Progressive EraIt is time to fix the problems of

the “Gilded Age”

a.k.a. Progressivism

1890-1920

Populists vs Progressives

Populists---rural Progressives---cities

Populists were poor and uneducatedProgressives were middle-class and

educated.

Populists were too radicalProgressives stayed political

mainstream.

Populists failedProgressives succeeded

Pendleton Act

Patronage (spoils system) – gov’t jobs given to supporters of winning party in an election

Act was civil service reform President fills federal jobs according to

Civil Service Committee rules Civil Service Examinations

Examination given for federal jobs Only qualified candidates placed on list Selection for job comes from list

Wabash v. Illinois

Railroads charged lower shipping rates for large corporations

Illinois laws began to regulate railroad rates Regulating trade between states

Wabash Railroad sued State of Illinois Supreme Court ruled Illinois could not restrict

rates on traffic between states Only federal gov’t can regulate interstate

commerce

Interstate Commerce Commission established Legislation limited rates to ‘reasonable and

fair’

Gibbons v. Ogden  (1824)

was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Plain terms: means the Federal government can REGULATE trade between the states

Legalized Segregation

Progressive’s didn’t believe it was right for Civil laws cannot dictate how society treats people

Southern practices Jim Crow laws – segregation, voting restrictions Loopholes in 15th Amendment prohibited voting

Poll tax Literacy test Grandfather Clause

Progressives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 Prohibited keeping people out of public places based

on race BUT… Supreme Court overturned act in 1883—

opening door for legalized segregation yet again.

Improving Conditions for African Americans

Lynching – Ida Wells – The Red Record.

WHAT IS A LYNCHING?

Marion, Indiana --

South’s Backlash1

0 to 2020 to 6060 to 100100 to 200200 or more

Lynchings of Whites/Blacks

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Homer Plessy—1/8 African

American Intentionally sat in wrong

section of train Arrested, fined, appealed to

Supreme Court Supreme Court upheld the

Louisiana law requiring segregation

Significance of ruling: Endorsed “separate but equal”

facilities Established legal basis for

discrimination in South for over 50 years

US would be segregated until the 1960’s.

Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896

Social equality vs. legal equalityWhich way will the scale tip?Which way will the scale tip?

The Two Opposing Ideas on HOW TO OVERCOME

SEGREGATION

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON VS.

W.E. B. Du BOIS

Invited to White House to dine with Teddy Roosevelt

Booker T. WashingtonHow do Black Americans overcome

segregation?Southern Perspective• Former slave

• Wrote a book/ Up From Slavery• Founder of Tuskegee Institute

• Don’t confront segregation head on• Before you are considered equal in

society--must be self sufficient like most Americans

• Stressed vocational education for Black Americans

•Gradualism and economic self-sufficiency

Harvard-educated professor who focused on the need for a traditional liberal arts education for African-Americans who could then insist upon equal treatment and rights from white

society.

W.E.B. DuboisHow do Black Americans overcome

segregation?Northern Perspective

1st African American to earn a P.H.D from Harvard

• Founder of NAACP* National Association for the Advancement of Colored People• Fought for immediate Black equality in society

• Talented 10%: Demanded the top 10% of the talented Black population be placed into

the “power positions”• Gain equality by breaking into power

structure

Political Reforms of Progressives

Direct primaries – voting public chooses candidates to run in general election

Initiative – citizens can introduce laws and legislature required to vote on them

Referendum – proposed laws submitted to voters

Recall – voters demand special election to remove elected official

17th Amendment – direct election of Senators

Other Reforms endorsed by Progressives

Zoning laws – divide cities into zones for specific use

19th Amendment – women’s suffrage Child labor reform Worker safety

Worker’s Compensation 18th Amendment – prohibition; illegal to

manufacture, sale, or transport alcohol

QUIZ Yo’self

Theodore Roosevelt’s Upbringing Theodore Roosevelt was a

sickly, shy youth whom doctors forbade to play sports or do strenuous activities.

In his teenage years, Roosevelt reinvented himself, taking up sports and becoming vigorous, outgoing, and optimistic.

Roosevelt came from a prominent New York family and attended Harvard University, but he grew to love the outdoors.

In 1884, when Roosevelt was 26, both his mother and his young wife died unexpectedly.

Trying to forget his grief, he returned to his ranch in Dakota Territory, where he lived and worked with cowboys.

He returned to New York after two years and entered politics.

Roosevelt’s View of the Presidency

President William McKinley was shot and killed in 1901, leaving the office to Roosevelt.

At 42 years old he was the youngest president and an avid reformer.

From Governor to Vice

President

Roosevelt’s rise to governor of New York upset the Republican political machine.

