not being selfish

• Intellectual insight ⇒ what’s happening in the nation? Staying informed and educated

• Developed in both private and public agencies

Victorian Ideals

• Conservative, hearth, women = carers, men = workers

• “Cult of domesticity” was inherited from Great Britain

  • These ideals no longer fit the middle class

Temperance Movement

This movement is when reformers attempt to ban liquor

Meat Inspection Act

This law was encouraged by the Housewives Alliance in response to meat companies selling spoiled meat. This eventually led to the creation of the FDA

Upton Sinclair

Author of “The Jungle”, a book that described the horrors of the meatpacking industry. He later meets with TR and helps pass the Meat Inspection Act which led to the creation of the FDA

Settlement Houes

Where new immigrants “settle” ⇒ are taught a trade

• Made by people who have money, copied from England

Wisconsin

Led by Rob LaFollete, this state was known as the “laboratory of democracy” and was the first to implement primary elections, employment tests, and restrict lobbyists

United Mine Workers Coal Strike

During this strike, Theodore Roosevelt stands on the side of labor

• Negotiates with both parties and threatens to nationalize the coal industry if the mine owners do not comply

Northern Securities Case

J.P. Morgan was buying out many railroads from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, aimed to control railways in half of the country

• High private railroad rates would end up hurting the consumer

  • Stopped by TR

The Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt runs for his own presidency

The federal government to protect labor and the people from the worst of capitalism

1. Labor Protection: TR on the side of labor, health, and safety in the workplace ⇒ OSHA

2. Regulate Trusts, Monopolies

3. Consumer Protection ⇒ FDA

4. Conserve Natural Resources

John Muir

Father of conservation

• Forms the Sierra Club

• Walks to Yosemite, wants to protect it

Preservationist: Wants to keep nature as it is

• Meets with Theodore Roosevelt to discuss preservation

Preservationism

This ideology is formed of people who want to keep nature as it is. People like John Muir encouraged nature to stay untouched.

Gilford Pinchot

Appointed as Chief Forester by Theodore Roosevelt

• Conservationist focused on forest management

Conservationism

This ideology focuses on management of natural resources and balancing use and protection

Showdown at Hetch Hetchy Valley

Much of Yosemite valley was outside the national parks

• Developers want to build a dam

  • Muir tries to convince the government to not but it doesn’t work ⇒ valley is dammed and an aqueduct is made

Mesa Verde

This site in Colorado is home to an ancient Indigenous city, but all its relics were stolen by a Swedish Archaeologist

Antiquities Act

This act makes it so The President can set aside “antiques or relics of historic value”

TR applies this to lands: Devil’s tower national monument, etc.

William Howard Taft

This president was born wealthy, but genial

• Was solicitor general, federal judge, governor of Philippines, where he creates a democratic society

• Becomes secretary of war

• Had a legal mind: strict Constitutional Interpretation, which was very different from TR 

• However, TR gives him support and he is nominated, wins election in a landslide.
  

Mixed Success at Presidency: 3 Betrayals of Roosevelt

Taft’s 3 Betrayals

1. Suing U.S. Steel: TR viewed it as a good trust. However, Taft was against all trusts

2. 1909 Tariff: Led to high prices for consumers, Progressives didn’t like. 

3. Ballinger vs. Pinchot: Secretary of interior wanted to lease mines, but Pinchot, as a conservationist, does not agree. Taft allows leasing of forests and fires Pinchot.

Suing U.S. Steel

Taft’s first betrayal of Roosevelt. He does this to a company that TR viewed as a good trust.

1909 Tariff

Taft’s second betrayal: This led to high prices for consumers and Progressives were against it. However, Taft signed this law into effect

Ballinger vs. Pinchot

Taft’s third betrayal: Secretary of interior wanted to lease mines, but Pinchot, as a conservationist, does not agree. Taft allows leasing of forests and fires Pinchot.

National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association

• Created by Callie House, a former slave in TN

• Birthed the reparation movement of the 1890s

  • Demanded compensation for unpaid slave labor and was supported by poor blacks

W.E.B. DuBois

This person adopted racist ideas similar to Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Assimilationist Ideas, thought African Americans were crippled by Slavery

• Participated in NAACP

• Looked down on lower-class blacks

Ida B. Wells

This person Noticed there were lots of lynchings

• Southern Horrors: A pamphlet describing that only ⅓ of lynchings were of charged individuals

  • White men were lying to cover up their own assaults

Booker T. Washington

Principal of the Tuskegee Institute

• Wanted blacks to focus on lower, more acceptable pursuits

• In public, tailored to white elite, but in private supported civil rights

• “Atlanta Compromise” - Asked Southern whites to stop pushing blacks out of the country

  • “Let them live in the basement” and start low

  • Gains national acclaim: Tuskegee magazine controlled colleges, newspapers, etc.

Atlanta Compromise

Here, Booker T. Washington Asked Southern whites to stop pushing blacks out of the country

“Let them live in the basement” and start low

Plessy vs. Fergurson

Legalized “separate but equal”, stopped antiracists’ resistance in the courts

Bull Moose Party

The new Progressive Party, also known as the ______________, was created when Theodore Roosevelt did not recieve the Republican nomination for president and left to create his own party

New Nationalism

The platform of the new Progressive Party:

• Government needs to be a caretaker and intervene for the well-being of the people

• Create an activist government to regulate businesses

Socialism

Things/Corporations/Resources in society that are really important need to be state-run

Eugene V. Debs

Socialist candidate in election of 1912

Woodrow Wilson

Democrat who got elected for president in 1912, known for a progressive presiency

New Freedom Platform

Woodrow Wilson’s platform:

• Government is a hands-off umpire: give people the freedom to do Capitalism

• Restore competitive freedoms

• Attack high tariffs

• Raise private ownership, states’ rights

Underwood Simmons Bill

Woodrow Wilson lowered the tariff by 10%

Federal Income Tax

Under Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the 16th Amendment created _______

Progressive Tax

Woodrow Wilson created a graduated _____________

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

• Sherman didn’t do enough to outlaw “trust-like” practices

  • Stops stock takeovers of other companies if it creates a monopoly

    • Prohibits “interlocking” directorates

Federal Trade Commission

•  created in 1913 to monitor big companies

  • Protect consumers from fraud and embezzlement

    • Sues companies, enforces anti-trust laws

Currency Law

Part of the Federal Reserve Act: Makes the US dollar more secure, circulates through the economy

Federal Banking System

Part of the Fedreal Reserve Act: Federal Reserve “super”banks in big cities

• Keep smaller banks from closing

• Has a board that decides which banks are good enough to give a loan to

• Avoid banking panics, oversee smaller banks

• Set the Federal Funds Rate (interest charged to private banks)

• Maintain “healthy” inflation rate of 2%

Securities and Exchange Commission

This is created under the Federal Reserve Act: Looks at history of trades and investigates companies

Monitors stocks and the stock market

17

This amendment allows Senators to get elected directly by popular vote.