Chapter 21 Section 1 Progressive Reforms

Focus of Progressive Reforms Urban Reform Government Big business

Fighting Corruption  Political Machines: Powerful organizations linked to political parties.  Political boss: Representative of political machine who gained votes for his party through favors.  Kickback: money paid to party bosses for securing jobs for businesses.  Boss Tweed:  Built his power in Tammany Hall through the appointment and election of his friends (called the 'Tweed Ring).  Conned and plundered the city of New York out of between million dollars.  Elected into the US House of Representatives in  Elected to the New York City Board of Advisors in  Elected a New York State Senator in Controlled all Democratic New York state and city nominations from

New Ways to Govern Cities  Galveston, Texas and Cleveland, Ohio  City government run by a group of people, not just one person in charge. Usually, each member represents an area of the city.

Spoils System Spoils system/patronage: rewarding political support with jobs and favors. Civil Service: non-elected government jobs Pendleton Act/Civil Service Commission: Made applicants for government jobs take an examination proving they were qualified for that particular position. How did the Civil Service Commission help eliminate the spoils system? By making job seekers take tests it eliminated people who weren’t qualified or received jobs for favors.

Controlling Business Trust: combination of companies Problems with trusts: prices remained high and there was a lack of competition, too much control over economy Sherman Anti-Trust Act: Control and eliminate trusts and monopolies

Reigning in the Railroads  Oligopoly: Few large companies controlled prices in an industry  Interstate Commerce Act: Railroad must publish rates and charge reasonable rates  Interstate Commerce Commission: Supervise and regulate railroad industry and later trucking industry.

Lowering Tariffs  What is a tariff?  tax  High tariffs led to:  High prices  Republicans raised tariffs, why did Democrat Grover Cleveland get elected?  He lowered tariffs which meant lower prices for the average citizen.

Socialist Ideas Socialism: Nations resources should be owned and operated by the government on behalf of the citizens Eugene Debs: Helped form American Socialist Party

Progressive Ideas  Government should regulate industry  Government should protect citizen, especially those less fortunate

Muckrakers Expose Problems  Muckrakers were investigative journalists who exposed problems in society that people would not have learned about any other way.  Lincoln Steffans: reporter who exposed corrupt machine politics  Ida Tarbell: exposed unfair practices of the oil industry  Upton Sinclair: The Jungle: exposed the unsafe working conditions and the unsanitary conditions of the meat packing industry.

Meat Inspection Act-1906 Meat Inspection Act: In reaction to Theodore Roosevelt's investigation of Chicago meat packers in 1904 and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was ratified. Its four main requirements were: 1) Mandated ante-mortem inspection of livestock (cattle, swine, sheep, goats, equines) 2) Mandated post-mortem inspection of every carcass 3) Established sanitary standards for slaughter and processing plants 4) Required continuous USDA inspection of slaughter and processing operations

Pure Food and Drug Act  Food and Drug Act:  Public pressure forced a reluctant Congress to consider a Pure Food and Drug bill in Provisions of the measure included the following:  1) Creation of the Food and Drug Administration, which was entrusted with the responsibility of testing all foods and drugs destined for human consumption  2) The requirement for prescriptions from licensed physicians before a patient could purchase certain drugs  3) The requirement of label warnings on habit-forming drugs. Click left to go to the U.S Food and Drug Administration website.

Expanding Democracy  How did La Follette change the state electoral system?  Party candidates had been chosen by party bosses at state conventions. La Follette changed the system so that candidates were chosen by the vote of the people.

The Oregon System Initiative: citizens placed issue or measure on ballot for vote. Referendum: Gave voters the opportunity to reject or accept measures enacted by state legislature. Recall: enabled voters to remove elected officials who were not doing their job.

17th Amendment Before the 17 th Amendment: Senators were chosen by the legislature, not elected by the people of the state. After the 17 th Amendment: Senators would be elected directly by the people.