Progressivism & the

Republican Roosevelt

1901 - 1912

Progressive Roots

1900 – 1 in 7 was foreign born

– 13 million more arrived between 1900 & 1914

Progressivism – use government as an

agency of human welfare opposed to hands-

off individualism / Laissez-faire

– Waged war on many evils, notably monopoly,

corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice

Late 19th Century Social Critics

1894 – Henry Demarest Lloyd

– Attacked trust such as Standard Oil

– Wealth Against Commonwealth

1899 - Thorstien Veblen

– Assailed the new rich & their “conspicuous

consumption” & “predatory wealth”

– The Theory of the Leisure Class

1890 – Jacob Riis

– Exposed the slum conditions of NYC

– How the Other Half Lives

Critics of Social Injustice

Used religious

doctrine to demand

better housing &

living conditions for

the urban poor

Women were

committed to improve

the lots of families

living & working in

the festering cities

Urban Pioneers

– Jane Adams & Hull

House

– Lillian Wald

Early 20th Century Muckrakers

1902 - Lincoln Steffens

– Articles in McClure’s entitled “The Shame of the Cities”

– Unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business & city government

1904 – Ida M. Tarbell

– Articles in McClure’s

– Exposé of Standard Oil Company

1906 – David G. Phillips

– Article in Cosmopolitan

– Charged that US Senate represented RR’s & trusts

20th Century Muckrakers conti

1908 – Ray Stannard Baker

– Following the Color Line

– Spotlighted that 33% of

African Americans were illiterate

1906 – John Spargo

– The Bitter Cry of the Children

– Abuses of child labor

Muckrakers &

Progressive Reformers

Muckrakers - believed their primary function was to make the public aware of social problems – not propose solutions

Progressive reformers were mainly middle-class people who sought to:

– Curb the threats posed by trusts

– Stem the threats of Socialists by improving the common person’s conditions of life & labor

Sought to cleanse capitalism not overthrow it!

– More democracy was needed to “fix” things

Political Progressivism

Direct primary – undercut party bosses

Initiative – voters could directly propose legislation. By

passing the boss-bought state legislatures

Referendum – place laws on the ballot for final

approval by the people

Recall – enable voters to remove

elected officials who were corrupt

Political Progressivism conti

Campaign spending & contribution laws – evened

the playing field & curbed political bribes

Secret ballot – cut down on political bribes

1913 - Direct Election of Senators

– 17th Amendment

City-Manager System – designed to take politics out

of municipal administration

Fighting Bob

Robert M. LaFollette – Wisconsin

– Became governor & took control from the crooked corporations & returned it to the people

• Regulated public utilities

– Became an example for others to follow

Hiram W. Johnson – California

– Broke the grip of the Southern Pacific Railroad in CA

Charles Evans Hughes – New York

– Investigator of malpractices by gas & insurance companies & coal trust

Battling Social Ills

Enactment of safety & sanitation codes for

industries

Closed harmful trades to juveniles

Workmen’s compensation laws

Maximum hours & minimum wage laws

Sweatshops

1911 – Triangle Shirtwaist Company

– Fire at the company in NYC incinerated 146 female

workers

Legislation was passed that regulated the hours &

conditions of toil in such firetraps

Muller v. Oregon 1908

– Louis Brandeis persuaded Supreme

Court to accept the constitutionality

of laws protecting women workers

– Used to discriminate against women workers

Courts & Legislation

1905 – Lochner v. New York

– Length of workday was increased

– Later decreased

Saloons

– Alcohol was connected to prostitution

– Antiliquor campaigns began

Prohibition

Movement

Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

– Founded by Frances E. Willard

• Prayed in saloons

– 1 million women members

• Largest women’s organization in the world

Dry laws passed in some states

– Controlled, restricted, or abolished alcohol

18th amendment passed in 1919 making alcohol

illegal

TR’s Square Deal

3 C’s:

– Control of the corporations

– Consumer protection

– Conservation of natural resources

TR’s Square Deal

& Labor

1902 – Coal Strike in Pennsylvania

– Workers demanded more pay & reduction of hours

– Owners refused arbitration

– TR held a meeting in the White House

– TR threatened to use federal force against owners

TR urged Congress to create Dept of Commerce & Labor

– Goal achieved in 1903

Bureau of Corporations – branch of Dept

– Authorized to probe businesses engaged in interstate commerce

TR & Corporations

Interstate Commerce Commission – 1887

– Inadequate because railroad barons could appeal the commission’s decisions on rates

