The Progressives Confront Industrial Capitalism The American People, 6 th ed.

I. Who were the Progressives?  Progressives focused on the problems that industrial and urban growth were creating in the early 20 th Century  Progressivism was the first modern reform movement; encompassed such diverse fields as environmentalism and birth control

They included Muckrakers  A new kind of journalist: They were interested revealing injustice and corruption in America  Targeted specific governments and businesses such as the meat-packing industry

Example: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle  TR couldn’t eat meat for a week after reading Sinclair’s book!

They included social reformers  Established child-labor legislation Targeted length of workday for women, supported birth control  Endorsed better housing and education in overcrowded cities  Crusaded against saloons, brothels and movie houses

Reformers fought for women’s suf- frage (The brown states were the last to give women the vote)

Some reformers fought for the prohibition of alcohol—by 1919, only the salmon-colored states did not have statewide prohibition

II. Reform in the Cities and States

Problems in the cities  The continued growth of the cities in America caused a wide range of social problems  The inclusion of large populations of immigrants was the important difference between American and European cities

Municipal (city) Reform  Municipal reform was chiefly concerned with making the operation and administration of the city as efficient as possible through innovative adaptations of business management techniques to government

Reform in the States  The American federalist system of government gave reformers a chance to “clean up” state governments, as well  Most reform came in the form of laws increasing democracy, individual freedoms, social justice, and efficiency of government

State reforms included:  Initiative: Allowed voters to introduce bills  Referendum: Allowed voters to vote on proposed laws  Recall: Allowed voters to “fire” elected government officials

III. Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal

Trusts  Foremost on Roosevelt’s hit list was an attempt to control the actions of large industrial corporations that were constantly consolidating, growing bigger and more powerful

 TR directed the Justice Department to prosecute some of the largest corporations in the country under the Sherman Anti- Trust Act

Among the Square Deal laws you’ll learn about:  Meat Inspection Act  Pure Food and Drug Act  Elkins and Hepburn Acts (regulation of railroads)

Conservation  Roosevelt tripled the land set aside for national forests, bringing the total to more than 150 million acres  Worked to increase public awareness of the limited amount of resources in America

National Parks created by TR

IV. Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom

Wilsonian Reform  Recommended reducing the national tariff to eliminate favoritism and restoring competition in industry  A compromise bill to retool the banking system resulted in a modest income tax and the creation of the Federal Reserve System

Wilson and Trusts  Wilson submitted the Clayton Act to Congress in 1914 and endorsed the Federal trade Commission embedded with enough power to stop companies guilty of restricting competition

Summary:  The Progressives were the founders of modern liberalism: They didn’t oppose capitalism, but they did believe that business should be regulated for the good of the people and they believed in honest government responsive to American voters