The Progressive EraThe Progressive Era

Four Goals of Reformers1. Protect social welfare

2. Promote moral development

3. Secure economic reform

4. Foster efficiency

Social Gospel

• Jane Addams

WCTU

Economic Reform

Debs encouraged workers to reject American capitalism

• The Panic of 1893 (and 1907)

Muckrakers

• Ida Tarbell

• Upton Sinclair

Fostering Efficiency

• Frederick Taylor

Cleaning Up Local Government

• Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants’ influence on local governments.

Regulating Big Business

• La Follette promoted partnership between government and the experts at the University of Wisconsin.

Robert La Follette

Protecting Working Children

• Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918

Efforts To Limit Hours

• Laws reducing women’s hours of work.

• Worker’s compensation

Election Reform• Secret ballots,

referendums, and recalls.

• Petitions and initiatives

• In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system.

Direct Election Of Senators

• Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen U.S. senators.

• Progressives pushed for popular election of senators.• WHY?

• 1913: 17th Amendment

Women in Public Life

• By the late 19th and early 20th century, women were joining the workforce.

Women in the Work Force

• Opportunities for women increased especially in the cities. By 1900, one out of five women worked.

• The garment industry was popular as were office work, retail, and education.

Women Lead Reform

• Many of the leading Progressive reformers were women.

Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

Women and Reform

• In 1896, black women formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).

• Suffrage Issue

Three-Part Strategy for Winning Suffrage

• Suffragettes

1. Convincing state legislatures to adopt the vote.

2. Pursuing court cases to test 14th

Amendment.

3. Pushing for national Constitutional amendment.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal

• When President William McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th president

McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901

Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

A Modern President

• BULLY PULPIT

Trust-Busting

• By 1900, trusts – legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies – controlled 80% of U.S. industries.

• Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

1902 Coal Strike• In 1902, 140,000 coal miners

in Pennsylvania went on strike

• Roosevelt called in both sides and settled the dispute.

• Precedent set: Govt. would help settle disputes

The Progressive EraThe Progressive Era

“The Jungle” Leads to Food Regulation

• Meat Inspection Act of 1906

Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906

• Truth in labeling

• Illegal to sell unsafe drugs

Roosevelt and the Environment

• New Govt. role: Conservation

Roosevelt’s Environmental Accomplishments

• TR set aside 148 million acres of forest

• 1.5 million acres of water-power sites

• 50 wildlife sanctuaries

• Several national parks

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Roosevelt and Civil Rights

• Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans.

• He did, however, support Booker T. Washington• Tuskegee Institute

1909: NAACP Formed

• The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914

• Methods

• W.E.B. Du Bois.

Progressivism under President Taft

• Taft “busted” 90 trusts in 4 years–more than Theodore Roosevelt during his 8 years in office.

Taft, right, was Roosevelt’s War Secretary

Taft Loses Power

• Unpopular president

• He called the Presidency, the “lonesomest” job in the world.”

1912 Election

• Republicans split (TR returns from African safari to run)

• Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party): Roosevelt.

• Democrats: New Jersey governor, Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson’s New Freedom

• Attack on “the triple wall of privilege”

• Trusts• Tariffs• Wall Street

1914: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

• A “watchdog” agency

• Protects consumers from business fraud.

Federal Income Tax Arrives

16th Amendment

Sports in the Progressive Era

• Football: Popular in Elite Schools

Harvard Football, 1890

Football Soon Became Most Popular in What Region?

• A. Northeast (Ivy League)

• B. Midwest

• C. South

• D. Far West (California)

Boxing

Boxing in 1860Boxing in Progressive Era

Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race

• Jack Johnson: Heavyweight Champion

Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race

• Jack Johnson: Black Champion

• Jim Jeffries Refuses to Fight

Jack Johnson and the Politics of Race

• Jack Johnson: Black Champion

• Jim Jeffries Refuses to Fight

• Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson (1908)

Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century

Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era

Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century

• Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era

• “Hope of the White Race” vs. “The Negroes Deliverer”

Johnson vs. Jeffries:The Fight of the Century

• Biggest Sporting Event in Progressive Era

• “Hope of the White Race” vs. “The Negroes’ Deliverer”

• Johnson Wins Big

White Reaction to Johnson’s Victory

• TR: “A blot on our twentieth century American civilization”

• Days of Rioting; Eighteen Killed and Hundreds Injured.

• The FBI and the Mann Act