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
