7-3: Progressive Era: Wilson’s Administration1913-1921

Wilson’s Progressive Program“New Freedom”◦ Vigorous reforms

◦ Assault on tariffs, banks, and trusts

◦ Big business immoral—break up rather than regulate

Tariff Reduction◦ Less fear of foreign competition

Income Tax

Wilson’s Progressive ProgramBanking Reform◦ Federal Reserve Board created

◦ Central banking structure

◦ Regulates money in circulation

◦ Adjusts interest rates

◦ Federal Reserve notes backed by commercial paper and gold◦ Currency would expand and contract with

the volume of business activity

Wilson’s Progressive ProgramBusiness Regulation◦ Clayton Anti-trust Act

◦ No investments in competing corporations

◦ Outlawed price-fixing

◦ Exempted unions

◦ Federal Trade Commission◦ Prevents unfair business practices

◦ Keating-Owens Act◦ Child labor laws

African Americans in the Progressive EraTwo Approaches◦ Booker T. Washington—Economics

◦ Seek economic opportunities

◦ Accommodation to white society

◦ Self-help and industrial education

◦ W.E.B. DuBois—Civil Rights◦ Full political and social equality

◦ Focus on integration rather than separatism

◦ Development of “talented tenth”

Civil Rights Organizations◦ Niagara Movement and NAACP

◦ Use of courts to achieve equality

African Americans in the Progressive EraResurgence of the Ku Klux Klan◦ The Birth of a Nation--depicted as

heroic

◦ Favored white supremacy and immigration restriction

Outcome◦ Civil rights not a part of

progressivism

◦ Wilson segregated executive branch

Women, Suffrage, and ProgressivismThe Campaign for Women’s Suffrage◦ Strong leadership (Anthony, Paul)

◦ State gains

◦ 19th Amendment (1920)

Other Issues◦ Family

◦ Parents more supportive, less authoritative

◦ Public aid to mothers in some states

◦ Work◦ Most women still worked in the home

Assessing the Progressive EraWeaknesses and Disappearance◦ Material progress weakened zeal

◦ Courts struck down legislation

◦ Continued business influence

◦ Outbreak of World War I

Heritage◦ Trust-busting

◦ Role of government to act for the people’s welfare (“modern” president)

◦ Regulation instead of laissez-faire