1. Aim: Were they true “progressives”?
TR, Taft, and Wilson
Aim: Were they true “progressives”?

3. TR’s Domestic Accomplishments
“Square Deal” - three C’s: control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation.
anthracite coal strike in Pennsylvania
declared that he would seize the mines and operate them with federal troops.
Owners reluctantly agreed to arbitration
workers received a 10 percent pay increase and a nine-hour working day.
first time a president sided with unions

4. TR
Trustbusting -  Some trusts were effective and legitimate, but many engaged in corrupt business practices. (regulated trusts)
Roosevelt initiated legal proceedings against Northern Securities and eventually the Supreme Court ordered that the company be dissolved.
Department of Commerce and Labor
This cabinet-level department was designed to monitor corporations and ensure that they engaged in fair business practices. 

5. TR RR Regulation Consumer Protection
Elkins Act - levied heavy fines on companies that engaged in illegal rebating.
Hepburn Act - strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Consumer Protection
Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act

6. TR
Conservation
Newlands Act of allowed the federal government to sell public lands in the arid, desert western states and devote the proceeds to irrigation projects.
Set aside 125 million acres of timberlands as federal reserves.
Environmentalists such as John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the upstart Sierra Club aided Roosevelt in his efforts.

7. TR’s successor

9. I. William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
Signed Payne-Aldrich Tariff bill – raised tariff, benefiting big business at expense of consumers
Ballinger-Pinchot Affair
Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot (TR appointee) publicly denounced Sec. of Interior Ballinger’s environmental policies
Taft fires Pinchot
cause rift b/w Taft and TR, and a schism within the Republican party
Key reforms passed by Congress:
Children’s Bureau
Regulation of mine and RR safety
Eight-hour workday for federal employees
Trust-busting – US Steel, etc.

10. II Election

11. II. 1912 Election Candidates Woodrow Wilson - Democrat
“New Freedom” – promised to use antitrust legislation to get rid of big corporations and to give small businesses and farmers better opportunities. Supported states’ rights and limited gov’t
Attack what Wilson called the “Triple Wall of Privilege”— the tariff, the banks, and the trusts..
Theodore Roosevelt – Progressive (Bull Moose)
“New Nationalism” – wanted to increase power of federal gov’t, decrease power of the courts, and expand the role of president; promoted social justice.
William H. Taft – Republican
Eugene V. Debs – Socialist

12. III. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) Reforms during Wilson’s presidency
Underwood Tariff – lowered tariff rates by 15%
16th Amendment – federal income tax
17th Amendment – direct election of senators
Federal Reserve Act – established a national banking system controlled by Federal Reserve Board; regulated currency (inflation/deflation) and interest rates
Clayton Antitrust Act – outlawed unfair business practices, such as price discrimination and interlocking directorates
Federal Trade Commission – had wide investigatory powers to prosecute corporations for “unfair trade practices;” regulated big business
Keating-Owen Child Labor Law
18th Amendment – prohibition

13. IV. Limits of Progressivism
Women fought for suffrage and equality for nearly a century—19th Amendment passed
Protest and WWI
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW – “Wobblies) were formed by William “Big Bill” Haywood to address the needs of unskilled workers

14. IV. Limits of Progressivism
African Americans still struggled for equality
Wilson himself was very racist, segregated the federal gov’t
According to the Republican Colored Advisory Committee, “No sooner had the Democratic Administration come into power than Mr. Wilson and his advisors entered upon a policy to eliminate all colored citizens from representation in the Federal Government” (1916).
Jim Crow laws, segregation, and widespread lynching
Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois
NAACP Founded—first African American civil rights organization

15. IV. Limits of Progressivism
Nativism
Targeted Chinese, Japanese , & other “New” immigrants
Literacy tests & strict quotas introduced
Native Americans still denied citizenship