The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era1890-1920How would you define this period?What were its characteristics?

What is it famous for?

Which individuals are associated with it?

How important was it in American history?What do you teach about Progressives and Progressivism?Events?

Individuals?

Developments?

Interpretation?Todays presentation: first halfDefining Progressivism/Progressives/Progressive EraInterpretations of the Progressive Movement(s)

Background: the Crisis of the 1890sRacial, Economic, Labor, Political

ReformersSocial Reformers, Muckrakers, Radicals

Second halfGovernment ActionSelected Legislation, Amendments

Presidents and ElectionsElections of 1896 & 1912Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

Limits and Legacies of ProgressivismWhat did it accomplish?What didnt it accomplish?What was its legacy? What continued into the 1920s and beyond?

Overview & my insightsWill try to correct confusions

Add complexity

You can agree/disagree

Take what is usefulThe Progressive EraBegins in the late 1880s

Enters national politics in 1901

Peaks between 1910-1920

Continues into the 1920s and inspires the New DealDefining ProgressivismTHE PROGRESSIVE "SPIRIT"OPTIMISTIC, REFORM MINDEDFORWARD LOOKING, VERSUS NOSTALGICBELIEF IN PROGRESSBELIEF IN EFFICIENCY, RATIONALITYTRUST IN DEMOCRACY, PUBLIC OPINIONBASED IN EDUCATED MIDDLE-CLASSTHE NEW PROFESSIONALS: Journalists, Social Scientists

PRAGMATISM PLUS IDEALISMRATIONAL PLANNING -- SOCIAL ENGINEERING

DAWN OF THE MANAGER, THE VISIBLE HANDRATIONAL RELATIONS, PLANNING, RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENTSCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT, TAYLORISMTHE SOCIAL GOSPEL VERSUS SOCIAL DARWINISMREJECTION OF DETERMINISM AND ABSTRACT "LAWS"IDEA THAT PEOPLE CAN CHANGE, IMPROVE SOCIETY, CREATE PROGRESSHUMAN CONTROL VERSUS ANIMAL SURVIVAL

Who were the Progressives?Men & women

Business & labor

Commerce & farming

Local, state, national

Embraces all races & ethnicities

And even different viewpoints: Racists, Eugenicists, and Activists for Racial JusticePro- and Anti-Immigration & Union positions

The Progressive Movement(s)NEW = GOOD!EVEN MACHINE POLITICS BECOMES REFORM MINDEDEVEN BUSINESS SEEKS REGULATION & RATIONALIZATION

MOVE FROM PERSONAL REFORM TO POLITICAL REFORMLOCAL REFORM TO NATIONAL REFORMMOST PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS BEGIN BY ACTING LOCALLYEND UP BY THINKING GLOBALLYRATHER THAN VICE VERSAATTEMPTING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS THEY SEE AROUND THEMCASE BY CASEBUT REALIZE THAT PROBLEMS ARE CREATED, AND SOLUTIONS CONTROLLEDAT A HIGHER LEVEL

Confusions about ProgressivismThat it was one unified movementIt was many movements, some at cross-purposes

That is was mostly about breaking up monopoliesTrusts and monopolies were regulated but not dissolved

That it was an era of progress on all frontsI would call it an era of regress in race relationsAlthough they increased their membership, unions made relatively little progress during this periodThe movement did not achieve all of its major goals

More confusions . . . That Theodore Roosevelt was THE Progressive PresidentTaft was also Progressive in many waysWilson was the most effective of the Progressive PresidentsCongress was equally important/progressive in this period, esp. 1910-1920

That it began in 1900 and ended in 1920Progressivism grows out of the crisis of the 1890sProgressivism continues into the 1920s, especially in New York

Some problematic interpretive frameworksProgressivism was mostly about government action

Progressives were busy-body WASP do-goodersEspecially re Settlement Houses, Prohibition(went too far)

The Progressive Era was a lost opportunity for radical reform and revolution(didnt go far enough)

How have interpretations changed since I went to school?Historians now stress that women were central to the Progressive movements

There is less emphasis on laws & court cases

There is more interest in and emphasis on social movements

I have particularly noticed conflicts over foreign policy among ProgressivesSpanish-American WarWorld War I

Background to ProgressivismRecurring cycles of reform in American History

Movements of the 1840s 60sPrison reform, Mental hospital reformCommon School MovementUtopian communitiesTemperanceAbolitionWomens Rights

Reconstruction13th, 14th, 15th Amendments to the ConstitutionProgressive Era follows the Gilded AgeWhat did you learn about the Gilded Age?

Gilded Age followed by the Crisis of the 1890sMy interpretation from textbooks by historiansDouglas Brinkley, Eric FonerThe Crisis of the 1890sRacial1880s -90s:Jim Crow Laws

1884:Ida B. Wells resists eviction from railroad car 1887:Wells loses case in Tennessee Supreme Court1890:Massacre at Wounded Knee1892:Ida B. Wells Anti-Lynching CampaignHomer Plessy arrested1895:Booker T. Washingtons Atlanta Compromise1896:Plessy v. Ferguson decision

Crisis of the 90s continuedEconomics & Labor Unrest

1892:The Homestead StrikeSteel Industry: Carnegie and Frick

1893:Depression

1894:Coxeys ArmyThe Pullman StrikeRailroads, Eugene DebsCrisis of the 90s continuedPolitical1870s:The Grange1880s:Farmers Alliances1890s:Populist Party/Peoples Party 1892:Omaha Platform

1896:Election of 1896McKinley v. William Jennings BryanCross of Gold SpeechAmerican Imperialism1898:Spanish-American War1899-1902Philippine War

Pro- and Con- reactions to Philippine ConquestPro = Theodore Roosevelt, William McKinleyCon = Bryan, Henry Ford, Jane Addams, Samuel Gompers

Justifications/reasons for Imperialism?Why then (late 1890s)?Progressivism emerges & maturesReformersJane Addams (1860-1925)1889:Hull House established1910:Published Twenty Years at Hull House

Jacob Riis (1849-1914)1890:How the Other Half Lives

Lewis Hine (1874-1940)1904-1909:Ellis Island photographs1906:The Pittsburgh Survey1908-1916?:National Child Labor Committee

What was a Settlement House?Hull House 1889Hull House 20 years later

Miss Addams and Miss Starr made speeches about the needs of the neighborhood, raised money, convinced young women of well-to-do families to help, took care of children, nursed the sick, listened to outpourings from troubled people. By its second year of existence, Hull-House was host to two thousand people every week. There were kindergarten classes in the morning, club meetings for older children in the afternoon, and for adults in the evening more clubs or courses in what became virtually a night school. The first facility added to Hull-House was an art gallery, the second a public kitchen; then came a coffee house, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a cooperative boarding club for girls, a book bindery, an art studio, a music school, a drama group, a circulating library, an employment bureau, a labor museum.22Jane Addams beyond Hull HouseChicago Board of EducationInvestigator: Midwifery, Milk, Narcotics, SanitationGarbage Collector

Author of numerous articles and two books about Hull HouseFirst woman to receive an honorary degree from Yale

Early member NAACP

Feminist, suffrage advocateProgressiveNominated TR at Progressive Convention

International Speaker for PeaceChair, Womens Peace Party

Against U.S. entry WWIOrganized relief supplies for women and children of enemy nations

1931: Won Nobel Peace Prize

Pros and Cons of Riiss photographsDoes it matter that Riis staged some of his photos?

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/photos/question1.html

Does it matter if he paid the boys to reenact this scene?Caption: A Growler Gang in Session (Robbing a Lush)

Does it matter if a colleague took the picture instead of Riis himself?

Does it matter that Riis did not have permission to take his pictures?Did these individuals want to be part of Riiss expose?

Does it matter that he saw his subjects as degraded victims?

Does it matter that he believed in and promoted ethnic and religious stereotypes?

Does that invalidate his pictures as sources?My graduate students thought so!

What do you think?

How can we use these pictures?

