Progressivism and Teddy Roosevelt

Taft, and WilsonAP US Unit 12

February 14-16, 2011With some help from Ms. Susan Pojer

What is Progressivism?• Progressivism is a huge term used to explain

the era of social reform at the turn of the century.

• Most Progressives shared in at least one of the following goals:– Protecting social welfare– Promoting moral improvement– Creating economic reform– Fostering efficiency

Who Belonged to the Progressive Movement?

• Populists• Muckrakers• Suffragettes• Prohibitionists• Trust-busters• Labor Unions• Most people during this time period felt an

affinity to at least one of the Progressive Goals.

Where did the Progressive Movement Come From?

• A reaction to the urban crisis• A reaction to increasing immigration• Women found that activism was an

“acceptable” place for them in society– Many of the new educated women who went

to college devoted their lives to service

Muckrakers - Who were They?

• Journalists and photographers who did investigative pieces on the problems of America - especially urban areas.– Nicknamed this by TR

• Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives• Upton Sinclair - The Jungle• Ida M. Tarbell - Investigation of Standard

Oil

Photo Muckraking

• Used to show the middle and upper classes “how the other half lived.”

Jacob RiisLewis Hines

Boy Carrying Homework

Teens doing Homework

Tenement “Rookeries”

Family in Tenement Home

Boy Lost his Arm Running a Saw in a Box Factory

Playground

Newsie

Breaker Boys

Boys Fixing Bobbins at a Cotton Mill

Girl Weaving

Spinning Room at a Factory

Urban Reform

• Sparked by the pictures and writings of the muckrakers, people in cities began to fight for urban reform

• This took the form of police reform, building codes, the creation of parks, and attacks against the business of prostitution

Prohibition• Some reformers believed that

morality, not economics, was at the root of urban problems. – Many of these people felt that

alcohol was at the heart of these moral issues. Therefore, these reformers worked for Prohibition, or the legal banning of alcohol.

– In 1874, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was founded to crusade for prohibition.

Anti-Alcohol Cartoon

Prohibition• Members of the group would

enter saloons, scold customers, pray, and one woman even destroyed bottles of liquor with her hatchet.

• In 1920, the eighteenth amendment was passed; it made the transportation, manufacture, or sale of alcohol illegal in the U.S.

Carrie Nation with her hatchet

Prohibition• While prohibitionists

finally got their wish, crime grew worse during prohibition and the eighteenth amendment was repealed in 1933 by the twenty-first amendment.

Bootleggers with their alcohol

Political Progressives

• Many of the politically progressive changes were actually inspired by the Populist platform

Bringing More Democracy to America

• Initiative• Referendum• Direct Election of Senators

– 17th Amendment passed in 1913• Limits on campaign spending and

contributions

Bringing More Efficiency to America

• City Manager System• Have experts hired to run the city instead

of those who benefitted from political spoils

Suffrage

• Women had been fighting for the right to vote since Seneca Falls

• Although, women were bypassed in the 15th Amendment, they continued to fight

• Suffrage means the right to vote– It’s good!

Women Organize

• The National Woman’s Suffrage Association was formed in 1869. The goal of this organization was to obtain a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage.

Women Organize• This group merged

with another suffrage group in 1890 to be called the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

• NAWSA was led by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw in New York City from 1900-1919.

Carrie Chapman Catt

Anna Howard Shaw

Women Organize

• At this time, states were allowed to grant suffrage to women and Wyoming was the first to give women the right to vote as a state in 1890.

Women Organize• The Woman’s Suffrage Movement took many forms,

but finally accomplished its goal by getting the 19th Amendment ratified by the states on August 18, 1920

Helping Women or Hurting Them?

• Muller v Oregon (1908) gave protective laws to women in the workforce because they were weaker than men.

Better Working Conditions

• Labor Unions continued to fight during this time period for better working conditions including:– Higher wages– Shorter hours– More safety and sanitation in the workplace– Anti-Child Labor policies

TR’s Square Deal

• Roosevelt was worried that even though the public was concerned - nothing was happening.

• He promised a Square Deal and focused on the 3 C’s:– Control of Corporations– Consumer Protection– Conservation of Natural Resources

Square Deal for Labor

• TR began by helping with the coal miner strike in 1902

• Coal miners were demanding an increase in pay and shorter hours

• Roosevelt threatened to use federal forces to achieve LABOR’S demands by operating the mines with federal forces until negotiations were complete

Changing the Government to Help Labor

• TR Created the Departments of Commerce and Labor

• The Bureau of Corporations was created to investigate businesses that were involved in interstate commerce

Trust-Busting

• Elkins Act of 1903: Heavy fines now faced both RR’s that offered and businesses that accepted REBATES

• Hepburn Act of 1906: Restrictions on free passes and ICC expanded– ICC could now set maximum railroad rates

Trust-Busting

• While TR as a trust-buster is more myth than reality because he differentiated between good and bad trusts, TR did manage to do some damage to trusts.

