progressive movement as defined by the americans – “aimed to return control of the government to...
TRANSCRIPT
Progressive Movement
• As defined by The Americans – “aimed to return control of the government to the people, restore economic opportunities, and correct injustices in American life.”
• Discussion: return control of government to people : restore…: correct imbalances.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yMPG6a2GQ&feature=related
Lawrence, Massachusetts Strike• • HOW TO RESOLVE THE 1912 STRIKE• • In 1912, the Massachusetts state legislature passed a law ordering mills to reduce the workweek to 54 hours. In the textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the average workweek was 56
hours. Mill owners decided to reduce the workweek by two hours and to reduce workers’ pay by two hours. They also sped up the machinery in the textile mills in order to create the same amount of fabric in a shorter amount of time. On Friday, January 12, 1912, a group of workers yelled, “Short pay! All out! All out!” and the strike began. Over 30,000 textile mill workers walked out of the mills and joined the strike.
• CHOICES• The owners could give in to worker’s demands.• • BUT…• • The owners would lose profits and possibly go out of business, and shareholders will be upset.• The workers could accept the pay cut and speed up and go back to work. • • BUT…• • The workers would be working harder for less pay.• The owners and workers could find a compromise that would give something to each side.• • BUT… • • Neither side would be completely happy.• • • • • • • • •
What would your group do?
Four Goals of Progressive Movement
• Protecting Social Welfare• Promoting Moral Improvement• Creating Economic Reform• Fostering Efficiency
Protecting Social Welfare
• Social Gospel – help the poor…community centers…churches and social services
• YMCA – classes and physical activities• Salvation Army – “slum brigades”• Florence Kelley- 1859 – 1932 • Illinois Factory Act of 1893 – prohibited child
labor – cut back working hours for women.• Muller v. Oregon 1908
Muller v. Oregon 1908
• “That woman's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence is obvious. This is especially true when the burdens of motherhood are upon her. Even when they are not, by abundant testimony of the medical fraternity continuance for a long time on her feet at work, repeating this from day to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body, and as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the physical well-being of woman becomes an object of public interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor of the race." 208 U.S. at 412.
• Justice David Josiah Brewer’s statement.
Effects of Muller Decision
• Feminists were not happy – reinforced stereotypes on gender roles and limited financial independence of women.
• Treated women as children.• “The test for whether or not you can hold a
job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.” ~Bella Abzug
“We can do it”
Promoting Moral Improvement – Where do we get our moral
Talking point
Prohibition
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union - 1874• Francis Willard – raised awareness and
membership to become largest women’s group in history…245,000 members by 1911.
• WCTU – opened kindergartens, visited in prisons and asylums, pushed for women’s suffrage.
• What reasons did WCTU give for advocating a ban on alcohol?
Prohibition
• Anti- Saloon League – founded 1895• Worked to pass laws vs. “demon rum”• Statewide referendums??• Many states in South and West become ‘dry’• Remember…most women did not work…so
what does this have to do with Prohibition Movement???
Economic Reform• The Panic of 1893• In the last days of the Harrison administration, the Reading Railroad, a
major eastern line, went into receivership. That collapse was soon magnified by the failures of hundreds of banks and businesses dependent upon the Reading and other railroads. The stock market reacted with a dramatic plunge. Fearing further collapse, European investors pulled their funds from the United States, but depression soon gripped the other side of the Atlantic as well. An ongoing agricultural depression in the West and South deepened, spreading the misery to those regions.
• Although thousands of businesses were ruined and more than four million were left unemployed, Cleveland did little. He believed, like most people of both major parties, that the business cycle was a natural occurrence and should not be tampered with by politicians.
• Define: receivership
Panic of 1893
• Because of Panic of 1893 a number of Americans began to question capitalism!! Some embraced socialism. Does this sound familiar?? How about the recession of 2008??
• Any parallels??• Big business and government: Where might
corruption begin??• Most progressives did not support socialism…
true today???
Eugene V. Debs
• Union Organizer• Founder of Socialist Party• Ran for President as Socialist 1900-1904-1908-
1912-1920• Read quote on page 514. Does this apply
today??
Muckrakers
• Exposed the dangers and corruption of industrial life to the public in magazines and publications
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNE0gc2MyY&feature=related
Raking Muck
Fostering Efficiency
• Use science to make the workplace and society more efficient.
• Louis D. Brandeis – “Brandeis brief”• Louis Brandeis’s brief in Muller v. Oregon
, 208 U.S. 412 (1908), is famous for being the first so-called “Brandeis brief” — a legal brief heavily based on social science data.
Sojourner Truth
• That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man — when I could get it — and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman?
Taylorism
• Named for Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915 – father of scientific management.
