Muckrakers

• Journalists who sought to expose society’s ills

• Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis, etc.

Progressive Reform Crusades

• Child labor

• Working women

• Woman suffrage

• Birth control

• Prohibition of alcohol

• Working conditions

• Democratization of government

Anti-Child Labor Mvmt.

• Florence Kelley

• State anti-child labor laws passed

• Trouble with courts

• Compulsory school attendance laws

Working women

• Efforts to reduce hours women were forced to work

• Muller v. Oregon (1908)– USSC upheld OR 10-hr. day law for women– “women are fundamentally weaker than men”

Woman Suffrage

• WY, UT, CO, ID, WA, CA, AZ, OR, MT, NV by 1914

• NAWSA: Carrie Chapman Catt

• Alice Paul and more radical activists

Birth Control Mvmt.

• Comstock Law of 1873– Illegal to promote contraception

• Margaret Sanger– American Birth Control League

Prohibition of Alcohol

• 18th Amendment, 1917

• Volstead Act

Organized Labor in the Progressive Era

• AFL still king

• Rise of “radical” labor:– Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)– DeLeon, Debs, Haywood, Jones

Working Conditions

• Triangle Fire, 1911– 100+ women killed in NY City due to locked

exits and lack of fire escapes

• Triangle Fire investigative commission– Classic progressive tactic– Experts studied problem and made

recommendations– Frances Perkins

Federal Industrial Relations Commission, 1912

• Set up by federal government to investigate labor problems

• Investigated Ludlow Massacre of 1912– 13 women and children killed by strikebreakers

during strike at Rockefeller-owned company

Municipal Reform

• City Commissions, City Managers sought to alleviate corruption in city governments

State-Level Reform

• Most popular and successful for progressives

• Robert LaFollette’s “Wisconsin Idea”– Business regulation– Democratization of state government

Progressive Era Presidents

TRWilliam Howard Taft

Woodrow Wilson

TR as Progressive: Trust-Busting

• TR was the first president to take on trusts that he believed used unfair business practices.

• Use of Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

• Northern Securities Case of 1904 (J. P. Morgan)

TR as Progressive: Government Regulation

• An activist president in every way, TR believed in government regulation of business to promote the “public interest.”

• Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

TR as Progressive: Conservation• An ardent naturalist, TR moved to protect vast

swaths of the American West by creating numerous national forests and national monuments by executive order.

• His point-man on conservation issues was Chief of Forestry Gifford Pinchot.

Conservation Movement

Legendary conservationist John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892

Taft: Conservative or Progressive?

• While undoubtedly more conservative than TR, Taft was not without his progressive leanings.

• TR’s close friend and hand-picked successor

• Supported 16th Amendment

• busted trusts

The Republican Split: Taft v. TRThe Republican Split: Taft v. TR• Pinchot-Ballinger Affair

– Interior Secretary Ballinger sold off conservation lands, sparking a public feud with Chief of Forestry Pinchot

– Taft sided with Ballinger and fired Pinchot

– TR was incensed and generally disappointed with the more conservative values that Taft displayed as president.

Election of 1912Election of 1912

Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson

• Born in Staunton, VA• son of a Presbyterian minister• grew up in the South -- first So. Democrat elected

since Civil War• extremely well-educated: Princeton undergrad,

Ph. D. in Political History from Johns Hopkins• college professor, Princeton president• progressive governor of NJ

• Impressive list of legislation passed early in first term

• First graduated income tax• Clayton Anti-Trust Act• Federal Reserve Banking

System• Federal Trade Commission

(FTC)

Wilson’s Progressive Accomplishments

Wilson’s Progressive Accomplishments

Graduated Income TaxGraduated Income Tax

• Passed as a “rider” on Underwood Tariff bill (which lowered tariff rates)

• major part of progressive agenda!

Increased Federal Government Regulation of Business

Increased Federal Government Regulation of Business

• Clayton Anti-Trust Act– continued “trust-busting” tradition of

TR

– stronger than Sherman Act

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) replaced ICC– intended to enforce federal regulations

on interstate trade/commerce

– stronger, more effective than ICC

Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve System• national bank

• consisted of 12 Federal Reserve Banks, scattered across US

• governed by Federal Reserve Board appointed by the president

• took control of US money supply away from private bankers and placed it in the hands of the federal government

Wilson’s Less-than-Progressive Side

Wilson’s Less-than-Progressive Side

• Opposed woman suffrage for most of his presidency

• ardent segregationist– actually increased segregation in federal

facilities– made D. W. Griffith’s racist epic The Birth of a

Nation the first film ever screened at the White House (and enjoyed it)

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

• Work of renowned director D. W. Griffith

• glorified rise of Ku Klux Klan in post-Civil War south

• enormously popular

• helped spark a rebirth of the KKK

Progressive Amendments:16, 17, 18, 19

Progressive Amendments:16, 17, 18, 19