Progressive Era 1876-1920

Gilded Age

Greed and Political Corruption

Concerns over the power of the rich

Worries about corruption Spoils System Patronage

Attempts to reform the Spoils System

Rutherford B. Hayes 1st to try reform

James Garfield › Merit

Assassination of Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau 1881

1883 Pendleton Act = Civil Service

Big Business

Regulation of Business and Railroads

Interstate Commerce Act (Commission)› Pools and Rebates

1890 Sherman Antitrust Act

Corruption in the City

Political Bosses Boss Tweed

› $100 million Thomas Nast

› Exposed Tweed To Spain and back

Muckrakers Jacob Riis

› Photos of Slums Ida Tarbell

› Targeted Big BusinessStandard Oil

Upton Sinclair › The Jungle

Progressives

Not Single Group No Single Goal Public Interest John Dewey

› Education› Democratic Values

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Progressive Political Reform

Reforms Robert La Follette

› Wisconsin Idea› Ex. Lowered railroad rates

Lower Tariffs› Help Consumers

Graduated Income Tax› 16th Amendment

Direct Election of Senators› 17th Amendment

Theodore Roosevelt Not against trusts Good trusts v. Bad trusts Brought suits against

› Northern Securities Company (railroad)› Standard Oil› American Tobacco Company

Trustbuster Pennsylvania Coal Miners Strike

› 1st President to side with Labor

Square Deal Election of 1904 Equal Opportunity to Succeed Businesses

› 1906 Railroad rates set by ICC Consumers

› The Jungle Pure Food and Drug Act

› List of Ingredients› End False Advertising

Conservation › National Parks

William Howard Taft Roosevelt did not run for reelection Supported Taft Taft as President

› Broke up more trusts› Supported shorter work day

Trouble with progressives› Supported Higher Tariffs› Fired a Forest Service Official

Election of 1912 Roosevelt runs against Taft Republicans supported Taft Progressive Rep. stormed out Set up new party called Bull Moose Party

› Nominated Roosevelt to run Democrats nominate Woodrow Wilson Republican candidates got more votes

› But Taft and Roosevelt split vote Wilson wins the election

Woodrow Wilson New Freedom

› Break up trusts into smaller comp. Lower Tariffs Federal Reserve Act

› System of Federal Banks Federal Trade Commission Clayton Antitrust Act

› More against Trusts› Can’t be used against Unions

Woman Suffrage Movement 1869 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady

Stanton set up National Woman Suffrage Association

Late 1800’s women in some western states get suffrage

In the Early 1900’s Carrie Chapman Catt took over with a detailed plan› Suffragists

Alice Paul met with President Wilson Paul and Rose Winslow started Picketing

the White House

Woman Suffrage Movement

Wilson finally agreed to support

Constitutional Amendment 19th Amendment

› Passed Congress in 1919› Gets ¾ states ratification by 1920

Women’s Right to Vote

Crusade against Alcohol Temperance Movement Women opposed because:

› Ruined families› Prevented political discussion by women

Bars wouldn’t admit women WCTU

› Frances Willard-President Carrie Nation

› Hatchet

Prohibition By 1917 Congress passed the Prohibition

Amendment › 18th Amendment› Ratified by ¾ states in 1919

Cannot:› Possess › Consume› Transport› Sell› Distribute

Minorities during Progressive Era

Progressives did little to help Jim Crow Laws

› Segregation Prejudice Discrimination

African Americans during Progressive Age

Lynching› Ida B. Wells

Proposed Boycotts Booker T. Washington

› Races live in Harmony› Tuskegee Institute› Learn a trade

WEB Dubois› Agreed with Washington› But need to fight discrimination› NAACP

Jane Adams and Lincoln Steffens

Mexican Americans during the Progressive Age

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Gadsden Purchase Famine forces Mexicans to US Barrios Mutualistas

Asian Americans during the Progressive Era

Gold Rush and Railroads Chinese Exclusion Act Immigrants came from other Asian

nations Discrimination Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan California banned Asian immigrants

from owning land

Native Americans during Progressive Age

Dawes Act› Small Family Farms

Failure› Land not suitable› No tradition› Sold to speculators

Society of American Indians› Teach America about Natives› Mainstream Natives› Abolish Reservations› Opposed by most Natives