Jacob Riis (1849-1914) versus Lewis Hine (1874-1940)Riis was an immigrant, police reporter, then reformer

Hine was a teacher, then professional photographer

I would argue that Riis was a self-made product of the Gilded Age

And that Hine was a true Progressive (middle-class, educated, professional)Hine at Ellis Island

Hine and the Pittsburgh Survey

Hines Child Labor Photographs1908-1912IndustryAgriculture

Internet sources for Hines workhttp://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos/

http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/2-progressivism/3-laborreform/2-hine/

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/207-b.html

But Hine has also been criticizedWas he exploiting his young subjects? Did they give informed consent?

Did they expect to be used in posters like these?

The MuckrakersOfficial start: McClures Magazine, 1903

Ida Tarbell, Standard Oil Trust (1903, 1904)

Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities (1903)

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)

Term coined by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906Not flattering!

But why not . . . Nelly BlyIda B. WellsTen Days in a Madhouse (1887)Southern Horrors (1892)

Critiques of MuckrakersCriticized at the time for sensationalism

Political agenda, not objective

Critiqued today for just digging up muck, not solving problems, trusting in democracy

Most had middle-class, native-born bias

Radicals of the Progressive EraEugene Debs (Socialist)

Emma Goldman (Anarchist)

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (IWW, ACLU, later Communist)

Eugene Debs (1855-1926)Born in Terre Haute, IndianaFounded American Railway Union Radicalized by his prison term after Pullman Strike in 1892 (reading Marx and studying Socialism)Involved in founding of IWW (Wobblies)He ran as the Socialist Party's candidate for the presidency in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920During World War I urged draft resistanceSentenced to 10 years in prison under Sedition ActSentence commuted in 1921

Most famous quote: 1918Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Emma Goldman (1869-1940)Born in Russia/LithuaniaImmigrated to U.S. in 1885; settled in Rochester, NYWorked as seamstress; unhappy marriageRadicalized by 1886 Haymarket TrialMoved to NYC; became public speaker for anarchismInvolved in attempt to assassinate Frick during the Homestead Strike of 1892In 1893, arrested & tried for inciting to riotSent to jail; began to study medicine

Goldmans causesRefused to condemn McKinleys assassin in 1901Became a nurseOpposed Anarchist Exclusion ActBegan her publication, Mother Earth, in 1906Spoke around the nation on anarchismSupported Margaret Sangers birth control movementOrganized No Conscription League during WWIArgued for freedom of speech; sent to prisonServed two years; agitated for better conditionsCitizenship revoked; deported 1919

Emma Goldman quotes:If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government.

Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964)Born in New HampshireMoved to NYC when she was 10Expelled from high school for a socialist speechBecame an organizer for the IWW in 1907Active in Paterson Silk Strike (1913) and other major labor strikes across the countryArrested many times but never convictedFeminist, worked for womens suffrage and birth controlFounding member of ACLU 1920Joined Communist Party 1936

Flynn quotes:

When asked by the judge, after her first arrest, at age 15: "Do you expect to convert people to socialism by talking on Broadway? ": Indeed I do.I will devote my life to the wage earner. My sole aim in life is to do all in my power to right the wrongs and lighten the burdens of the laboring class.

How do textbooks cover radicals?Eric Foners GIVE ME LIBERTY!

Debs includes his career & discussion of Socialism

Goldman under Birth Controlmuch beloved and much fearedPortrait & poster showing topics of her speechesNo discussion of her anarchism

Flynn never mentionedOne line on Paterson Silk StrikeOther social movements?Handouts/discussionFederal Government ActionProgressive LegislationRegulation of Railroads, Food, Drugs, MonopoliesAnd Child Labor

Progressive Amendments 16 - 19

How Progressivism built on PopulismIn politics, Populist causes originally embraced by farmers were de-radicalized and promoted by middle-class, educated, urban Progressives

Yet Progressives did enact some Populist ideas (about 20 years later)

Which Populist causes did the Progressives enact, and what did they fail to support? Progressive versus PopulistEnactedDroppedGraduated income taxSecret ballot in electionsPressure for 8-hour dayInitiative and ReferendumDirect Election of Senators

Silver versus gold standardGovernment ownership of the railroadsGovernment ownership of telegraph and telephone industriesAbolition of Pinkerton Guards (Strike Breakers)Limit President to one termEnd to alien ownership of landLimit immigration

Progressives avoided emotional rhetoric and condemnation of capitalismPreamble to Populist Platform:

. . . we meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench.

