Progressive Movement Lecture Notes Flashcards

Defining the Progressive Movement and Its Origins

• The Progressive movement was a group of early $20^{th}$ Century reformers who sought to address social, political, and economic abuses resulting from late $19^{th}$ Century industrialization.

• Their primary method for change was significant government intervention.

• There was a fundamental shift in ideology from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era:   - Gilded Age Attitude: Government intervention was considered the root of all social and economic problems (‘seeking freedom from government’).   - Progressive Era Attitude: Government intervention was viewed as the solution to all social and economic ills (‘seeking freedom through government’).

• The Progressives were considered heirs to the Populist movement of the $1890s$:   - Many reforms that the Populists attempted but failed to enact were successfully implemented by the Progressives.   - The speaker describes the Progressives as ‘the populists in a sexier form.’

• Key Differences between Populists and Progressives:   - Populists: Focused on rural Americans and the agrarian sector; mostly represented the lower working class.   - Progressives: Focused on urban reform in industrialized cities; tended to come from the middle and upper classes.

• The movement was comprised of diverse groups who agreed on the methods for change but often disagreed on the specific targets of reform. These groups included:   - Protestant church leaders.   - Feminists.   - Labor union leaders.   - African-Americans.

Progressive Approaches to Racial Segregation and Civil Rights

• High-level progressives held three distinct attitudes toward racial segregation:   - Support for segregation in the South.   - Ignoring its presence.   - Working to dismantle it (primarily black progressives).

• Booker T. Washington’s approach:   - Discouraged black Americans from actively fighting segregation through political or social movements.   - Encouraged the development of virtues like thrift and abstinence.   - Founded the all-black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to teach practical skills for industrial jobs.   - Theoretical underpinning: If black Americans became economically vital and educated, segregation would gradually disappear as white Americans could no longer afford to marginalize them.

• Ida B. Wells’ approach:   - Rejected Washington’s practicalism.   - Actively encouraged black Americans to resist segregation.   - As a journalist, she spoke out vociferously against the lynching of blacks in the South.   - After white supremacists destroyed her printing equipment, she fled to Chicago to continue her work.

• web deo (W.E.B. Du Bois)’ approach:   - Occupied a middle position between Washington and Wells.   - Advocated for self-improvement while insisting that the only path to equality involved equal voting rights and the removal of segregated facilities.   - Founded the all-black Niagara movement to fight for voting rights and equal access to public facilities.

• The National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP):   - Formed when members of the Niagara movement joined with white reformers like Florence Kelly and Jane Adams.   - Focused on challenging segregation and lynching through the court system.   - These judicial victories laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement.

The Expansion of Popular Participation in Politics

• Progressives sought to transfer political power from elites back to the ‘common people’ through four major changes:   - 1. The Secret Ballot (Australian Ballot): Before this, political parties printed their own ballots and monitored voters. The secret ballot was first adopted by Massachusetts in $1888$, and by all states within two decades, to combat the corruption of urban political machines.   - 2. The Direct Primary: Introduced by the ‘winner of the hair lottery,’ the Wisconsin governor. This allowed ordinary citizens to choose party candidates rather than corrupt political machines.   - 3. Direct Election of Senators: Established by the ratification of the $17^{th}$ Amendment in $1913$. Previously, the Constitution mandated that state legislatures elect senators, which allowed corporations to use bribes to ensure minimal regulation. The amendment put this power in the hands of the people.   - 4. Initiative, Referendum, and Recall:     - Initiative: A mechanism for voters to require legislators to vote on a specific bill.     - Referendum: Allowed Americans to directly vote on proposed bills.     - Recall: Gave voters the power to remove an elected official from office before the end of their term.

Increasing Government Efficiency via Scientific Management

• Progressives applied ‘Taylorism’ or scientific management (introduced by Frederick Taylor) to government operations.

• Due to the rapid pace of industrialization, local governments had struggled to adapt, allowing political machines to take over by offering missing services.

• Reforms to improve efficiency included:   - Commission Form of Government: Elected commissioners ran departments like businesses.   - City Manager: A position acting as a CEO for the city to ensure programs ran with peak efficiency.   - Shift in Perspective: Local governments began viewing people less as constituents and more as ‘shareholders.’