To get rid of the progressive Roosevelt, party bosses got him elected as vice president, a position with little power at that time.

Unlikely President

Roosevelt saw the presidency as a bully pulpit, or a platform to publicize important issues and seek support for his policies on reform.

View of Office

Theodore Roosevelt’s SQUARE DEAL Taking on Big Business

Sued Northern Securities (RR TRUST) Striking Coal Miners

Use arbitration to break strike and support the WORKERS!

Interstate Commerce Commission power to set railroad rates

Elkins Act and Hepburn Act- amended the ICC to be stronger on RR companies that offered big rebates to “BIG” business

Pure Food and Drug Act Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle Meat Inspection Act

Avid conservationist Increased power of executive branch

Square Deal• TR believed in the

“capitalistic system” but believed that the system must be regulated by US

Govt.• TR was a Hamiltonian but for

the betterment of the “common man” as opposed

to benefit the elite.

• TR believed the U.S. Government was running the country and not the rich and corrupt industrialists….

• U.S. Government involvement with “regulatory agencies”….Similar to “checks and balances”

• Ida Tarbell, was the foremost woman in the MUCKRACKING MOVEMENT.

• She published a highly critical history of Standard Oil Co… calling it the “MOTHER OF TRUSTS”

MUCKRACKER: • Investigative

reporters who promoted social/political reforms by exposing corruption/urban problems

• Leading critics of Political bosses and robber barrons

“How the Other Half Lives”-Jacob Riis

Upton Sinclairs, The Jungle, exposed the filthy, unsanitary working conditions and corruption in a meatpacking company in Chicago

Dismay Over Food and Drug Practices Food

Food producers used clever tricks to pass off tainted foods:

Dairies churned spoiled milk into fresh butter.

Dye was added to spoiled food to disguise the rotting color

Injuries happened often and would overlooked at added to the meat in some cases

Poultry sellers added formaldehyde, which is used to embalm dead bodies, to old eggs to hide their smell.

• Unwary customers bought the tainted food thinking it was healthy.

President Roosevelt proposed legislation to clean up the meatpacking industry after reading The Jungle.

LEADS TO…. Meat Inspection Act

President Roosevelt proposed legislation to clean up the meatpacking industry after reading The Jungle.

LEADS TO…. Meat Inspection Act

•Pure Food and Drug Act,

1906 • Federal inspection to all

packaged foods and drugs.

• Labels with medicine as well as food.

• Contents of food and drug packages must be listed

• All additives/chemicals must be listed on labels.

• FDA today or Food and Drug Administration

Teddy Roosevelt’s Conservation Policy•125,000 acres in reserve

•National Reclamation Act 1902•25 water projects

•Founding of the National Park System

•Preferred to avoid Conflicts

• Big Supporter of Competition

• Conservationist• Federal Children’s

Bureau• Creation of a Dept. of

Labor• 8 hr. workday

• Mann-Elkins Act• Aligns with Conservative

Republicans and splits with Roosevelt’s

Progressives.Goodness gracious, I must have been dozing

Triangle Shirtwaist FireMarch 25, 1911

Women and children burned alive because there was too many to fit in stairwell and there was not enough exits

Led to fire safety codes for all buildings- that protected the workers

• TR forms his own party called the Progressive “Bull Moose Party”……..

• As a result, TR splits the Republican Party and Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) will be elected.

Progressive Movement ends in

1917 with US entrance into WWI

Wilson’s time is devoted to the

WWI instead of the Progressive

Reforms.

• Worked to lower tariffs

• Created Federal Reserve systemBanks keep portion of deposits in regional reserve bank and regulate currency

• Federal Trade CommissionRegulate American businessesStop unfair trade practices

• Keating-Owen Child Labor ActBanned employment of children under age 14 in factories that made goods for interstate trade

• Expanded role of president and federal gov’t

• Was president during World War I

• 18th Amendment

• 19th Amendment

• Civil Rights Act of 1875

Pendleton Act

• 19th Amend- Women’s Suffrage

• 18th Amend- Prohibition/ Temperance

• Child Labor Reform

• Civil Rights Act of 1875

• Pure Food and Drug Act*

• National Parks!

(Reclamation Act of 1902)

• Pendleton Act• Direct

Primaries• Recall

Elections• Initiatives• Referendums • Zoning Laws• 17th Amend-

Direct Election of Senators

• Federal Trade Commission*

• Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

• 8 hour workday! • Federal Trade

Commission- regulate business

• Sherman ANTI-TRUST –outlawing monopolies

• Food and Drug Act- FDA (Food Drug Admin)

• Federal Reserve System- regulating banks

• INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT/Commission

• Creation of Labor Dept

TO REFORM: TO FIX/CHANGE FOR THE BETTER