Progressivism & the Republican Roosevelt
American Pageant Chapter 28 1901-1912
Progressive Roots
Modern society too complex for simple gov. Progressive attacks in literature:
Henry Demarest Lloyd: Wealth against Common Wealth (attack on Standard Oil) Bryan Atgeld: boated trusts=corruption Thorstein Veblen: Theory of the Leisure Classattack on the predatory wealth Theodore Dreiser: The Financier and The Titan attack on promoters & profiteers Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives
Documented NY slums Influenced NY Police CommissionerTeddy Roosevelt (see photos next slide)
Jacob Riis
Progressive Roots--continued
Socialistsoften European Immigrants Social GospelProgressivism based on Christian principles Feminists: suffrage & other urban reforms
i.e. Jane Addams (Hull House) and Lillian Wald
Jane Addams and Hull House
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
MuckrakersTerm given by T. Roosevelt for those writers who exposed social wrongs (w/o suggested remedies)
the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muckrake, speedily becomes, not a help to society, not an incitement to good, but one of the most potent forces for evil. ~Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
10-15 Cent Magazines dirt sold magazines
Well researched to avoid legal action McClures, Cosmopolitan, Colliers, & Everybodys
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers
Lincoln Steffens: Shame of the Cities
McClure articles about alliance of big business & municipal government
Ida M. Tarbell: Expose on Standard Oil Co. Thomas W. Lawson: Frenzied Finance
Showed dishonest dealing of fellow stock market speculators (he had earned $50 million)
David G. Phillips: The Treason of the Senate
75 of 90 senators represented railroads
Corruption of the Senate--Political Cartoon
Raking Muck with the Muckrakers--cont.
Ray Stannard BakerFollowing the Color Line
Subjugation of 9 million, mostly illiterate, African Americans in the South
John SpargoThe Bitter Cry of Children
Abuses of child labor
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley: Attacked patent medicines for using harmful, addictive ingredients
Political Progressivism
Progressive reformers:
Middle class Pressure from upper and lower classes
Progressive goals:
State power to curb trusts Stop socialism by improving common peoples
Political Reforms
Direct primary elections
Undercut power-hungry party bosses
Initiative
Voters can directly propose legislation
Referendum
Place laws on ballot for final approval by the people
Recall
Voters can remove bad elected officials
17th Amendment (1913)
Direct elections of U.S. Senators
Progressivism in the Cities
City Reform
Some changed to expert-staffed commissions to manage urban affairs, (i.e. Galveston, TX) City Manager System: designed to take politics out of municipal administration Reformers also focused on slumlords, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, & sale of franchise for public utilities
Progressivism in the States
Robert M. La FolletteWisconsin gov.
Routed out entrenched lumber & railroad monopoly interests in state government Regulated public utilities
Hiram W. JohnsonCA governor
Broke Southern Pacific Railroad control in CA politics
Charles Evans Hughes NY governor
Investigator of malpractice of gas & insurance co. and coal trust
Women Suffrage
Feminists Reformers believed that womens votes would elevate the political tone No taxation w/o representation Some western states already had women voters By 1910Nation-wide suffrage is still decade away Public Attitude: A suffragists was one who had ceased to be a lady and has not yet become a gentleman.
