in the early 1900's what did the progressives want and what did they achieve?
2007-02-11 11:56:24 · 2 answers · asked by clk535 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
You need to read your textbook. The progressive movement resulted in more gov't regulation respecting worker safety, labor and pay, child labor laws, education and consumer safety and a general expansion of government to cope with some of the ills produced during industrialization.
2007-02-11 12:00:06 · answer #1 · answered by Professor K 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Progressive Era 1901-1918
What was the Progressive movement?
· Social, political & economic reform movement of the early 1900’s based on the idea that government could be a tool for fixing society
· Movement to build on the existing society through political change and social improvement
· Goals: limiting the power of big business, expanding democracy, and strengthening social justice
How were Progressives different from Populists?
· Progressives focused on middle class issues not farm issues
· Progressives were more educated
· Progressives were eastern, Populists were mid-western and southern
· Progressives were urban, Populists were rural
· Progressives achieved many of the goals Populists could not achieve
How were Progressives and Populists similar?
· Both reform movements
· Both were anti-trust
· Both wanted a graduated income tax
· Both wanted better control of money/banks
What problems did problems did progressives want to reform in the early 1900’s?
· Poverty
· Dirty cities
· Problems of factory workers
· Child labor
· Alcohol
· Segregation in the South (Jim Crow)
· Women’s suffrage
· Corruption in business (big business & monopolies)
· Corruption in politics (political machines)
Who were Progressives and what influenced them?
· Mainly middle class residents of US cities
o Traditional middle class: doctors, lawyers, ministers, and store keepers
o New middle class that developed in the late 1800s: white collar office workers and middle managers in banks, manufacturing, and other businesses
· Protestant missionary spirit: the ideas of the social gospel provided religious motivation to reform social problems
· Pragmatism: belief in a practical approach to morals, ideals, and knowledge
· Scientific management:
o Fredrick W. Taylor studied ways of organizing people to work in the most efficient way possible
o Progressives believed that government would be more efficient if placed under the control of “experts” and scientific managers
o Objected to political machines not only because they were undemocratic, but because they were inefficient
How did muckrakers help the progressive movement?
· Muckrakers: Journalists who wrote in-depth, investigative stories that exposed the problems of urban society
· Labeled muckrakers by T. Roosevelt
· Henry Demarest Lloyd:
o Wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly in 1881
o Attacked the business practices of the Standard Oil Company and the railroads
o Exposed corruption and greed in the Standard Oil Monopoly
o Wealth Against the Commonwealth: Lloyd’s articles published in book form
· McClure’s Magazine:
o Founded by Samuel Sidney McClure, an Irish immigrant, in 1893
o Combined careful research with sensationalism
o Ida Tarbell: published her History of the Standard Oil Company in McClure’s
o Set the standard for other muckraking publications: Collier’s and Cosmopolitan
· Lincoln Steffens:
o Wrote a series of articles for McClure’s
o Also described corruption in urban politics in Shame of the Cities (1904)
· Jacob Riis:
o How the Other Half Lives (1890)
o One of the first photojournalists
o Exposed the difficulties of tenement life
· Theodore Dreiser:
o The Financier and The Titan
o Novels portrayed greed and ruthlessness of industrialists
· Frank Norris:
o The Octopus (railroad corruption) and The Pit (grain speculation)
o Fictional accounts of corruption in business
What types of voting reforms did the progressive movement achieve?
· Australian or secret ballot
· Direct primaries
o Candidates for state and federal government had been nominated in state conventions dominated by party bosses
o Direct primaries replaced conventions by holding an election in which party members choose nominees by popular vote
o Robert La Follette: Progressive governor of Wisconsin introduced a state law that created a direct primary system in 1903
o By 1915 some form of direct primary was used in every state
o The direct primary didn’t always work
§ Party bosses found ways to manipulate primaries
§ Southern states used primaries to prevent African Americans from voting
· Direct Election of Senators
o Before the 17th Amendment US Senators were elected by state legislators
o Progressives believed the selection of Senators by state legislatures caused the Senate to be a “millionaires club” dominated by big business
o Nevada became the first state to allow voters to elect US Senators in 1899
o By 1912, 30 states allowed voters to elect US Senators
o In 1913, adoption of the 17th Amendment required all US Senators be elected by popular vote
· Reforms designed to increase the control of “the people” over government
o Initiative: voters propose a bill to a state legislature
o Referendum: the state legislature proposes a law and citizens vote whether or not to enact the law
o Recall: allowed voters to remove a politician from office by a majority election
How did Progressives reform municipal (city/local) government?
· Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones
o Millionaire Mayor of Toledo, Ohio in 1897
o Advocated the use of the “Golden Rule”
o Municipal reforms included: free kindergartens, night schools, and public playgrounds
· Tom L. Johnson
o Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio 1901-1909
o Pushed for, but did not achieve public ownership of utilities
· Public utilities
o By 1915 2/3 of the nations cities owned their own water systems
o Many owned their own gas lines, electric power plants, and mass transportation systems
· New types of municipal government
o Commission plan for government
§ Voters elect the heads of city departments (fire, police, sanitation, etc.) not just the mayor
o City manager plan
§ An expert manager is hired by the city council to direct the cities various departments
§ By 1923 more than 300 cities adopted the manager-council form of government
Progressive Reform in the National Government
Who were the Progressive Presidents?
· Theodore Roosevelt: Republican, 1901-1909
· William Howard Taft: Republican, 1909-1913
· Woodrow Wilson: Democrat, 1913-1917
How did Theodore Roosevelt become President?
· William McKinley was assassinated in September of 1901
· At 42, T. Roosevelt (Republican) became the nation’s youngest president
· Believed the President should take a more active role in economics, society, and politics
How was T. Roosevelt a Progressive President?
· The Square Deal
o T. Roosevelt promised a “square deal” between business and labor
o Government as tool to protect people from big business
· Coal strike of 1902
o A coal strike threatened to leave Americans without coal to heat there homes in the winter
o T. Roosevelt called union leaders and mine owners to the White House for mediation
o When mine owners refused to attend, T. Roosevelt threatened to take over the mines with federal troops
o Owners agreed to meet and accepted term of mediation
§ 10% wage increase
§ Nine hour workday
· Trust-busting
o T. Roosevelt was the first president to enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
o In 1904 the Supreme court upheld T. Roosevelt’s use of the act to break up the Northern Securities Company, a railroad monopoly
o Made a distinction between “good trusts” and “bad trusts”
o Bad trusts: harmed consumers by raising prices and stifling competition
o Good trusts: dominated the market through efficiency and low prices
· Railroad regulation
o Convinced Congress to pass two laws that strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
o The Elkins Act (1903): strengthened the regulatory power of the ICC
o The Hepburn Act (1906): allowed the ICC to fix “just and reasonable” railroad rates
· Consumer protection
o Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle motivated Roosevelt and congress to enact two regulatory laws
o Pure Food and Drug Act: prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of contaminated or mislabeled foods and drugs
o The Meat Inspection Act: provided federal inspection of meatpacking plants to ensure sanitation standards
· Conservatism
o Protection of natural resources
o Set aside 150 million acres of federal land as national reserve
o Newlands Reclamation Act (1902): provided money from the sale of public land for irrigation projects in western states
How was William Howard Taft a Progressive President?
· Teddy Roosevelt did not run for a third term
· Taft (Republican) defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1908
· Trust-busting
o Taft ordered the prosecution of almost twice as many antitrust cases as Roosevelt
· The Mann-Elkins Act (1910)
o Gave the ICC the power to suspend new railroad rates
o Gave the ICC the power to oversea oversee telephone, telegraph, and cable companies
· The 16th Amendment
o Ratified in 1913
o Authorized the US government to collect an income tax
Why were progressives in the Republican Party unhappy with Taft?
· Payne-Aldrich Tariff
o In his 1908 campaign Taft promised a lower tariff
o Taft instead signed and publicly defended a bill that raised the tariff on most imports
· Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy
o Progressives liked Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist and chief of the Forest Service
o Pinchot criticized Richard Ballinger, Taft’s Secretary of the Interior, for opening lands in Alaska for private development
o Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination, angering progressives
· Taft refused to support progressive efforts to reduce the power of Speaker of the House Joe Cannon, a conservative
· Midterm elections of 1910
o Taft openly supported Conservative candidates for office, instead of progressive candidates
o Split the Republican Party into conservatives headed by Taft and a Progressive faction
How were political parties crazy in the election of 1912?
· Splitting the Republican Party
o Roosevelt decided to make a comeback and challenged Taft for the Republican nomination
o Taft received the Republican nomination
o Roosevelt left the Republican Party
· The Progressive Party/Bull Moose Party
o Progressives formed their own party
o Nominated Roosevelt
· Democrats: nominated Woodrow Wilson
· The Socialist Party of America
o Labor party
o Favored more radical reforms than Progressives
§ Public ownership of railroads, utilities, and major industries
o Socialists nominated Eugene V. Debs for President in 1912
How did Wilson and Roosevelt differ as candidates?
