I. The Origins of Progressivism A. A Spirit of Reform in the late 1800’s 1.
Henry George believed that poverty could be eliminated by using land
productively by everyone. Also taxing the nonproductive more than the
productive. 2. Edward Bellamy believed that the government should create a trust
to take care of the needs of the people rather than profit. 3. Many groups
wanted change for the majority of people such as the socialist, the union
members and members of municipal or city government levels. 4. Municipal reforms
in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that gave cities limited self-rule
rather than state rule are known as Home Rule. B. Progressivism Takes Hold 1.
Progressivism aspects of reform from many programs and other movements. 2.
Because they were afraid of losing their high standard of living,
progressives’ were afraid of revolution. 3. Progressives believed that the
government should play a bigger role in regulating transportation and utilities.
4. Develop better social welfare programs. 5. The suffrage movement became a big
issue among women. 6. Child labor laws as well as many other things were brought
about by government regulations. C. Progressive Methods 1. Journalist also
helped create support by alerting the public to wrong doing or muckrakers. 2.
Investigating the issue then publicizing the results putting pressure on
legislators to take action is known as Systematic manner. D. Florence Kelley 1.
Kelley was recommended for investigating the labor conditions around Chicago. 2.
Kelley earned a law degree so that she could prosecute violators of child labor
laws as well as regulations in sweatshops. 3. Kelley believed in municipal
reforms after a political favor placed another inspector in her place. 4. 1899
National Consumers League was organized (NCL) II. Progressivism: Its Legislative
Impacts A. Urban Reform 1. Reform began mostly at the city level 2. Some machine
politicians worked with reformers to improve voter registration, city services,
established health programs and enforced tenant codes. 3. By 1915 two out of
three cities owned utilities. 4. Welfare services were put into effect. 5. Hazen
Pingree put in parks, baths, and put into effect a work-relief program. B.
Reforms at the State Level 1. Progressive governors also got involved with the
movement. 2. LaFollette brought about a direct primary in which voters elect
nominees for upcoming elections. 3. Employers and employees negotiating
differences as well as workers accident insurance became major reforms in the
work place. 4. The Supreme Court said that it was illegal to set maximum hours
for workers because it violated the individuals right to make a contract with
the employer - 1905 Lochner vs. New York. 5. The Supreme Court upheld a decision
that limited women’s work hours to 10 hours per day - 1905 Muller vs. Oregon.
6. The National Child Labor Committee convinced about 30 states to abolish Child
Labor by 1907 . 7. In 1912 minimum wage for women and children was put into
effect in Massachusetts. 8. Women were replaced with men because they would work
longer for less wages 9. Women’s push for voting rights was stifled by the
belief that females are physically weaker. D. Reforms at the Federal Level 1.
The United Mine Workers called a strike lasting until Teddy Roosevelt insisted
that both sides submit to arbitration - May, 1902. 2. A process in which an
impartial third party decides on a legally binding solution is known as
arbitration. 3. Teddy Roosevelt threatened to use the army to take over the
mines if the owners didn’t accept the agreement. 4. “Square Deal” reduced
miner’s hours from 10 to 9 and gave the miners a 10% raise while not
officially recognizing the minor’s union. 5. The Hepburn Act authorized the
IEC to limit rates if the shippers complained them unfair - 1906. 6. The Pure
Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act required accurate labeling of
ingredients, strict sanitary conditions, and a rating system for meats - 1906.
7. Holding companies are corporations that hold the stocks and bonds of numerous
companies thus achieving a monopoly. 8. John Muir and John Wesley Powell urged
congress, in 1872, to establish Yellow Stone as the United States first national
park. 9. Yosemite in California became a national park in 1890. 10. A National
Reclamation Act (1902) aimed at planning and developing irrigation projects
aroused controversy between city residents and farmers over use or water. 11.
1912 the United States government set up a Children’s Bureau within the
Department of Labor. 12. Women’s Bureau was also established in 1920. 13. Mary
Anderson and Julia Lathrop were the first women Bureau heads in the federal
government. 14. Prohibition was thought to protect society from poverty and
violence associated with drinking. 15. Women’s support for prohibition caused
brewery and liquor interests to oppose women’s suffrage. 16. Prohibition
became the 18th amendment in 1919 until its repeal in 1933. III. Progressivism:
Its Impact on National Politics A. The Presidency After Roosevelt 1. Teddy
Roosevelt hand picked William Howard Taft as the next Republican presidential
nominee. 2. On the Democratic Side William Jennings Bryan also ran (for the
third time) 3. Taft won the election and promised to carry on the progressive
movement. 4. A rebel movement arose because Taft wouldn’t lower the tariffs on
imports. 5. Gifford Pinchot opposed Taft’s agreement to allow several million
acres of Alaskan public lands that had rich deposits of coal be sold by Richard
A. Ballinger. Pinchot was fired. 6. Upset House Republicans rebelled against
Taft and joined Democrats in initiating an investigation into Ballinger’s
actions-he eventually resigned. 7. Rebels took action against the Republican old
guard who blocked much reform legislation. 8. Rebels changed the committee’s
membership by making it elective and excluding the powerful. House Speaker,
Joseph Cannon, a republican reform opponent. 9. Teddy Roosevelt began speaking
out about the need for more federal regulations of business, welfare
legislation, and progressive reforms such as stronger work place protections for
women and children, income and inheritance taxes, direct primaries, and the
initiative , referendum, and recall. This was called New Nationalism. 10. Taft
supported the Mahn-Elkins Act(1910) that placed telephone and telegraph rates
under control of the Interstate Commerce Commission rather than big business. B.