• He would analyze work and looked for the “One Best Way”. He did time and motion studies Did a famous study on the shovel and found the most effective load was 21 ½ pounds. He designed a shovel to handle that load with modifications for different substances. For workers who were paid for amount of shoveling he came up with efficiency methods.
Taylorism
• Broke tasks into smaller parts – le to the assembly line…but not all could keep up!!
• See Lucy• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztA6JCKB
4s
• Why did this cause high worker turnover even when Henry Ford offered an eight hour day and $5/day??
Cleaning Up Government
• Headed by party bossed who corrupted the system with bribes and kickbacks. Reform was motivated by a desire to be more efficient and meet the citizens needs.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGOvMg3zCk
City Management Reform
• Natural disasters played a big part in city management reform.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX88xLJVfpI
• Relief and rebuilding efforts did not work. A five member commission of experts took over. Each headed a city department. Galveston was rebuilt and this led to a city commission form of government. By 1917 500 cities adopted this form.
Dayton, Ohio Flood 1913
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8wYCwgapc
• This brought about the council-manager form of government.
• People elect a city council• Council appoints a manager who runs the
city’s departments.• 1925 – 250 of this form.
Reform Mayors
• Hazen Pingree …Detroit 1890-97• Fair taxes, lowered fares on public
transportation, rooted out corruption, relief for unemployed who built schools and parks.
• Tom Johnson…Cleveland 1901-1909 – converted utilities to publically run businesses. Held town meetings so citizens could talk to city officials.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rytLJWaJff8&feature=fvst
State Reform
• Governor Robert M. La Follette – 3 terms then joined Senate in 1906 – mainly went after railroads by setting up commission to regulate rates and stopped free passes to state officials. Ran for president for Progressive Party in 1924.
Child Labor
• Why hire children??• What were health problems for children?• What did the National Child Labor Committee
do?• The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 put an end to
the transportation of goods across state lines if produced with child labor.
Limiting Working Hours
• Muller v. Oregon 1908 – limited work day for women to ten hours.
• Bunting v. Oregon 1917 – the Court upheld a 10 hour workday for men.
• What is workers’ compensation? Started with Maryland 1902…hurt or killed!!
Reforming Elections
• Australian ballot…it’s a secret.• Card check
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45yi7PMYMPY
• Initiative – a bill originated by people other than lawmakers – put on ballot if a certain number of citizens sign a petition.
• A vote on the initiative is called referendum
Reforming Elections
• Recall – allowed voters to force an new election to remove a public official from office before their term expires.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqrZw4CKxY0&feature=fvst
• Direct Election of Senators – 17th Amendment 1913
• Why the 17th Amendment?? Accountability??
C-17 Section 3
• Make Roosevelt McKinley's VP…Why?• A heartbeat away or six months into
McKinley’s second term.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H83vDUBiQ-I
• 1858 – wealthy family – asthma – overcome by exercise
Spanish-American War 1898
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=E3E409A2-501F-41DC-BED3-D163014C18F8&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
• The Rough Riders
Teddy Roosevelt
• Harvard graduate• 3 terms NY state assembly• Police commissioner• Assistant Sec. of Navy• Spanish – American War – Rough Riders• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cf
m?guidAssetId=7DA2279F-A121-44F4-8D35-AAB251D65CF3
Teddy Roosevelt
• ‘federal responsibility for national welfare’• ‘assume control when states cannot’• “do whatever the needs of the people
demand”…unless prohibited by Constitution• Saw presidency as a ‘bully pulpit’
Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=D4225643-5F57-404A-AC84-D585BE326E84&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Square Deal
• “ A simple and poor society can exist as a democracy on the basis of sheer individualism, but a rich and complex industrial society cannot so exist”
• Progressive era equals an activist president who wants federal authority intervention in domestic affairs.
• Is this want we want and how much do we want???
Trustbusting
• Trusts- 4/5ths• Standard Oil• Lower prices• Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890• Northern Securities Company• Could not slow the mergers
1902 Coal Srike
• What did the miners want?• What caused Roosevelt to intervene?• Do you think he should have?• Was his action Constitutional?• What precedent did this establish?• Modern day examples?
Regulation of the Railroads
• Interstate Commerce Act• Elkins Act 1903• Hepburn Act of 1906• What did this legislation do collectively?
Health
• Meat Inspection Act• Pure Food and Drug Act• http://www.encyclopedia.com/video/pfbakUU
gHUI-hundred-year-lie-part-1the.aspxhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc-9Q8iQPKY&feature=related
Conservation
• List some of the problems• John Muir• 148 million acres• 1.5 million acres of water sires• Additional 80 million acres• 50 wildlife sanctuaries and a number of
national parks• Newlands Act
Civil Rights
• Contrast Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
• NAACP
The Jungle
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=931EA6FB-68BF-4CEF-A455-AA470AEC91FA&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
More on the Muckrakers
• Read page 532 – 533• Are investigative reporters as needed now as
they were in the late 19th century?• What scandals have investigative reporters
uncovered recently?
