Chapter 6

  • The Rise of Progressivism- Section 1

I. PROGRESSIVISM AND SUFFRAGE

How do you think business leaders, politicians, and tenement owners felt about muckrakers?Why do you think the muckrakers’ reporting style was so popular?

Reforming Government

Social Problems and Progressive Solutions

  • Poverty In 1890 more than 90 percent of the nation’s 12 million families earned less than $1,200 per year. The average annual income was $380, which was below the poverty line. Many of those were working-class families. About 40 percent of those families lived on less than $400 a year, and most family members worked. The modern poverty line in the United States is $10,830 for a single person, while the average income is $50,000 per household.
  • Labor Progressives pushed for child labor laws, minimum wages, and maximum working hours. Worker safety was another vital issue that resulted in new safety standards.
  • Crime Many Progressives saw alcohol as a leading cause of crime and worked to prohibit its sale and use.
  • Government Progressives developed two proposals in which experts ran city government—a commission plan and a council-manager system. Three reforms—the initiative, the referendum, and the recall—were the focuses of the progressives’ political agenda. To eliminate corruption in the U.S. Senate, progressives called for a direct election of senators by each state’s voters.
  • A group of citizens wants to vote directly on whether or not to increase school funding. (referendum)
  • A group of citizens wants the legislature to vote on a new littering law. (initiative)
  • A group of citizens wishes to remove the mayor from office. (recall)

Which issue caused progressives to look to government to regulate social behavior?Why do you think progressives wanted to change the management of local governments?

Woman Suffrage

Background on Woman Suffrage

  • NWSAThe National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), founded in 1869, wanted to focus on passing a constitutional amendment to secure women’s voting rights. The American Woman Suffrage Association wanted state governments to give women voting rights before trying to amend the Constitution.
  • NAWSA The groups joined in 1890, forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
  • NWP Alice Paul wanted to directly confront President Wilson on suffrage. Some members of NAWSA were alarmed. Paul left NAWSA, forming the National Woman’s Party (NWP).
  • Suffrage As more states granted women suffrage, Congress began favoring a constitutional amendment. After passage through the House and a year later by the Senate, the bill went to the states. On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.

Discussion Ask: What was the advantage of a state-by-state suffrage campaign?What trends do you notice about the map?What reason can you offer for the trends you notice on the map?

II. TRANSFORMING AMERICA To help students understand how the efforts of progressive groups influenced American society and politics in the early twentieth century, use the interactive whiteboard activity on Progressive Movements.

I. ROOSEVELT AND REFORM– Section 2

Roosevelt Revives the Presidency

Reforms During Roosevelt’s Presidency

  • Business Reform Using the Sherman Antitrust Act, the U.S. government stopped Northern Securities, a railroad company, from creating a monopoly. The Department of Commerce and Labor was created to regulate big business. The Hepburn Act strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) by allowing it to set railroad rates.
  • Workplace Safety In 1906 laws were passed setting a minimum age for employment and a maximum number of hours children could work. Progressives pushed for workers’ compensation laws to pay workers injured on the job.
  • Consumer Safety Because of muckraking, by 1906, citizens had become more aware of the dangers in food and drugs. Roosevelt and Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act. Under the Food and Drug Act passed in 1906, it became illegal to sell or ship any impure or falsely labeled food or drug.

Why is business competition good for the consumer?: Why didn’t the government outlaw child labor entirely?Why is it especially important that sanitary standards are kept up at a meat factory?

  • I. ROOSEVELT AND REFORMConservation

Conservation

  • Roosevelt supported the Newlands Reclamation Act, which authorized the use of federal funds to pay for irrigation and land development.
  • Roosevelt tapped close friend Gifford Pinchot to head the U.S. Forest Service, designed to manage the vast timber resources of the West.
  • Roosevelt added over 100 million acres to national forests and established 5 new national parks and 51 federal wildlife reservations.

Teddy Roosevelt said that the government had to differentiate “between the man who skins the land and the man who develops the country.” What does it mean to skin the land?How did Roosevelt’s theory about the best way to run national forests differ from the laissez-faire argument of businesses that was popular at the time?

II. LEGACIES

Taft’s Reforms

Reforms During Taft’s Presidency

  1. Business Taft focused on breaking up trusts and brought twice as many antitrust cases to court as Roosevelt. Roosevelt criticized Taft for undermining the system of cooperation and regulation established during his administration.
  2. Workplace Safety Taft established the Children’s Bureau in 1912. This agency investigated and publicized problems with child labor.
  3. Consumer Safety Taft continued with Roosevelt’s Drug and Safety reforms, enforcing meat inspections and drug labeling.
  4. Conservation Taft named Richard A. Ballinger Secretary of the Interior. Ballinger was a conservative corporate lawyer who tried to make public forests available for private development, which strongly opposed progressive ideals.
  5. Economic Taft supported tariff reductions, but his position changed during negotiations. He signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff into law, which only slightly cut most tariffs and actually raised tariffs on some goods.

Roosevelt personally supported Taft as his presidential successor. Why do you think his support of Taft changed so drastically?

Lesson 3

  • I. DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PROGRESSIVISM

The Election of 1912

Progressive Election

  • Woodrow WilsonThe Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, from New Jersey, ran as a progressive promising a “New Freedom.” He wanted to dismantle trusts.
  • Theodore RooseveltThe former president who helped form the Progressive Party, when the Republicans nominated Taft. Roosevelt wanted to increase regulation of trusts. Roosevelt called his program the New Nationalism.
  • William Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the incumbent president and Republican nominee. He was seen by many as representing pro-business interests.

How would the formation of the Progressive Party help the Democratic candidate?

Wilson’s Reforms

How did the reforms of Wilson differ from those of Roosevelt?

Progressivism’s Triumphs

  • Governmental Reform The federal government took a greater role in people’s lives, offering protections and services to the public.
  • Business Reform Antitrust regulation was passed and the oversight of business became an important role of government.
  • Labor Reform Child labor became regulated, as did the minimum wage, the workday, and working conditions.
  • Suffrage Women gained the right to vote.
  • Safety Standards Meat inspection, Food and Drug regulation, and work safety were all implemented during the era.
  • Conservation The national parks were created, and vast segments of forest and coastline fell under federal protection.

Progressivism’s Failures

  • Civil Rights The Progressive movement did next to nothing to dismantle segregation or attack lynching.
  • Native American RightsDuring the Progressive Era, little was done to help Native Americans; in fact, in many instances, rights continued to be denied.
  • Women’s RightsAlthough women did attain suffrage, full equality was still not recognized.

Who do you think was responsible for true reform in society?