1. The Progressive Roots

2. Roots
Grangers & populists reacting to the social environment – want to MAKE CHANGES

3. Goals Common belief that gov’t should: Be more accountable to citizens
Decrease power of wealthy
Improve lives of citizens
Be more efficient & less incompetent

4. Muckrakers
Define: investigative journalists who exposed problems in society

5. Upton Sinclair
Exposed meat packing industry in The Jungle

6. Ida Tarbell
Exposed oil industry in “The History of Standard Oil” (series of articles)
"They had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me."

7. Jacob Riis
Exposed tenements & urban poor in How the Other Half Lives

8. Ida B. Wells
Exposed lynching in Southern Horrors & Other Writings (series of pamphlets)

9. Lincoln Steffens
Exposed local political corruption in The Shame of the Cities (series of articles)
"In all cities, the better classes — the business men — are the sources of corruption, but they are so rarely pursued and caught that we do not fully realize whence the trouble comes."

11. The Progressive Presidents

12. Theodore Roosevelt
1858 – 1919
26th President ( )
Republican
Promoted his “Square Deal”: promise to treat both citizens and businesses fairly – protect consumers from the dangers of “bad” trusts, but also protect businesses from unreasonable labor demands

13. Anthracite Coal Mine Strike
1902: 150,000 Pennsylvania coal miners went on strike for higher pay, reduced hours, and union recognition
Roosevelt offered arbitration when the strike threatened to leave the nation without coal for the winter; union accepted, but mine owners refused
Roosevelt threatened to seize the mines, forcing owners to the bargaining table
In the end, miners got more pay and fewer hours, but owners were not required to recognize the miners’ union

14. Elkins Act of 1903
Banned railroads from giving rebates to “preferred” shippers – railroads had to charge everyone the same shipping rates
Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) by giving it the ability to impose fines for violations

15. US v. Northern Securities
1901: Three major railroads joined forces under a holding company called Northern Securities, essentially creating a dangerous monopoly
Roosevelt sued, claiming a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act
1904: Supreme Court ruled in Roosevelt’s favor, ordered breakup of Northern Securities

16. Hepburn Act of 1906
Further strengthened the ICC by giving it the authority to set railroad rates rather than just regulate them
Actually helped the railroads because the ICC worked with them to ensure railroads were profitable while also making it difficult for new railroads to enter the marketplace

17. Dept. of Commerce & Labor
Even while opposing trusts, Roosevelt knew that supporting business interests was good for the nation
1903: Created the Dept. of Commerce & Labor which included the Bureau of Corporations, a branch which monitored businesses and advised them when their practices were of concern to the government so they could self-correct and avoid bad publicity of government intervention

18. Upton Sinclair
1878 – 1968
Wrote The Jungle (1906) which exposed the horrific conditions within the meat-packing industry
Public outcry prompted Roosevelt to push through food inspection reforms

19. Excerpt- The Jungle
...There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white--it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one-- there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.

20. Excerpt---The Jungle
There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. There were the butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste of the plants, that would be dumped into old barrels in the cellar and left there. Under the system of rigid economy which the packers enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water--and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast. Some of it they would make into "smoked" sausage--but as the smoking took time, and was therefore expensive, they would call upon their chemistry department, and preserve it with borax and color it with gelatine to make it brown. All of their sausage came out of the same bowl, but when they came to wrap it they would stamp some of it "special," and for this they would charge two cents more a pound…

21. Excerpt- The Jungle Partner Discussion Questions
1. What do you find most surprising in Upton Sinclair's account of the meatpacking industry around the turn of the century? Why?
2. What do you think was Sinclair's purpose for writing this piece?
3. How do you think readers reacted to The Jungle when it first came out?
4. Do you think this legislation ( Meat Inspection Act) would have passed without the public attention these issues received after the publication of articles and books like this one? Why or why not?
5. What does the publication of The Jungle tell you about the progressive movement?

22. Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Required the inspection of meat sold through interstate commerce and required the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to set standards of cleanliness in meatpacking plants

23. Pure Food & Drug Act of 1906
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure or falsely labeled food and drugs
Products containing drugs like alcohol, caffeine, or cocaine had to be labeled with contents and dosage

24. Land Conservation
Roosevelt supported conservation of the nation’s natural resources through limiting consumption
Began to set aside millions of acres of public lands for national parks, forests, and wildlife preserves

25. PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENT
THEODORE ROOSEVELT:
Republican
Nicknames: TR, Teddy, Trustbuster
Platform
Square Deal:
Protect little people
from Big Business
Laws Passed
1902 Coal Strike: TR used arbitration
to stop strike; threatened to use
military
Pres. Can end strikes to protect
American people
Elkins Act, 1903:
Illegal to change rates
or give rebates without
notice
Keep good ones &
get rid of bad ones
Enforced Sherman
Anti-Trust Act
Feelings about
Trusts
Hepburn Act, 1906:
Set maximum rate
railroads can charge
Tariffs
High
Pure Food & Drug
Act, 1906
TR considered this to be a very
important issue
Nat’l. Reclamation Act, 1902:
Created irrigation projects in the West
US Forest Srvc., 1905: Manages
Nation’s water & timber resources
Conservation
Conservation Laws

26. William Howard Taft 1857 – 1930 27th President (1909-13) Republican
Later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ( )
Hand-picked by Roosevelt to succeed him as President, but was Roosevelt’s opposite in personality

27. Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909
Progressives and Taft (but not most Republicans) supported lowering tariffs
Taft tried to get a lower tariff passed, but ended up being forced to accept the Payne-Aldrich Tariff which actually raised tariffs on most goods
This angered & disappointed Progressives, including Teddy Roosevelt, and badly hurt Taft’s reputation

28. Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy
1909: Taft’s Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, was accused by head of the US Forest Service (and close friend of Roosevelt) Gifford Pinchot of corruption
Taft’s Attorney General dismissed the charges, so Pinchot leaked his story to the press
Taft fired the popular Pinchot, angering Progressives
Ballinger was later cleared of any wrongdoing by congressional investigators

29. Mann-Elkins Act of 1910
Again increased the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission by giving it more regulatory control
Added communications (telegraph & telephone companies) to the industries overseen by the ICC

30. Taft the “Trustbuster”
Roosevelt was perceived as being a more efficient trustbuster than Taft, but Taft actually prosecuted twice as many antitrust cases in his 1 term as president as Roosevelt did in 2 terms!

31. US v. American Tobacco
1911: Supreme Court ruled that James Duke’s American Tobacco Co. had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by establishing an illegal monopoly on the cigarette industry; Court ordered the company broken up

32. Children’s Bureau Created by Taft in 1912
Designed to protect children from abuse, both at home and in the workplace and to monitor orphanages, foster care, and adoptions
First federal agency to be headed by a woman (Julia Lathrop)

33. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
March 25, 1911
Exit doors to the factory were kept locked from the outside to prevent employees from stealing
When fire broke out, workers could not escape and 146 women workers died
Public outrage led to major reforms in working conditions and building codes

34. Bull Moose Party
Disappointed in Taft, Teddy decided to run for president once again in 1912, but the Republican Party nominated Taft
Roosevelt formed his own Progressive Party, better known as the “Bull Moose” Party and ran as its candidate, splitting the Republican vote
The Bull Moose platform of “New Nationalism” supported a federal government which was powerful enough to regulate corporations
Roosevelt was shot while campaigning, limiting his ability to appear in public over the last several weeks of the election

35. Election of 1912
Democratic Party nominated Progressive NJ governor (and political newcomer) Woodrow Wilson
With the Republicans split, Wilson won the election fairly easily

36. Woodrow Wilson 1856 – 1924 28th President (1913-21)
Ran on the “New Freedom” platform: rather than empower government to regulate monopolies and trusts, simply destroy monopolies to ensure fair competition
Believed in limited government, especially where the economy was concerned

37. 16th Amendment US now taxed individuals rather than the states 1913
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration”
US now taxed individuals rather than the states

38. 17th Amendment
1913
US Senators had been appointed by state legislatures, but after David Graham Phillips’ articles on corruption in the Senate, the 17th Amendment changed the law to direct election of Senators by the people

39. PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENT
William Taft:
Republican
Platform
None
Amendments
Feelings about
Trusts
Attacked ALL trusts
16th: Income Tax
Tariffs
Said he would lower
tariffs, but never did
17th: Direct Election
of Senators
Conservation
Ballinger-Pinchot Affair, 1910:
Sold land TR set aside
Angered TR & conservationists
Laws Passed
None

40. Underwood Tariff of 1913
Wilson believed that competition with European companies would force American companies to produce better products more efficiently (cheaper)
Underwood Tariff cut tariff rates in half, to about 30%

41. Federal Reserve Act of 1913
Wilson revived the idea of a “national bank”
Federal Reserve Act required private banks to keep a portion of their deposits on reserve in federally run reserve banks to act as a cushion against unexpected losses; federal reserve banks would set national interest rates and regulate the amount of money in circulation, allowing them to control inflation and prevent recessions

42. Federal Trade Commission
Created in 1914 to monitor businesses
Had the authority to investigate and issue cease-and-desist orders against businesses using unfair trade practices which hurt competition
Not designed to breakup trusts, but rather to deter companies from using unethical practices

43. Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
Banned “tying” agreements which required retailers who bought products from one company to stop selling products from competitors
Required businesses to charge all customers the same price for a product
Banned manufacturers from giving price discounts to retailers who bought larger volumes of goods
Declared labor unions to be exempt from antitrust laws

44. Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916
Prohibited the employment of children under 14 in factories producing goods sold through interstate commerce
Later struck down by the Supreme Court as being outside of federal jurisdiction

45. Adamson Act of 1916
Established the 8-hour workday for railroad workers, created overtime pay
Passed by Congress to avoid a national railroad strike
First US law to regulate the hours of workers in private industry

46. Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916
Created special federal banks to provide loans to farmers and small businesses
Encouraged small businesses to compete with bigger rivals, thereby avoiding trusts and monopolies

47. 18th Amendment
1919
Growing support for the temperance (anti-alcohol) in the US led to a ban on the manufacture, transport, or sale of alcoholic beverages anywhere in the US
18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933

48. 19th Amendment
1920
Finally granted women suffrage (the right to vote) in federal elections
Suffrage had been sought by women since the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848!

49. Robert La Follette
1855 – 1925
Leader in Progressive reforms at the state level as governor of Wisconsin
Developed the “Wisconsin idea” of applying scientific methods to the running of state government
Later served in the US Senate and ran for President

50. City Government Changes
Efficiency experts began calling for cities to be “managed” by experts rather than by politicians and their buddies
Divided city services into departments, each headed by an expert in that field under the leadership of a hired city manager

51. Voting Reforms
Direct Primaries: all party members vote for who will be nominated as a candidate rather than just party leadership
Secret ballot: individual’s votes would be kept secret, not published
Referendum: allows citizens to vote directly on important issues rather than leave the issues in the hands of elected officials
Recall: allows voters to remove an elected official from office before their term is up
Initiative: allows voters to force elected officials to vote on a certain issue

52. PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENT
Woodrow Wilson: – 1920
Democrat
NEW FREEDOM
Attacked the triple wall
of privilege
Tariffs, Trusts & High Finance
Platform
Feelings about
Trusts
Committed to regulating
Big Business
Federal Reserve Bank
System, 1913:
Controls $ supply
12 districts in USA
Prevented bank
failures
Finances
Federal Trade Commission,
1914: Investigated
Unfair business practices
Laws
Passed
Clayton Anti-Trust Act, 1914:
Unions & strikes are legal
18th: Prohibition
Tariffs
Underwood Tariff:
Lowered tariffs
Amendments
19th: Women’s suffrage

53. PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS & CIVIL RIGHTS
Progressive Presidents did
very little to aid civil rights
for certain groups
Niagara Movement:
Meeting of African
Americans to discuss black
concerns & issues
Jim Crow Laws made
Stronger
No Anti-Lynching Laws
African
Americans
Forced to assimilate & live
on reservations
Feared culture would not
survive
1930s: Finally allowed
To practice traditions
Equality still a long way
off
Native
Americans
Faced lots of discrimination
Immigrants