Gifford Pinchot
• Head of U.S. Forest Service under Roosevelt• ‘middle ground’• Scientific management of land with private
development• Developers want it all – apply pressure• Fired by Taft??
Taft and Progressivism
• 1908 Election – “Vote for Taft this time, You can vote for Bryan any time”
• 90 trusts busted• First problem – conservation and tariffs• Lower or raise taxes on imports??• Protect U.S. products??• Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Taft
• Richard A. Ballinger – 1 million acres removed• Pinchot fired• What are the pros and cons of each position?
Republican Split
• Two wings – progressives and conservatives• Joe Cannon – House Speaker – ignored
seniority on committees – progressive bills ignored – along with Dems he lost chairmanship of Committee on Rules – decides when bills will come to floor
Mid-Term Election of 1910
• GOP split – progressives vs. conservatives• High cost of living blamed on Patne-Aldrich
Tariff• Voters believed Taft was against conservation• Democrats win control of House 1st time in 18
years.
Election of 1912
• Roosevelt runs as 3rd party candidate – Bull Moose Party – platform
• Direct election of senators• Recall, initiative, referendum for all states• Women’s suffrage, minimum wage for women• Eight hour workday• Federal law vs. child labor• FTC to regulate business
Woodrow Wilson
• Former President of Princeton• Gov. of new Jersey• Program called ‘New freedom’• “ Don’t interfere when your enemy is
destroying himself”
Election of 1912
• Wilson – New Freedom• Taft –conservative• Roosevelt – progressive• Debs – end capitalism• Wilson – 42% of vote…but 435 electoral votes• Wilson – What should be the relationship
between government and big business?
New Freedom
• Attack the triple wall of privilege – trusts, tariffs, high finance
• Magna Carta for labor - according to Samuel Gompers president of the AFL – The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
• Corporations could not acquire stock from another corporation and thereby create a monopoly.
Clayton Antitrust Act 1914
• What did it do for labor?• Labor unions not subject to antitrust laws• Strikes, picketing, boycotts, strike benefits all
legal• Injunctions against strikers illegal unless
disruption causes damage.• Recent examples???
Federal trade Commission 1914
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully anti-competitive business practices, such as coercive monopoly.
• The Federal Trade Commission Act was one of President Woodrow Wilson's major acts against trusts. Trusts and trust-busting were significant political concerns during the Progressive Era.
Underwood Act of 1913
• Fledgling president Woodrow Wilson summoned a special session of Congress in April 1913. His immediate objective was to confront the perennial tariff question and he brought special attention to the matter by deciding to appear in person before Congress to make his appeal. He was the first president since John Adams to do so.
• The joint session was a spectacular event. A huge crowd gathered and every seat in the House chamber was taken. Newspaper coverage was intense. Wilson spoke only briefly, but made it clear that tariff reform was needed and that he would not be a party to a repeat of the embarrassment of the thwarted reform of 1894. The burden was clearly on Democratic shoulders because they controlled both houses of Congress for the first time in 18 years.
• Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama guided a reform measure through the House, but his counterpart in the Senate, F.M. Simmons of North Carolina, reverted to form and allowed numerous increases in rates to be added. Wilson, unlike many of his predecessors, took the offensive. He went to the Capitol and twisted the arms of backsliding Democrats; he also warned the public of the invasion of Washington then underway by scores of lobbyists. The president was successful with generating a public reaction. Angry constituents wrote their congressmen and demanded tariff reform.
• Success came in October 1913 with the first meaningful tariff revision since the Civil War. The Underwood-Simmons measure vastly increased the free list, adding woolens, iron, steel, farm machinery and many raw materials and foodstuffs. The average rate was approximately 26 percent.
The Sixteenth Amendment
• Lost revenue due to lower tariffs• Ratified in 1913 – graduated income tax• 1% on family making $4000 up to 6% on
incomes above $500,000• Money came pouring in to become the
number 1 source
Federal Reserve System
• Bottom line – increase money in circulation and make money available for loans.
• Private banking system under federal control• 12 districts – called “bankers banks” – served
banks in their districts• 1923 70% of banks part of Federal Reserve
System – A Wilson legacy.
Nineteenth Amendment 1920
• Carrie Chapman Catt – president of NAWSA 1915 returned
• More radical – Jucy Burns/Alice Paul – picket line around White House
• Emmeline Prankhurst – English counterpart• 72 years later
Disappointed Progressives
• Civil Rights• Federal anti-lynching legistation• Desegregation of federal employees–
Wilson…segregation is just• Second term dominated Wilson’s second term
and brought an end to progressivism.