Progressive Perspectives on Immigration Reform and Social Services

• The arrival of massive numbers of immigrants from Europe and Asia led to varied Progressive responses:   - Birth Control Advocacy: Margaret Sanger worked among poor urban immigrants to reduce childbearing. Her efforts were informed by eugenics; she believed the quality of the white race would improve if non-white women had fewer children.   - Settlement Houses: Jane Adams established settlement houses to provide healthcare, education, and childcare for working parents. The speaker notes her work was also rooted in eugenics.   - Legislative Restrictions: Labor union leaders pushed for immigration restriction to prevent foreign workers from driving down wages.

• Major Legislative Victories:   - Immigration Act of $1917$.   - Immigration Act of $1921$: Cut off nearly all Asian immigration and significantly restricted European immigration.

Conservation and Preservation of Natural Resources

• Efforts became urgent after the closing of the frontier in $1890$, leading to a debate between two camps:   - Conservationists: Exemplified by Gford Pinshow (Gifford Pinchot). They believed resources (forests, coal, oil) should be used/extracted but balanced with maintaining landscape beauty.   - Preservationists: Exemplified by John Mure (John Muir). They aimed to protect natural beauty by preventing all resource extraction.

• Federal Involvement: President Theodore Roosevelt issued executive orders to protect wildlife and landscape and oversaw the creation of $3$ protected national parks.

The Role of Muckreers in Exposing Corruption

• Muckreers were investigative journalists who wrote stories exposing corruption in business and government.

• Key Figures and Works:   - Ida Tarbell: Exposed illegal activities of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, showing how he eliminated competition.   - Ingp Punchu (Ng Poon Chew): Wrote about the gross injustices of the Chinese Exclusion Act.   - Upton Sinclair: Wrote The Jungle, illustrating the unsanitary practices of industrial meatpacking plants.

• Legislative Victories resulting from muckreer work:   - Pure Food and Drug Act.   - Meat Inspection Act: Provided government oversight to ensure food safe from contamination.

Progressivism in National Politics: The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt

• Roosevelt believed the Gilded Age administrations sided too often with big business against the working class.

• The Square Deal: Roosevelt’s policy to provide fair treatment for both parties.

• The $1902$ Pennsylvania Coal Strike:   - Miners demanded better pay and union recognition.   - Owners refused to budge.   - Roosevelt threatened to send federal troops to operate the mines.   - Result: Owners gave better wages and hours, though they did not recognize the union.

• Regulation of Trusts:   - Roosevelt distinguished between productive trusts and ‘bad trusts’ that used predatory pricing and eliminated competition.   - He enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act of $1890$ and broke up more than $40$ trusts, earning the nickname ‘the trustbuster.’

Progressivism in National Politics: The Presidency of Woodro Wilson

• Woodro Wilson targeted the ‘triple wall of privilege’: Tariffs, banking, and trusts.

• Economic Reforms:   - Underwood Tariff Act ($1913$): Reduced tariffs on manufactured goods, aiding rural Americans.   - $16^{th}$ Amendment: Created a national income tax (a previously failed Populist reform).   - Banking Reform: Wilson argued the gold standard harmed average Americans.   - Federal Reserve: Established a national banking system to regulate money supply and interest rates to promote economic flourishing.

Constitutional Amendments and the Women’s Suffrage Movement

• The Progressive Era saw several landmark amendments:   - $16^{th}$ Amendment: Income Tax.   - $17^{th}$ Amendment: Direct election of Senators.   - $18^{th}$ Amendment ($1919$): Prohibition (ban on alcohol). Pushed by middle-class women who saw alcohol as a cause of moral decay. The grain shortage during World War I in $1917$ provided the final push for national adoption. It was repealed in $1933$.   - $19^{th}$ Amendment ($1920$): Recognized women’s right to vote.

• The Women’s Suffrage movement began at the Senica Falls Convention in $1848$. Success was finally achieved due to renewed activism and the global momentum of other democratic countries recognizing women’s voting rights.