Chapter 6

• Progressive Era - a time when many Americans tried to improve their society.

They tried to make government honest, efficient, and more democratic.

The movement for women’s suffrage gained more support, as did effort to limit child and reduce alcohol abuse.

• Party reactions against laissez-faire • Believed that industrialization/urbanization

created many social problems (poverty of working class, crime)

• Need to fix the gov’t before society• Progressives belong to both major political

parties.• Most were urban, educated, social workers,

educators, politicians….etc• They believed they could improve society by

using and applying math and technology…

• Group of journalists who investigated social conditions and political corruption

• -Charles Russell-attacked the beef industry - Jacob Riis-”How the Other Half Lives”-

published photographs and descriptions of the poverty, disease and crime that afflicted many immigrants neighborhoods in NYC

• They stimulated calls for reform

• Make gov’t more efficient by using ideas from business

• Frederick W. Taylor’s “The Principles of Scientific Management” (1911)- a company could increase efficiency by managing time, breaking tasks down into small parts and using consistent tools.

• Progressivisms saw corruption and inefficacy in city government

• One group focused on making gov’t more efficient by using ideas from business.

1. Commission Plan- divide city gov’t into several departments.

2. Council-manager system- the city would hire a manager to run the city instead of the mayor.

- Galveston, Texas, adopted the comm. System in 1901… other cities followed soon.

• Other believed that they key was to make elected officials more responsible & accountable to the voters

• Rep. Governor Robert M. La Follette (WI) - direct primary- all party members could vote

for a candidate to run in general election.• Also introduced, 3 additional reforms: 1. Initiative- permitted a group of citizens to

introduce legislation and required the legislature to vote on it.

2. Referendum- allowed citizens to vote on proposed laws directly w/o going to the legislature

3. Recall- provided voters an option to demand special election to remove elected official from office before his or her term had expired

- WI became known as “laboratory of democracy”

• 17th Amendment- transfer Senator selection from each state's legislature to popular election.

• 2 groups for women rights:2 groups for women rights:1.1. The NY City-Based National Woman Suffrage The NY City-Based National Woman Suffrage

Assoc (1869)- Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Assoc (1869)- Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan Anthony Susan Anthony

2.2. Boston-Based American Woman Suffrage Boston-Based American Woman Suffrage Assoc- Lucy Stone & Julia Ward.Assoc- Lucy Stone & Julia Ward.

- Women right to vote …. 19- Women right to vote …. 19thth Amendment Amendment

• “breaker boys”- 9-10 yrs old coal mines. • 60 cents for 10 hour workday• Progressive focused to set a minimum age

for employment and established max. hours children could work

• Progressives blamed alcohol for many of society’s problems.

• Advocated that people stop, or at least moderate, their alcohol consumption

• Prohibition- laws banning the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol.

• As Pres. Theodore Roosevelt extended the federal government’s ability to curb the power of big business and to conserve natural resources. His successor, William Howard Taft, was less popular with progressives.

• Roosevelt's reform programs:• conservation of natural resources • control of corporations -Believed that trusts

and large business organization were the reason for prosperity but monopoly could hurt public interest

• consumer protection (Pure Food and Drug Act/Meat Inspection Act)

• Roosevelt supported environmental conservation (mineral, animals, forests)

• With the help of Gifford Pinchot (head of U.S. Forest Service)

• Both added over 100 million acres to protected national forests and established 5 new national parks and 51 federal wildlife reservation

• - Sherman Antitrust Act- made monopolies illegal…. Roosevelt order an attorney to sue J.P. Morgan for breaking the act.

• Propose creating new federal agencies to investigate corporations and publicize the results.

• Dep. of Commerce and Labor• Hepburn Act- strengthened the Interstate

Commerce Commission (ICC) by giving it the power to set maximum railroad rates.

• United Mine Workers (UMW)- launched a strike by the hard coal miners of eastern PA to increase pay, reduce work hrs, and union recognition.

• Coal prices increased• Problem: if the strike dragged on too long, the

country would face a coal shortage that could shut down factors and leave homes unheated.

• Solution: Pre. urged union/ owners to arbitration

- Federal gov’t served as an honest broker b/w powerful groups in society

• Upton Sinclair- “The Jungle”• Meat Inspection Act (1906)- required federal

inspection of meat sold through interstate commerce and required the Agriculture Dep. to set standard of meatpacking plants.

• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)- prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure or falsely labeled food an drugs.

• Roosevelt believed William Howard Taft was the ideal person to continue his policies.

• Election of 1908 Taft (R) defeated William Bryan (D)

• Taft believed high tariff limited competition, hurt consumers, protected trusts.

• Before Roosevelt left office, warned Taft to stay away from tariff reform b/c it could divide the Republican Party.

• However, Taft called Congress into session to lower tariff rates. …. This divided the Rep. Party into two groups.

• 1. those who favored the reduction and those who wanted to maintain high tariff

• As predicted, the bill cut tariff hardly at all and actually raised them on some goods.

• Children’s Bureau (1912)- agency that investigated and publicized the problems of child labor.

• Today, child abuse prevention, adoption, foster care.

• Woodrow Wilson, a progressive Democrat, won the election of 1912. While in office, he supported lower tariff, more regulation of business, and creation of a federal banking system

• Republican Party- Conservatives supported Taft/ Progressives supported Roosevelt .

• Taft’s delegates controlled the nomination• Roosevelt, ran as independent… Progressive

Party or “Bull Moose Party”• Since Taft had support from so many groups:

the election became a contest b/w Roosevelt & Wilson

• Gov. of NJ• Pushed for Progressive Reforms• Signed laws that introduced direct primary-all

party members could vote for a candidate to run in general election.

• Roosevelt- favored legislation to protect women and children in the labor force and supported workers’ compensation (New Nationalism)

• Wilson- criticized Roosevelt for supporting “ regulated monopolies”. Argued that this could give fed. Gov’t too much power in the economy and did nothing to restore competition. (New Freedom)

• Underwood Tariff (1913)- reduced the average tariff on imported goods to about 30 % of the value of the goods.

- INCOME TAX!!!- direct tax on the earning of individuals (16th amendment- gave the federal gov’t the power to tax)

• Created 12 regional banks (supervised by Board of Governors appointed by Pres)

• The Board could set the interest rates the reserve banks charged other banks, controlling the interests rates of the entire nation and the amount of money in circulation.

• Power to investigate companies engaging in unfair trade practice

• Pres. Wilson wanted to limit competition• Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)- outlawed certain

practices that restricted competition• Ex, Business could not charge diff. consumers

different

• In 1905, W.E.B. Du Boise & 28 other African Americans met on the Canadian side of the falls (no other hotel accepted them)

• Launched a movement, leading to: • National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People (NAACP) (1909)• "to ensure the political, educational, social, and

economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination".