Chapter 7: The Progressive Era
Core Concepts and Overview of the Progressive Era
Primary Themes of the Era:
Social, political, and economic responses to the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the United States.
National reform initiatives spearheaded by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
Transition from pure laissez-faire governance to increased regulatory intervention by the federal government.
Essential Historical Questions:
How did farmers respond to the systemic economic problems they faced in the late nineteenth century?
How did muckrakers and other Progressive reformers transform American society?
What was the lasting legacy of the Progressive Presidents?
How was the movement toward realism expressed in American literature and visual arts?
The Agrarian Movement
Demographic Context:
During the 1870s, a majority of Americans lived and worked on farms.
In contrast, less than of the modern American population resides on farms.
Economic Problems of Farmers (1870–1900):
Agricultural Overproduction:
The opening of the Great Plains and West increased total land under cultivation.
Adoption of modern machinery and improved fertilizers drastically increased yield per acre.
Rapid supply growth caused crop prices to plummet. For example, a bushel of corn dropped from in 1866 to as low as in 1889.
High Shipping and Storage Costs:
Railroad monopolies took advantage of local routes lacking competition by charging higher rates for shorter hauls than long hauls.
Grain elevator operators charged exorbitant storage fees.
Farmer Indebtedness:
Farmers routinely borrowed money to purchase machinery or land.
Poor harvests forced additional borrowing using farms as security.
Banks regarded farmers as high-risk borrowers and charged elevated interest rates.
Periodic Natural Disasters:
Agriculture was susceptible to droughts, insect infestations, and floods.
A single severe disaster could wipe out savings accumulated across multiple successful years.
The Grange Movement and Granger Laws
Origins and Growth:
Founded in 1867 as a social organization to reduce rural isolation and disseminate modern farming techniques.
Within ten years, membership expanded to , shifting focus to political and economic reform.
Granger Cooperatives:
Formed purchasing cooperatives to buy machinery, fertilizers, and manufactured goods in bulk at wholesale discounts, eliminating middleman markup.
Attempted to sell crops directly to urban markets.
Many cooperatives ultimately failed due to a lack of business management experience.
Granger Laws and Supreme Court Rulings:
Grangers elected candidates to state legislatures in several Midwestern states to enact laws capping railroad freight and grain storage rates.
Munn v. Illinois (1877): The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional right of a state to regulate private property and businesses that affected the public interest within its borders.
Reversal in 1886: The Supreme Court ruled that individual states could not regulate interstate railroad rates, establishing that only the United States Congress possessed authority over interstate commerce.
Interstate Commerce Act (1887):
Enacted by Congress in response to the Supreme Court's 1886 ruling.
Prohibited railroads from charging higher rates for short hauls than long hauls over the same route.
Established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the first federal regulatory agency, to investigate complaints and enforce fair business standards.
Marked a formal shift away from strict laissez-faire economics.
The Populist Party (1891–1896)
Formation:
Established in 1892 as a national political party representing the "common man"—farmers, industrial laborers, and miners—against banking and corporate interests.
Women played prominent public roles as speakers and political organizers.
The Populist Party Platform (Omaha Convention, 1892):
Unlimited Coinage of Silver: To expand the money supply, raise farm prices, and lower the real burden of debt repayments.
Direct Election of Senators: Replacing election by state legislatures to reduce corporate bribery.
Term Limits for President: Restricting the President to a single term in office.
Secret Ballot: Protecting voters against workplace or political intimidation.
Government Ownership: Nationalization of railroads, telegraph lines, and telephone systems.
Graduated Income Tax: Taxing wealthy citizens at higher marginal rates.
Immigration Restrictions: Instituting national quota systems to protect domestic labor.
Shorter Workday: Establishing a mandatory eight-hour workday for industrial workers.
Elections of 1892, 1896, and 1900:
Election of 1892: Populist presidential candidate James B. Weaver received over popular votes and 22 electoral votes ( of total electoral votes).
Depression of 1893: Economic panic caused widespread collapse; Populists attributed the depression to tight monetary policy and currency scarcity.
Election of 1896:
Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan delivered the famous "Cross of Gold" speech at the Democratic National Convention, praising farmers and stating: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
The Populists endorsed Bryan rather than running a separate candidate.
Republican candidate William McKinley, a pro-business advocate backed by Mark Hanna, won the presidency with 271 electoral votes () to Bryan's 176 electoral votes ().
Election of 1900: Rematch between McKinley (292 electoral votes / ) and Bryan (155 electoral votes / ). McKinley's victory, combined with new gold discoveries, rising farm prices, and rural-to-urban migration, effectively ended the Populist Party.
Legacy of Third Parties:
Third parties provide an outlet for minority viewpoints and introduce new political ideas.
When third-party proposals gain popular traction, one or both major political parties typically adopt them.
Populist proposals later enacted into federal law included the graduated income tax, direct election of Senators, secret ballots, and regulatory commissions.