• Northern Securities Co that had a RR monopoly in the NW and was led by JP Morgan and James J Hill

• TR really wanted to regulate the industries not just break them all up

Yummy Hotdogs

• Upton Sinclair wrote the socialist novel, The Jungle, in 1906.

• While his goal was to inform the public about the horrible conditions for the workers, he really just grossed them out.

• Roosevelt is said to have exclaimed “I’ve been pizened”

Are you a Vegetarian yet?

• TR passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 so federal inspectors could inspect any meat sold over interstate lines from moo-cow to hamburger

• The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was also passed to prevent the “adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals”

TR - Visionary of Environmental Protection

• People began to realize that America was quickly using up all of its natural resources

• TR and some of his advisors believed that something had to be done

Early Laws of Environmental Protection

• Desert Land Act of 1877– You could buy government arid land for cheap if

you irrigated it - not sure how this helps…• Similar to the Carey Act of 1894

• Forest Reserve Act of 1891– The President could set aside public forests as

national parks• 46 million acres were saved in the 1890’s

TR Helps the Environment• Newlands Act of 1902

– The sale of Western Lands would help pay for irrigation projects

• Set aside 125 million acres

• Multiple Use resource management

TR at Yosemite in 1903

Panic of 1907

• Short lived• Not enough currency• Some blamed TR for meddling

Aldrich-Vreeland Act

• 1908 - authorized national banks to issue emergency currency using various collateral

• Opened up way for Federal Reserve Act of 1913

Election of 1908• TR leaves nominating Taft to

follow him– TR forces Taft on the

Republican Convention• William Jennings Bryan was

the Democrat…again• Eugene Debs ran for the

socialists and got over 400,000 votes!

Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy”

Improve financialopportunities for American businesses.

Use private capital tofurther U. S. interestsoverseas.

Therefore, the U.S. should create stability and order abroad that would best promote America’s commercial interests.

Taft the Trustbuster

• Busted more than twice the Trusts as TR• Dissolved Standard Oil• Went after US Steel in 1911 even though

TR approved of them

Payne-Aldrich Bill

• Taft had gotten elected saying he was going to lower the tariff

• Payne Aldrich Bill raised the tariff and Taft said it was “the best bill that the Republican party ever passed”

Taft and Conservation• Bureau of Mines to control mineral resources,

rescued millions of acres of western coal lands• BUT…• Taft fired the beloved Gifford Pinchot when

Pinchot argued with the Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger over use of lands in the West for corporate development– Pinchot was a TR buddy

Taft Seems to Give Up on Progressives

• Both the tariff and the firing of Pinchot were seen to give up on Progressivism

• TR got back into the country in June of 1910 and attacked Taft and the government

• Republicans lost the midterm election of 1910

Theodore Roosevelt atOsawatomie, KS: New Nationalism

Big business requires big government.

The Republican

Party &

President William H. Taft

Keepthe

WhistleBlowing

Taft was determined to defeat TR and preserve the conservative heart of the Republican Party.

Come, Mr. President. You Can’t Have the Stage ALL of the Time!

Republican Party PlatformHigh import tariffs.

Put limitations on female and child labor.

Workman’s Compensation Laws.

Against initiative, referendum, and recall.

Against “bad” trusts.

Creation of a Federal Trade Commission.

Stay on the gold standard.

Conservation of natural resources because they are finite.

The GOPAfterthe

Circus

TR The Republican Party must stand for the rights of humanity, or else it must stand for special privilege.

The Progressive

Party &Former

President Theodore Roosevelt

People should rise above their sectarian interests to promote the general good.

TheAnti-

Third-Term

Principle

The “Bull Moose”

Party:The Latest

Arrivalat the

Political Zoo

Progressive Party PlatformWomen’s suffrage.

Graduated income tax.

Inheritance tax for the rich.

Lower tariffs.

Limits on campaign spending.

Currency reform.

Minimum wage laws.

Social insurance.

Abolition of child labor.

Workmen’s compensation.

New

Nationalism

The Socialist Party & Eugene V. Debs

The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity.

