Progressive Era

Unit 6

Redemption PeriodRedemption Period

The State was struggling to overcome the hardships that

Reconstruction had brought to the state and a faltering

economy.

Wanted to take back control of the state government from the

Republicans.

The Bourbon TriumviratePowerful Democratic leaders, known as

the “Bourbon Triumvirate”

Joseph E. BrownAlfred H. Colquitt

John B. Gordon

Bourbon Triumvirate???

• Bourbon = name of a castle and territory in France, as well as a line of French kings who ruled for over 200 years.

• Triumvirate = a ruling body of 3.

Bourbon Triumvirate

• -Democrats controlled Georgia’s government after Reconstruction

• -Powerful Democratic leaders, known as the “Bourbon Triumvirate” were Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon.

Joseph E. Brown• Oldest Member• Born in South Carolina but grew

up in Union County, Georgia• Graduated from Yale Law School• State Senator (1849 – 1855)• Judge for the Blue Ridge Judicial

Circuit• 1857 – Became Georgia’s

Governor • Popular “states’ rights” governor• Chief Justice of the Georgia

Supreme Court

Alfred H. Colquitt• Graduated from Princeton

University• State Senator from 1883 –

1888• Elected Governor in 1876

by the largest majority in state history up to that time

• State’s Debt was reduced • Political Bond with Joseph

E. Brown

John B. Gordon• Born in Upson County Georgia• Attended University of Georgia• Lieutenant General in Civil War• After war, wrote a book and

became a popular speaker• Defeated Alexander Stephens

to become U. S. Senator.• Governor of Georgia 1886-1890• Reduced state’s debt and

brought new industry to Georgia

• Gordon College in Barnesville is named after him

Goals of the Bourbon Triumvirate

-Expand Georgia’s economy and ties with industries in the North;

-maintain the tradition of white supremacy. (the belief that the white race is superior to any other race.)

• Along with Segregationist Robert Toombs, these men helped carry Georgia through economic reconstruction...

--Lowered taxes

--Reduced war debts

--Expanded business and industry

Not All Georgians Agreed

DemocratsBourbon

Triumvirate

By this Time...• The influence of the Republican Party had

almost ended completely.

• Democrats took over state politics.

Decline of the Bourbon Triumvirate

“Independent Democrats” criticized the Bourbons for not attending to the needs of the poor or improve education and working conditions in factories, improve mental health facilities, or improve the lives of convicts...

Independent Democrats Emerge

• A new group calling themselves Independent Democrats was slowly gaining recognition.

• Leader: William Felton (Doctor, Farmer, Methodist Preacher, Public Speaker)

• His wife, Rebecca Latimer Felton worked with him to support political causes.

William and Rebecca Felton• worked to improve

conditions for poor Georgians using newspapers to highlight the problems in the state.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

The Cartersville Courant• Family-owned newspaper

of the Feltons• Used it to attack the

Bourbons• Traveled the state arguing

that the leaders of the Democratic party in Georgia were ignoring the poor and lower middle class

• Also clashed over convict lease system

Rebecca Latimer Felton• Tireless worker for

fairness and justice for the “little people.”

• Leader in the suffrage and temperance (anti-alcohol) movements

• Publically active for women’s rights

• Published her views in the Atlanta Journal.

Dr. William Felton• In 1874, Dr. Felton was

elected to 3 times to Congress on a campaign to help the farmer.

• Became a member of the Georgia General Assembly in 1880.

• Pushed for improvements in education, prison reform, and limits on alcohol traffic in Georgia.

Treatment of Prisoners

• Serious problem

• Many prisons had been destroyed during Civil War

• After the war, lack of jobs led to increased crime

• 90% were blacks

Convict Lease System• -The convict lease system

“rented” prisoners to companies to use as workers. It took many years for the poor conditions the prisoners endured to be brought to light and changed

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/1921.htmlConvict Lease Labor Camp

PRISONERS• Completed public

works projects such as rebuilding roads destroyed during the war.

• Convicts cleared land, farmed, mined coal and built railroads

Most of the prisoners were leased to one of three large companies. Two of these companies were

owned by Bourbons Joseph E. Brown and John B. Gordon. They paid the state $25,000 a year, no

matter how many convicts were used.

COMPANIES• Provided housing and

food• Provided medical care• Allowed prisoners to

rest on Sundays

Problems• Rules were widely ignored.• Prisoners often did not receive clothes, medical

care, and little food.• Paid laborers lost out

on the jobs convicts

did.• Increased the number

of poor and

unemployed.

The New South • Challengers to the

Bourbon Triumvirate wanted Georgia to be more industrialized

• Henry Grady was a speaker and newspaper editor

• Described Georgia as a place of competitive industry and efficient Farming

• Envisioned improved race relations

• Henry Grady was one of the principal planners for the 1881 International Cotton Exposition, which was designed to show off the South’s new industries

• 800,000 visitors in three months

• designed to show economic recovery in the South

• Encouraged investments in southern businesses.