The Progressive Movement (1900–1920)
Demographics and Leadership:
Flourished from 1900 until American entry into World War I.
Unlike the agrarian Populists, Progressives were primarily middle-class, urban professionals, including writers, lawyers, ministers, and university professors.
Primary Objectives:
Correct political, economic, and social injustices caused by rapid industrialization.
Reform government corruption and eliminate political boss domination.
Regulate big business without abolishing the private enterprise system.
Ideological Foundations:
Evangelical Protestant moral responsibility.
Scientific management and confidence in expert-led problem solving.
Rejection of pure laissez-faire in favor of active state intervention to promote public welfare.
The Social Gospel Movement and Ideological Alternatives
Social Gospel Movement:
Spearheaded by Protestant clergymen in the late nineteenth century.
Demanded social justice reforms, including the abolition of child labor and the implementation of factory safety standards.
Rejected the view that poverty was divine punishment, emphasizing the moral responsibility to be "one's brother's keeper."
Organizations like the Salvation Army provided direct charitable assistance to the poor.
Strongly supported the Temperance Movement to ban alcoholic beverages.
Comparison of Economic Ideologies:
Capitalism (Free Enterprise): Private ownership of production; criticized by Progressives for unregulated abuses and extreme wealth inequality.
Socialism: Public ownership and government control of basic national industries.
Communism: Ideology advocating that workers seize control of production through force and eliminate all private property.
Progressivism: A reformist middle path that preserved capitalism while instituting governmental regulations to prevent exploitation and social upheaval.
The Muckrakers
Definition: Investigative journalists, social scientists, and authors who exposed corporate abuses, government corruption, and urban poverty.
Prominent Muckrakers and Major Works:
Jacob Riis: Published How The Other Half Lives, using photojournalism to reveal slum conditions and urban poverty in New York City.
Ida Tarbell: Wrote History of the Standard Oil Company (1902), exposing the ruthless monopolistic practices of John D. Rockefeller.
Lincoln Steffens: Published The Shame of the Cities (1904), documenting political corruption in municipal governments.
Frank Norris: Wrote The Octopus, a novel detailing the control exercised by railroad monopolies over California wheat farmers.
Upton Sinclair: Authored The Jungle (1906), exposing hazardous and unsanitary conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry, including rat infestations and human contamination in food processing.
Accomplishments of Early Progressive Reformers
Individual Social Reformers:
Jane Addams: Founded Hull House in Chicago, establishing the settlement house movement. Settlement houses served as urban community centers providing childcare, healthcare, and English language classes to working-class immigrants.
Ida B. Wells: Organized a national anti-lynching crusade after three friends were lynched. Her documented research established that 728 African American men and women had been lynched during the preceding decade.
W.E.B. DuBois: First African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University; co-founded the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and edited its official publication, The Crisis. Rejected Booker T. Washington's policy of gradual accommodation, advocating instead for immediate political equality and active civil rights protests.
Anti-Defamation League: Founded to combat anti-Semitism and religious prejudice.
Municipal (City) Government Reforms:
Replaced corrupt political machine bosses with professional city managers, expert commissions, and reform-minded mayors.
Introduced "gas and water socialism," bringing public utilities (water, gas, electricity) under direct municipal ownership.
Expanded public services to address slum overcrowding, fire hazards, and sanitation.
State Political Reforms:
Secret Ballot: Reduced voter intimidation by keeping individual votes private.
Initiative: Allowed citizens to directly introduce legislative bills into state legislatures.
Referendum: Enabled voters to approve or reject proposed state legislation via direct ballot.
Recall: Permitted citizens to remove elected officials from office prior to the end of their term via a special election.
Direct Party Primaries: Allowed party voters, rather than political machine bosses, to select candidates for general elections.
Seventeenth Amendment (1913): Mandated the direct election of U.S. Senators by popular vote rather than selection by state legislatures.
State Social Legislation:
Enacted building codes to improve safety in urban housing.
Bannd child labor in factories.
Regulated workplace safety, limited working hours for women, and established mandatory workers' compensation for job-related injuries.
Civil Service Reform
Background:
Widespread federal and state corruption caused by the 19th-century "spoils system" (patronage awards given to political supporters).
Catalyst: The 1882 assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disappointed office-seeker.
The Pendleton Act (1883):
Created the Civil Service Commission to award federal government jobs based on merit through competitive examinations.
Initially applied to of federal civilian employees; today covers approximately of federal jobs.
Theodore Roosevelt's Contribution:
Appointed U.S. Civil Service Commissioner in 1889; advocated that appointments be strictly merit-based rather than tied to political affiliation.
National Progressive Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
Presidential Philosophy:
Assumed office following the assassination of President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York.
Viewed the President as the national "steward" obligated to exercise energetic executive power to protect the public interest.
Coal Miners' Strike of 1902: Intervened when a strike threatened the national coal supply. When mine owners refused arbitration, Roosevelt threatened to deploy federal troops to operate the mines, forcing owners to negotiate a settlement.