· Taft was unpopular and Debs was too radical
· The election came down to competition between Roosevelt and Wilson
· New Nationalism
o The name of Roosevelt’s platform
o Advocated a strong central government as a tool to protect citizens
o Advocated increased government regulation of business, woman’s suffrage, and social welfare programs
o Elimination of “bad trusts”
· New Freedom
o Limit big business and big government
o End corruption in government
o Restore competition in business by eliminating all trusts
What was the outcome of the election of 1912?
· Taft (23%) and Roosevelt (27%) split the Republican Party
· Debs and the Socialists received 900,000 votes (6%) but no electoral votes
· Wilson won the lection with 45% of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote (435)
· Wilson was the second Democrat elected President since the Civil War
How was Woodrow Wilson a Progressive President?
· New Freedom
o Attacked the “triple wall of privilege”: tariffs, banking, and trusts
o Believed in restoring fair competition to the market place
· The Underwood Tariff of 1913
o Drastically lowered tariffs on imported goods
o Wilson lowered the tariff to lower consumer prices
o Made up for lost revenue by raising the income tax (had the most impact on the wealthy)
· Banking reform
o Wilson believed the gold standard was too inflexible and that banks served the wealthy
o Wilson rejected the Republican proposal for a private national bank
o Wilson proposed a national banking system
§ 12 district banks
§ Each banked supervised by the federal reserve board
§ Began the use of federal reserve notes (dollar bills) issued by the federal reserve bank
· Business regulation
o The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
§ Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act
§ Exempted labor unions from being prosecuted as trusts
o The Federal Trade Commission (1914)
§ Regulatory agency wit the power to investigate and take action against “unfair trade practice” in every industry except banking and transportation
o Federal Farm Loan Act (1916)
§ 12 regional farm loan banks were established to make low interest loans to farmers
o Child Labor Act (1916)
§ Prohibited the interstate shipment of products manufactures by children under 14
§ Ruled unconstitutional in Hammer vs. Dagenhart
Why did African American leaders work outside the Progressive movement?
· Progressive governments at the federal, state, and local levels ignored the problems facing African Americans
o Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
§ The Supreme Court’s separate but equal decision established legal segregation based on race
o Lynchings: thousands of African Americans were hanged by mobs of racists
· Booker T. Washington
o Most influential black leader at the turn of the century
o Southern who had been born a slave
o Argued that black needs for education and economic progress were more important than equality and civil rights
o His Tuskegee Institute taught industrial skills and trades to help African Americans increase wages
o Believed economic power would lead to eventual political and social equality
· W.E.B. Dubois
o College educated northerner
o In the Souls of Black Folk (1903) Du Bois criticized Washingto’s approach
o Du Bois demanded immediate equal rights for African Americans
o Argued that economic equality would never be achieved without political and social equality
Why did African Americans migrate north in the early 1900s?
· At the end of the 1800s (19th century) 9 out of 10 African Americans lived in the south
· Between 1910 and 1930 one million African Americans moved north
o Jobs in cities
o Deteriorating race relations in the south
o Destruction of cotton crops by the boll weevil
o Job opportunities in northern factories during WWI
· Migration slowed during the depression
· Between 1940 and 1970 4 million African Americans moved north
What types of civil rights organizations formed during the early 20th century?
· Niagara Movement (1905)
o Du Bois and other black intellectuals met in Niagara Falls, Canada
o Discussed a program of protest and action to achieve equal rights
· National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
o Organized on Lincoln’s birthday in 1908
o Organized by members of the Niagara Movement and a group of white progressives
o Their mission was to abolish all forms of segregation and increase educational opportunity for African American children
o The largest civil rights organization by 1920 with 100,000 members
· The National Urban League
o Formed in 1911
o Aimed to help blacks who migrated to northern cities
o Advocated self-reliance and economic advancement
How were women’s rights involved in the progressive movement?
· The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
o Headed by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1900
o At first worked to win women’s suffrage at the state level
o Later began pushing for a constitutional amendment
· The National Women’s Party
o More militant women’s group
o Led by Alice Paul
o Engaged in mass protests and hunger strikes
o Also worked for a constitutional amendment
· The 19th Amendment (1920)
o Guaranteed women’s right to vote in elections at all levels of government
o Due largely to the efforts of women on the home front during WWI
o Carrie Chapman Catt organized the League of Women’s Voters
2007-02-11 12:01:01 · answer #2 · answered by Jeanette M 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