– Later extended to include more than railroads

– Power to nullify existing rates & stipulate maximum rates

Elkins Act of 1903

– Heavy fines could be imposed both on railroads that gave rebates & shippers that accepted them

Hepburn Act of 1906

– Free passes were restricted

The Trustbuster

1902 – attacked Northern Securities Company

– Railroad holding company organized by James Hill & J.P. Morgan

– Monopoly of the railroads in the Northwest

1904 Courts upheld TR’s suit & ordered the company to be dissolved

Initiated over 40 proceedings against trust

Purpose: TR wanted to prove that the gov’t, not private business, ruled the country

– He believed in regulating & not fragmenting

Caring for the Consumer

1906 – Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

– Exposed the meat packing industry & its filth

– He aimed for the nation’s heart, but hit its stomach

Results:

– Meat Inspection Act – 1906

• Preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection

• Sing the song – p.668

– Pure Food & Drug Act – 1906

• Prevent mislabeling of foods & drugs

Earth Control

Americans overall were wasteful

Desert Land Act of 1877

– Gov’t sold arid land cheaply on the condition that the

purchaser irrigate the thirsty soil within 3 years

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

– Set aside public forests as national parks

Carey Act of 1894

– Distributed federal land to the states on the condition

that it be irrigated & settled

Newlands Act of 1902

– Gov’t would sell public lands in the western states &

use the funds for irrigation projects

1911 - Roosevelt Dam built on Arizona’s Salt

River

Earmarked coal deposits & water resources

useful for irrigation & power

Sierra Club & Boy Scouts

The “Roosevelt Panic” of 1907

1904 - TR elected president

– Called for:

• Regulation of corporations, taxing

incomes, & protecting workers

– Announced that he would not seek a 3rd term

Panic of 1907

– Run on banks, suicides, and criminal indictments

against speculators

– TR was blamed

– Aldrich-Vreeland Act – 1908

• Authorized national banks to issue emergency currency

Election of 1908

William Howard Taft – (R)

– Carry out TR’s policies

– Wins easily – hand picked by TR

William Jennings Bryan – (D)

Eugene V. Debs – (Socialist)

Lasting Impact

of TR

Greatly enlarged the power & prestige of the

presidential office

Helped shape the progressive movement & the

liberal reform campaigns that came later

Square Deal was the grandfather of FDR’s New

Deal

Opened the eyes of Americans to

the fact that they shared the world

with other nations

William Howard Taft

Former judge & lawyer

Hostile to labor unions

Definitely not the reformer that TR was

Dollar Diplomacy

– Taft’s foreign policy

Use American investments to boost American

political interests abroad

– Gov’t encouraged Wall Street bankers to invest in

other countries

• Especially in the Far East & around the Panama Canal

NY bankers would strengthen American defenses

& foreign policies through investments

Problems for Taft

Manchuria, China (Open Door Policy)

– Wanted Americans to end Japanese & Russian

monopoly of RR by buying the RR & returning it to

the Chinese

• Sec of State Philander C. Knox made the proposal

• Japan & Russia would not sell

Caribbean (Monroe Doctrine)

– Americans encouraged to invest in Honduras & Haiti

to keep out foreign funds

American forces were sent Nicaragua in 1912

– Stayed for 13 years

Taft the Trustbuster

Brought 90 suits against trusts compared to TR’s 44

1911 – Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil

– Violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

– “rule of reason” – only those combinations that “unreasonably” restrained trade were illegal

1911 – Taft filed an anti-trust suit against US Steel Corporation

– Infuriated TR

Taft Splits the Republican Party

1909 – Taft called Congress into special session to lower tariffs

– Eventually signed the Payne-Aldrich Bill which did not really lower tariffs

1910 – Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy

– Sec of Interior Richard Ballinger opened up public lands in Wyoming, Montana, & Alaska to corporate development

– Criticized by Gifford Pinchot – chief of Agriculture Dept of Forestry

– Taft dismissed Pinchot for insubordination

TR Reappears

1911 – National Progressive

Republican League was formed

– “Fighting Bob” was the leading candidate (La Follette)

TR lets it be known that he wants to run again

1912 – Taft-Roosevelt explosion

– Republican convention – Taft was selected

– TR begins third-party crusade