Unit 2, day 3

Ida Tarbell and Muckraking

  • Muckraker: progressive-era journalist focused on exposing corruption and abuses in industry and government.
  • Ida Tarbell: prominent muckraker; wrote The History of the Standard Oil Company (published in 19041904).
  • Focus: exposed John D. Rockefeller's tactics to build Standard Oil into a monopoly; spurred public demand for reform.
  • Key takeaways: investigative journalism can mobilize citizens to demand change.

Progressive Era: Core Aims

  • Core goal: reform government to eliminate corruption and expand democracy.
  • Gilded Age issues: widespread corruption, laissez-faire attitudes, and unregulated big business that harmed the public.

City Governments

  • Problem: city governments plagued by corrupt leaders and machines.
  • Solutions:
    • New leaders to clean up corruption.
    • City-wide improvements: police reform, fairer taxes, better services, expanded education, planning councils.

State Reforms (Wisconsin)

  • Robert La Follette (Governor, later Senator) set state-reform standards:
    • Limits on campaign spending ();
    • State commissions to regulate businesses;
    • Worker safety laws;
    • Dismantled monopolies as senator;
    • Environmental protection and protection of labor unions' right to strike.

Election Reforms (Expanded Democracy)

  • Progressives aimed for fairer, more open elections:
    • 17^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}: direct election of Senators;
    • Secret ballot in all states;
    • Initiative: voters propose a law;
    • Referendum: voters approve/deny a law;
    • Recall: remove an official via special election;
    • 19^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}: women’s suffrage.
  • Note: Amendments are formal changes/additions to the U.S. Constitution.

Progressive Presidents

  • Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909): the Square Deal
    • Conserved natural resources; National Parks and US Forest Service; American Antiquities Act (1906).
    • Busted monopolies and “bad” trusts; Sherman Antitrust Act use; arbitration of strikes (Coal Strike of 1902; sided with workers);
    • Regulated railroads (Elkins Act 1903;HepburnAct; Hepburn Act1906);
    • Consumer protection: Meat Inspection Act; Pure Food & Drug Act.
  • William Taft (1909-1913): continuation of reform but tensions with Roosevelt
    • Attacked trusts (e.g., Standard Oil, American Tobacco);
    • Expanded National Forests; workplace safety laws; established Children’s Bureau;
    • Payne-Aldrich Tariff: tariff reform controversy; some progressives viewed Taft as violating reform goals.
    • Roosevelt later ran again, splitting the Republican vote.
  • Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921): New Freedom
    • Reduced tariffs, reformed banks, regulated trusts, protected workers;
    • Federal Reserve Act (1913): decentralized national banking with 12 regional banks;
    • Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): legalized labor unions and strikes; enforced by FTC;
    • Federal Trade Commission Act (1914): watchdog agency protecting competition and consumers;
    • Child Labor Act (1916).

Election of 1912

  • Candidates and results (Electoral/Vote counts):
    • Woodrow Wilson (Democratic): 435ElectoralVotes;Electoral Votes;6{,}296{,}284 Popular Votes;
    • Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive “Bull Moose”): 88ElectoralVotes;Electoral Votes;4{,}122{,}721 Popular;
    • William H. Taft (Republican): 8ElectoralVotes;Electoral Votes;3{,}486{,}242 Popular;
    • Eugene V. Debs (Socialist): 0ElectoralVotes;Electoral Votes;901{,}551 Popular.
  • Significance:
    • Last election in which a non-Republican/Democrat candidate placed second in either Popular or Electoral College;
    • All 48 contiguous states participated.

Limits to Progressivism

  • Two groups faced limited progress:
    • African Americans: citizenship and voting rights were uneven and under threat; persistent discrimination.
    • Immigrants (New, undesirables): faced quotas, exclusion, mistreatment.

African American Discrimination and Jim Crow

  • Voting restrictions:
    • Literacy tests used to disenfranchise Black voters;
    • Poll tax required in many states;
    • Grandfather clause allowed some to vote only if ancestors had votes before 1867, excluding freed slaves.
  • Jim Crow Laws: racial segregation in public and private facilities (schools, hospitals, parks, transportation).
  • Constitutional amendments ratified after Civil War:
    • 13^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}: abolished slavery;
    • 14^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}: citizenship and equal protection;
    • 15^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}: voting rights for Black men.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

  • Case: Homer Plessy challenged segregation.
  • Ruling: separate facilities for blacks and whites were legal if services were equal; established the doctrine of "separate but equal".
  • Effect: legalized racial segregation for nearly 60 years.

What Else was Happening During This Time?

  • Imperialism, international events, and World War I shifted focus away from domestic home-front issues.

Summary and Quick Review

  • How these reforms impact citizens today:
    • Expanded democratic participation (direct election of Senators, ballot measures, suffrage).
    • Regulatory frameworks for business (federal agencies, antitrust laws, labor protections).
    • Consumer protection and public health safeguards (Meat Inspection, Pure Food & Drug Acts).
  • Two political reforms gained by Progressives:
    • Direct election of Senators via the 17^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment};
    • Expanded voting rights for women via the 19^{ ext{th}} ext{ Amendment}$$.