“The Working Class Candidates”

Eugene V. Debs Emil Seigel for President for Vice-President

Growth of the Socialist VoteYear

Socialist Party

Socialist Labor Party Total

1888   2,068 2,068

1890   13,704 13,704

1892   21,512 21,512

1894   30,020 30,020

1896   36,275 36,274

1898   82,204 82,204

1900 96,931 33,405 130,336

1902 223,494 53,763 277,257

1904 408,230 33,546 441,776

1906 331,043 20,265 351,308

1908 424,488 14,021 438,509

1910 607,674 34,115 641,789

1912 901,873

The Industrial Worker: I. W. W.

The first American labor group to open its membership to all wage-earning workers, regardless of skill, nationality, race, sex, or gender.

Socialist Party Platform

Government ownership of railroads and utilities.

Guaranteed income tax.

No tariffs.

8-hour work day.

Better housing.

Government inspection of factories.

Women’s suffrage.

The Democratic Party &Governor Woodrow Wilson (NJ)

Could he rescue the Democratic Party from “Bryanism”??

The ReformGovernor

of NJ:

It TakesTime

to Removethe Grime

WhichWay

toJump?

Democratic Party PlatformGovernment control of the monopolies trusts in general were bad eliminate them!!

Tariff reduction.

One-term President.

Direct election of Senators.

Create a Department of Labor.

Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Did NOT support women’s suffrage.

Opposed to a central bank.

N ew

Freedom

The “Seas” [of Opportunity]Open Up for the Democrats

An Actual 1912 Ballot

Election Results

By 1912, 100,000 fewer people had voted for Wilson than had voted for Bryan in 1908.

The 1912 election marked the apogee of the Socialist movement in America.

GOP Divided by Bull MooseEquals Democratic Victory!

TheGOP:

AnExtinct

Animal?

Wilson as President

•Mission was to reform tariff, banks, and trusts

•Went to speak before Congress to ask for laws – unheard of!

Wilson and the Tariff

• Underwood Tariff Bill 1913– Reduced rates– Because of Income Tax amendment (16th)

Wilson added on to the tariff a tax on wealthier incomes as well so income taxes surpassed tariff revenues

Wilson and the Banks

• Signed the Federal Reserve Law into effect in 1913– Regional banks controlled by the national

Federal Reserve Board– Made money supply more elastic– Regional banks were still private, but now

had some government control

Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914

• Presidentially appointed commission could investigate companies engaged in interstate commerce

Clayton Anti Trust Act of 1914• Increased list of unacceptable business

practices from the Sherman Anti Trust Act– Price discrimination– Interlocking directorates

• Exempted labor and agricultural associations (protesters) from having this law applied to them

• Great victory for labor

Wilsonian Progressivism

• Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916– Low rate credit for farmers

• Warehouse Act of 1916– Loans on security of staple crops

• La Follette Seamen’s Act of 1915– Decent treatment and living wage on

American merchant ships

Wilsonian Progressivism

• Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916– Disability for federal employees

• Restrictions on child labor 1916– Invalidated by Supreme Court

• Adamson Act of 1916– 8 hour day for all employees on trains

Wilsonian Progressivism

• Did NOT help blacks• Did NOT want or plan to grant women’s

suffrage• Nominated the first Jewish person to the

Supreme Court

Wilsonian Foreign Policy

• NO dollar diplomacy• Withdrew the Panama Canal Tolls Act of

1912 which said American ships did not have to pay tolls

Wilsonian Foreign Policy

• Passed the Jones Act of 1916– Territorial status to the Philippines– Promised independence once they had a

stable government• Defused problems between Japan and

California – was trying to limit Japanese from owning land

Wilsonian Foreign Policy

• Had to send marines to Haiti in 1915 and the Dominican Republic

• 1917 - Bought Virgin Islands from Denmark in the West Indies

The Mexican Revolution: 1910s

Victoriano Huerta seizes control of Mexico and puts Madero in prison where he was murdered.Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Alvaro Obregon fought against Huerta.The U.S. also got involved by occupying Veracruz and Huerta fled the country.Eventually Carranza would gain power in Mexico – US supported him.

The Mexican Revolution: 1910sEmiliano Zapata

Francisco I Madero

Venustiano Carranza

Porfirio Diaz

Pancho Villa

Weird outcome in Mexico• Wilson tried to support Huerta’s rivals:

Carranza and Pancho Villa, but ended up pissing them off

• Carranza took power in 1914 but still disliked Wilson

• Villa kidnapped and killed 16 young Americans in 1916 and Wilson sent General John Pershing after him, but while many of Villa’s supporters were captured, Villa wasn’t

Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy”

The U. S. shouldbe the conscienceof the world.

Spread democracy.

Promote peace.

Condemn colonialism.

U. S. Global Investments &Investments in Latin America, 1914

U. S. Interventions in Latin America: 1898-1920s