Progressive Women
Settlement houses opened door to public life for women Womens clubsfocused on social issues Separate Spheres
womans place was in the home Female progressives believed social work was extension of this sphere Drawn to moral and maternal issues
Progressive Women
Womens Trade Union League & National Consumers League
Mobilized women workers and consumers to pressure for laws protecting women & children workers
Childrens Bureau & Womens Bureau
Part of Department of Labor National stage for social investigation & advocacy
Florence KelleyIL first chief factory inspector
Progressive Women
Judicial role:
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
Laws protecting women workers are constitutional
Lochner v. New York (1905)
Supreme Court invalidated 10 hour work day for bakers
1917Court upheld 10 hours work day for factory workers
Progressive Women
Safety Laws not often enforced
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire
Violation of fire code 146 female workers died because doors were locked shut Incidents caused public pressured for stronger safety and working hours laws
Progressive Women
Female progressives versus Corner Saloons
Womans Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Frances E. Willard leader 1 million women members
Some states passed dry laws Big cities remained wetimmigrant
Antiliquor Cartoon
TRs Square Deal for Labor
Teddy Rooseveltfocused Progressivism
Square Dealfor capital, labor, and the public 3 Cs --control of:
Corporations Consumer protection Conservation of natural resources
TRs Square Deal for Labor
Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine 1902
140,000 workers on strike Owners refused to negotiate Roosevelt acts as mediator
TR Has to threaten owners with federal control of mine
TRs Square Deal for Labor
Department of Commerce & Labor1903
Helped with issues between labor and owners Bureau of Corporations
Authorized to investigate interstate businesses Helped break monopolies
TR Corrals the Corporations
Taming the railroad octopus
Elkins Act (1903)Heavy fines for giving rebates Hepburn Act (1906)Free passes (bribery) restricted Interstate Commerce Commission power to nullify existing rates and set maximum rates
TR Corrals the Corporations
good trusts and bad trusts
TR did not go after ALL trusts Bigness wasnt necessarily bad Wanted government, not business to control the company
Northern Securities Company
Monopoly of all Northeast Railroads TR attacked and it was disbanded Action held up by Supreme Court
Teddy goes after 40 other trusts
Caring for the Consumer
American meat botulism The Jungle by Upton Sinclair book about meat packing plant
Purpose was to show plight of workers Public reaction was unsanitary conditions
T. Roosevelt appointed special investigating commissionled to:
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Inspection of meat crossing interstate lines
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Prevent adulteration & mislabeling of food and drugs
Theodore Roosevelt and the Environment
We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the cola, iron, gas, and the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would. ~Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Earth Control
Wasting of natural resources
TR wanted to protect land & use resources wiselyable to set aside 125 million acres, coal deposits, & water resources
Desert Land Act (1877)
Cheap arid land if irrigated it in 3 years
Forest Reserve Act (1891) Set aside public forests as national parks
Carey Act (1894)
Federal lands to states if irrigated &
Earth Control
John Muir naturalist, influenced TR Gifford Pinchot head of federal Division of Forestry Newlands Act (1902)
Collect $ from public lands in west and use for irrigation projects
i.e. Roosevelt Dam
Call of the Wild by Jack London
This & other books about nature read in cities
Sierra Clubpreserve wilderness in West
The Roosevelt Panic of 1907
Roosevelt easily re-elected in 1904 Conservative Republicans didnt trust him Announced would not run again 1908
Reduced his powerwould be gone in 4 yrs
Panic of 1907
Panic on Wall Street TR blamed Led to fiscal reforms
Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908)
Authorized national banks to issue emergency currency
The Rough Rider Thunders Out
Election of 1908
Teddy Roosevelt bound by promise not to run for 3rd term Handpicks Secretary of War, William Howard Taft Democrats pick William Jennings Bryan Dull campaignvoters chose stability
Socialist did have 3rd party candidate: Eugene V. Debbs
T. Roosevelts legacy
Nature conservation Held back socialism by regulating business
Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole
William Howard Taft
Moderate Progressive Lacked Roosevelts force of personality & enjoyment of conflict Passive toward Congress Misread public opinion foot in mouth disease
The Dollar as a Diplomat
Taft used dollar diplomacy to boost American foreign interests
Wall Street bankers would invest in countries, such as the Far East and Panama Strengthen defenses & preempt other countries from investing
Haiti & Honduras give money to keep stability and prevent other foreign interests (Monroe Doctrine) Cuba, Honduras, Dominican Republic Nicaragua American forces sent to ensure stability
Taft the Trustbuster
Taft attacked more trusts than T. Roosevelt (90 in 4 years versus 44 in 7 years) 1911-Supreme Court ordered dissolution of Standard Oil Company
Violation of Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) Rule of reasondoctrine that combinations that unreasonably restrained trade were illegal
Taft attacked U.S. Steel Corporation trust
Infuriates TR who had personally
Taft Splits the Republican Party
Protective tariffs mother of all trusts
Taft campaign promise to reduce tariffs
Payne-Aldrich Bill (1909)
Moderate changes + hundreds of upward tariff revisions Progressive wing of G.O.P. feel betrayed by Taft
Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel
Secretary of Interior Ballinger opened up some western lands to the public Pinchot disagrees and Taft fires him for insubordination
T. Roosevelt returns to NY and openly criticizes Taft Republicans lose majority in congressional elections of 1910
Taft-Roosevelt Rupture
T. Roosevelt agrees to run for President in 1912 as Progressive Taft is favored by conservative Republicans Divides Republican party