Trust-Busting:
Revived the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up corporate monopolies.
Distinguished between "good trusts" (efficient and public-minded) and "bad trusts" (anti-competitive, inflated prices) that harmed consumers.
Successfully dismantled Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company as an illegal monopoly.
Square Deal Legislation:
Consumer Protection: Passed the Meat Inspection Act (1906) establishing federal meat inspection, and the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) regulating food preparation and banning mislabeled or impure drugs.
Transportation Regulation: Expanded the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission over railroads, telegraphs, and telephones.
Conservation: Halted public sales of forest land; added millions of acres to national parks and reserves; created the National Conservation Commission.
The Taft Presidency (1909–1913) and the Election of 1912
William Howard Taft Presidency:
Endorsed by Roosevelt in 1908; continued trust-busting policies.
Lost support among Progressive Republicans after failing to significantly lower tariffs and returning protected federal lands to public sale.
Election of 1912:
Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination; Taft secured the nomination.
Roosevelt formed a third political party, the Bull Moose (Progressive) Party.
The split in Republican votes enabled Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson to win the election.
Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) and the New Freedom
New Freedom Agenda:
Objective: Tame big business, encourage competition, and eliminate special economic privileges by attacking tariffs, banks, and trusts.
Major Legislative Enactments:
Underwood Tariff (1913): Reduced protective tariff rates by to open domestic markets to international competition.
Sixteenth Amendment (1913): Constitutional amendment authorizing Congress to collect a direct tax on personal income.
Graduated Income Tax (1913): Instituted higher tax rates on high-income earners to make up for reduced tariff revenue.
Federal Reserve Act (1913): Established 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks ("banker's banks") controlled by the Federal Reserve Board to regulate national monetary policy, adjust interest rates, and manage money supply.
Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): Expanded antitrust laws; explicitly exempted labor unions and agricultural cooperatives from antitrust prosecution; banned federal court injunctions against peaceful labor strikes.
Federal Trade Commission Act (1914): Created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate unfair corporate trade practices and protect consumers.
Department of Labor (1913): Cabinet office created to protect worker welfare and enforce federal labor laws.
Child Labor Act (1916): Prohibited interstate commerce of goods produced by child labor (invalidated two years later by the U.S. Supreme Court).
National Park Service (1916):
Consolidated management of 40 national parks and monuments under the newly established Federal National Park Service to conserve natural scenery, historical sites, and wildlife.
The Women's Suffrage Movement
Traditional Legal Status:
Patriarchal system excluded women from voting, jury service, and holding public office.
Married women historically lost legal rights over property and wages to their husbands.
Early Suffrage History:
Seneca Falls Convention (1848): Issued a declaration paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that men and women were created equal and demanding suffrage.
Post-Civil War Realignment: Women reformers were disappointed when the 14th and 15th Amendments granted voting rights exclusively to male freedmen.
Minor v. Happersett (1874): The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that while women were citizens, voting was not an inherent privilege of citizenship.
NAWSA (1890): The National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed by merging major suffrage groups under Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920):
During World War I, women entered factory, mining, and agricultural jobs to support the war effort.
Congress passed the amendment barring any state from denying voting rights on the basis of sex; ratified in 1920 as the Nineteenth Amendment.
Immediate Impact:
Made the United States a more inclusive democracy.
Did not immediately lead to equal representation in elected offices or eliminate workplace wage discrimination.
American Realism in Literature and Art
Literary Realism:
Fashion in literature defined as the truthful, detailed portrayal of human life and social conditions created by industrialization.
Horatio Alger (1834–1899): Authored "rags-to-riches" novels such as Ragged Dick (1868), promoting hard work, discipline, and divine favor.
Mark Twain (1835–1910): Written works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Gilded Age (1873), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn captured regional dialects, post-Civil War materialism, and the moral conflicts of slavery.
William Dean Howells (1837–1920): Editor who promoted realism; authored The Rise of Silas Lapham, depicting the struggles of the nouveau riche.
Jack London (1876–1916): Wrote The Call of the Wild (1903), exploring survival and the conflict between human civilization and nature.
Henry James (1843–1916): Master of psychological realism; authored The Portrait of a Lady (1881), depicting the wealthy upper class and transatlantic culture.
Kate Chopin (1851–1904): Authored The Awakening (1899), depicting a married woman's personal discovery and passion; banned from libraries due to controversial content.
Visual Arts:
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903): Painted Arrangement in Grey and Black ("Whistler's Mother").
Winslow Homer (1836–1910): Realistic depictions of stormy seas, coastal scenes, and boats.
Thomas Eakins (1844–1916): Painted The Gross Clinic, capturing a live surgical operation inside a medical amphitheater.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937): Student of Eakins; influential African American painter capturing domestic scenes such as The Banjo Lesson.
Frederic Remington (1861–1909) and Charles Russell (1864–1926): Sculpted and painted scenes of cowboys, Native Americans, and Western frontier landscapes.