Prison Reform1908 saw the end of convict lease system

-Work camps and chain gangs replaced the lease system

-Wore black and white uniforms-chained together-poor food and housing-no preparation for life after prison

-Progressive legislators created the Juvenile Court System

Southern PoliticsPopulism: political idea

that supported the rights of “common” people in their struggle with the wealthy people

-poor farmers and low wage workers were followers of Populists

-Grange and Farmer’s Alliance worked to protect farmers’ rights – joined with unions to create the People’s Party

-Wanted “Australian Ballot”-printed by the government, not local political parties, then collected and locked in ballot boxes

-Tom Watson, famous Georgian populist, worked for Rural Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free

Important Progressive Era Acts

1. Smith-Lever Act (1914) – created Agricultural Extension Service to teach improved farming methods

2. Smith-Hughes Act – helped establish vocational schools for youth

3. Neil-Primary Act (1917)-Created “county unit system” -plan designed to give small counties more power in state government-smaller counties had more county unit “votes” even though they had fewer voters-people could be elected to office without getting the majority of votes-declared unconstitutional in 1962

Fight for Civil Rights

• Civil Rights: rights a person has as a citizen

• -“Jim Crow” laws passed to separate blacks and whites

http://www.literacyrules.com/Black%20History/JimCrow56.jpg

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court decision which approved Jim Crow Laws

-decision in place until 1954

http://alpha.cocodeep.com/blogs/civics/?cat=5

Homer Plessy

Cummings v. Richmond County Board of Education:

Supreme Court decision supporting segregated schools in Georgia

Loss of Voting Rights

-Laws were created to keep African Americans in Georgia from voting-Grandfather Clause: only those men whose fathers or grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1867 could vote-Poll Tax: a tax paid to vote-voters had to own property-voters had to pass a literacy test (which was determined by the poll worker and could be different for different people)

-Gerrymandering: election districts drawn up to divide the African American voters

Race Riots in Atlanta:

1906 various leaders and newspapers created a climate of anger and fear-two day riot began with over 5,000 people-martial Law: military forces used to control civilians-21 killed; hundreds wounded-lots of property damage

The trial of Leo Frank1913: man accused of killing a

13-year old employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta

-Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York

-Little evidence against him-found guilty and sentenced to death -Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life imprisonment-Armed men took Frank from prison and lynched him

-White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn as a result. Photos from: http://www.cwporter.com/letter29a.htm

Important People to Know: • . Booker T. Washington:

Outstanding civil rights leader of era

• a. President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama

• b. Supported good relations between blacks and whites

• c. worked to improve the lives of  African-Americans through economic independence

• d.    believed social and political equality would come with improved economic conditions and education

• e. famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech (1895)

•

http://publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com/2007/02/black-history-month-booker-t-washington.html

Important People to Know:

• W.E.B. DuBois: Professor at Atlanta University

• a. Believed in “action” if African Americans and whites were to understand and accept each other

• b. Thought Booker T Washington was too accepting of social injustice

http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/dubois/?page_id=863

Important People to Know:

• John and Lugenia Hope: Civil rights leader from Augusta, Georgia

• a. President of Atlanta University

• b. Like DuBois, believed that African Americans should actively work for equality

• c. Part of group that organized the NAACP. Hope’s wife Lugenia, worked to improve sanitation, roads, healthcare and education for African American neighborhoods in Atlanta http://www.jameslogancourier.org/

index.php?itemid=3826

http://www.nathanielturner.com/marchingdiffdrummertable.htm

Business in Georgia -Coca-Cola

-Invented in Atlanta in 1885 by John S. Pemberton as tonic-Purchased and expanded by Asa Candler-Sold in 1919 for $25 million-Robert Woodruff grew company to billions of dollars in sales a year-Woodruff and Candler generous givers to worthy causes

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cocacola-5cents-1900.jpg

Business in Georgia

Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company-Alonzo Herndon started a barber business-1905 purchased a small insurance company and managed it well-Today it is one of the largest African American businesses in the US-Worth over $200 million and operates in 17 states

Business in Georgia

• Georgia-Pacific• Founded in 1927 as a wholesaler of

hardwood lumber• Headquartered in Atlanta• Employs more than 45,000 at

approximately 300 locations worldwide• Has expanded to include tissue, pulp,

paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals

• Acquired by Koch Industries in 2005

Business in Georgia

• Delta Airlines

• 1924 Huff Daland crop-dusting operation was founded

• 1928 bought by Woolman and renamed Delta Air Services

• 1929 offers first passenger flight http://www.treehugger.com/2008/08/03-week/

Business in Georgia

• Home Depot• Founded in 1978• Vision was one-

stop shopping for the do-it-yourselfer

• Opened 1st two stores in Atlanta, GA in 1979

                                                                     

                     

http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/History

World War I (1914-1918)

-President Wilson worked to keep the U.S. out of the war-he declared the U.S. would remain neutral

-1915: German submarine sank passenger ship Lusitania killing 128 Americans

-1917: sub attacks resumed sinking American ships

-Zimmerman Telegram: Germany tried to get Mexico to attack the U.S.

-Wilson finally joined the Allied Powers

Allied Powers Leading Countries

Central Powers Leading Countries

FranceGreat BritainRussia(United States joined in 1917)

GermanyAustria-Hungary

World War I1914-1918

Georgia in World War I

-+100,000 Georgians volunteered to join the U.S. Armed forces

-Training in Georgia at Camp Benning, Fort McPherson, and Camp Gordon helped the

Georgia economy-Georgians contributed manufactured goods

and farm produce-3,000 young Georgians were killed in the

war-Ended November 11, 1918 - Armistice Day