Instead, they published articles, ran for office, reorganized local & state government, and regulatedElkins Act of 1903

Amended Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

Outlawed railroad rebates

Approved by some railroad companies

Not entirely effective

Imposed fines only, not criminal sentences

Hepburn Act of 1906

Gave ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) power to set maximum rates

ICC could look at railroad companies books

Strengthened provisions against rebates & increased fines

Federal law regulated products but not working conditionsMeat Inspection Act1906

Inspired by The Jungle but TR sent his own investigators to confirm

USDA inspection of livestock, sanitary standards, plus slaughter and processingPure Food and Drug Act1906

Formalized the FDA(Food and Drug Administration)

Primarily concerned with food and drug safety

In 1909, insisted on removal of cocaine from Coca-Cola (replaced by caffeine)

Regulating business practicesFederal Trade Commission Act 1914

Under this Act, the Commission is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; (c) prescribe trade regulation rules defining with specificity acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive, and establishing requirements designed to prevent such acts or practices; (d) conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in commerce; and (e) make reports and legislative recommendations to Congress. Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

Strengthened and clarified Sherman Anti-Trust Act

The act prohibited exclusive sales contracts, local price cutting to freeze out competitors, rebates, interlocking directorates in corporations capitalized at million or more in the same field of business, and intercorporate stock holdings. Labor unions and agricultural cooperatives were excluded from the forbidden combinations in the restraint of trade

It also said that unions were not trusts in restraint of trade, legalizing strikes, pickets, and boycotts

The Progressive Amendments16: Made income tax constitutionalProposed 1909, ratified 191317: Provided for the direct election of senatorsProposed 1912, ratified 191318: Established ProhibitionProposed 1917, ratified 191919: Established (national) Womens SuffrageProposed 1919, ratified 1920

The Progressive PresidentsTheodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)Model for 20th century presidentsConservationistSquare Deal for workers and consumersMediated labor disputesMeat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug ActRegulation of business Broke up Northern Securities a J.P. Morgan trustBut did not dissolve most monopoliesConsidered Standard Oil and U.S. Steel good corporationsWilliam Howard Taft (1909-1913)

Hand-picked successor to TR

More aggressive trust-busterOrdered break-up of Standard OilWon case against American Tobacco for undercutting competition

Supported income tax amendmentReduced tariff but only slightly

More loyal to Republican party, less radical than TR had become

Election of 1912Three Progressives and a Socialist

Who were they?

High point of Progressivism

Film clip from TRWoodrow Wilson (1913-1921)Progressive accomplishments have been overshadowed by World War I

Had control of his party (as TR & Taft had not)Democrats controlled CongressParty of farmers, city machines, and solid South

Enacted graduated income taxReduced tariffResisted lobbying; spoke directly to American publicSpoke directly to CongressAccomplishmentsFederal Reserve System 1913 (regulated banking)Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914/FTC

Keating-Owen Act (outlawed child labor) 1916Ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court 1918

Adamson Act established 8-hour day for railroad workersWarehouse ActOld Populist demand for federal warehouses to store crops

Not as liberal as TRs agenda in 1912

But Wilson also:Segregated Federal Offices

Screened Birth of a Nation in the White House

Oversaw dramatic limitations to civil liberties during World War IArrest of Suffragist peaceful pickets at White HouseEspionage and Sedition ActsSupported Debss prison sentence

FinallyProhibition 1919Volstead Act vetoed by Wilson but passed over his veto

Womens Suffrage 1920

Limitations of Progressivism?In goals?

In accomplishments?Progressive agenda in 1920sWelfare Capitalism

Women join political partiesSheppard-Towner Act of 1921Federal funding for maternity and child care3000 health care centers for 8 yearsReduced infant mortalityRepealed in 1929

The New Negro, the Harlem Renaissancethe NAACP/W.E.B. Dubois, The Crisis

Equal Rights Amendment proposed

Al Smith governor of New York State; model for New Deal

How important was Progressivism?