The Election of 1912 1. The progressive party was formed after Teddy
Roosevelt’s supporters walked out of the RNC when Taft accused Teddy Roosevelt
of fraud. They became known as the Bull Moose Party. 2. Bull Moose Party’s
platform included tariff reduction, women suffrage, more regulation of business,
an end to child labor, an eight-hour work day, a federal worker’s compensation
system, and the popular election of senators. 3. Teddy Roosevelt and Hiram
Johnson ran a vigorous campaign. 4. A four way election 5. Four men sought
presidency in 1912. Wilson-Democrats, Taft-Republicans, Eugene Debs-Socialist,
and Roosevelt-Bull Moose Party. 6. Wilson ran on a reform platform too, but
unlike Roosevelt, he criticized both big business and big government. 7. Wilson,
calling this policy New Freedom, promised to enforce antitrust laws without
threatening free economic competition. 8. The Democrats won over both Houses of
Congress. 9. Wilson created a Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to be sure
business complied with federal trade regulations. 10. Also in 1914 the Clayton
Antitrust Act spelled out specific activities big businesses couldn’t do in
restraint of trade-strengthening United States antitrust laws. 11. The Clayton
Antitrust Act exempted union’s activities from antitrust lawsuits unless they
led to “irreparable injury to property.” 12. Wilson lowered tariffs and
instituted major financial reforms. 13. 1913 Wilson helped establish the Federal
Reserve System. 14. The Federal Reserve System let banks borrow money to meet
short-term demands, helping to prevent bank failures. 15. Wilson also
established the Federal Farm Loan Board (1916). 16. Wilson opposed women’s
suffrage because his platform had not approved it. 17. A Controversial
Appointment 18. Wilson nominated a progressive lawyer named Louis D. Brandeis to
the Supreme Court in 1916. 19. Named “the peoples’ lawyer” Brandeis had
fought for many public causes without pay. 20. Brandeis, being Jewish caused
many problems as well as his “radical” approach to reform. 21. Brandeis’
appointment to the Supreme Court marked the peak of progressive reform at the
federal level. 22. Wilson was reelected in 1916. C. The Legacy of Progressive
Reform 1. A Limited View of Progress 2. The African Americans of this era felt
that progressives weren’t doing enough to concern themselves with race
relations during this time. 3. 1912 Roosevelt refused to seat the southern
African American delegates for fear of alienating white southern progressives.
4. Some supporters of women’s suffrage did so only to double the “white
vote” in the United States and exclude the African Americans. 5. African
Americans fell further behind because of their smaller population and the
effectiveness of voting restrictions in the South. 6. Progressives also focused
on cities leaving out tenant and migrant farmers and non-unionized workers in
general. 7. Some progressives supported immigration restrictions and literacy
test. 8. Progressives also supported the imperialistic adventures of the day. 9.
They believed in “civilizing” under-developed nations, no matter what the
residents of those nations wanted. 10. The End of the Progressive Coalition 11.
August 1914, a war broke out in Europe 12. Americans worried how long they could
stay uninvolved in the conflict. 13. By 1916, the reform spirit had ended whit
the exception of women’s suffrage. IV. Suffrage at Last: A Turning Point in
History A. Suffrage at the Turn of the Century 1. In August 1920, Tennessee had
to make a huge decision, whether or not to ratify the 19th amendment. 2. Carrie
Chapman Catt directed the lobbying effort for the “suffs”. 3. The National
American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was established. 4. Women’s Rights
5. Women had won many rights. Married women could buy, sell and will property.
6. Myra Bradwell of Chicago was denied a state license to practice law in 1869.
She appealed to the Supreme Court where her denial was upheld. (Bradwell vs.
Illinois 1873). 7. By 1900’s women were becoming more involved in unions,
picketing, voluntary organizations, and getting arrested. 8. The Opposition
Mobilizes 9. Anti-suffragists made two arguments: a. women were powerful enough
without voting b. giving women the vote would blur the distinction between the
sexes and make women seem more masculine. 10. Anti-suffragists said that women
would quickly establish prohibition. B. Suffragist Strategies 1. Suffragists
followed two paths toward their goals: a. pressing for a constitutional
amendment b. encouraging states to approve women’s suffrage. 2. In 1878
Congress adopted the wording of suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony in the
“Anthony Amendment”. 3. The Anthony Amendment didn’t resurface until 1913.
4. The movement heats up in the 1910’s 5. The suffrage movement was becoming
more widely accepted in the 1900’s. 6. Carrie Chapman Catt- Systematized NAWSA
techniques. 7. Alice Paul formed the Congressional Union (CU). 8. A collision
over strategy 9. Different strategies caused the suffrage movement to be torn
into two. 10. The CU wanted an all-out national campaign for the constitutional
amendment. 11. The NAWSA felt that the CU was premature in some of their
actions. 12. Catt’s “winning plan” was to work full time to get congress
to propose the federal amendment. 13. By 1917 NAWSA had over 2 million members.
14. In the fall of 1917 New York finally passed the amendment. 15. Impact of the
war 16. The United states entered WWI in April 1917 17. Women took over jobs
that men left behind as well as volunteering for other jobs. 18. Congress
adopted the 18th amendment. C. The Final Victory for Suffrage 1. 1918 Congress
proposed the suffrage amendment. 2. Ratification 3. Harry Burn of Tennessee was
the tie breaking vote in Tennessee’s legislature. 4. Burn voted “yes”
because his mother had written to them saying to vote “yes” for her. 5. The
speaker tried to stall the bill by reconsidering it. 6. On August 24,
Tennessee’s governor signed the suffrage bill. 7. On August 26, the 19th
amendment was ratified. 8. A hard-won victory 9. Women’s suffrage wasn’t
totally given to them. They fought for their right to vote. 10. The ratification
of the 19th amendment marked the last major reform of the progressive era and
was the turning point in American History.