1. PROGRESSIVISM AND THE
REPUBLICAN ROOSEVELT
Chapter 28

2. The Progressive Era
Four Goals of
Progressivism
• Protecting social
welfare
– YMCA
– Salvation Army
– Florence Kelly:
improving women's
and children's lives.
• Promoting Moral
Improvement:
Prohibition, W.C.T.U.

3. PROGRESSIVE ROOTS


By 1900 America was faced with social
problems that had been mounting for 30 years
but had not been affectively addressed.
The nation was gripped by a reform movement
called Progressivism.


Biggest period of reform since the 1840s.
It waged war on many social evils including
monopolies, corruption in government, inefficiency,
social injustice and irresponsible corporations.

4. Progressivism
 The heart of progressive movement:


Belief that government should be
strengthened so that it could act aggressively
to tackle social ills.
Government could be an instrument of
positive good
 Basic prescription: use government as an
agency of human welfare.
 At heart, a rejection of Laissez Faire

5. Roots of Progressivism

Pressure came from a number of different
groups:




Socialists from Europe—start to gain strength in US
Christians preaching Social Gospel—focused on the
needs of the poor and the workers at the mercy of
corporations.
Feminists—suffrage movement included social justice
in their call for reform because women were often
those who suffered the most.
Urban pioneers exposing corruption of cities and
working conditions of children and women.

6. MUCKRAKERS/Progressives:
Combat problems of Industrialization
• Ida Tarbel:
•
•
•
•
History of The
Standard Oil Trust
Robert LaFollette: wanted to
expand and reform democracy
John Muir: preservation of
nature
Jacob Riis: photographed
working and living conditions of
the poor.
Upton Sinclair: The Jungle
exposed the sickening
conditions of the Chicago meatpacking industry.

7. Muckrakers






Magazines and Newspapers
began to compete with each
other to expose evil and
corruption
Purpose?
TR dubs Muckrakers. Why?
Lincoln Steffens—Shame in
the Cities
Ida Tarbell—expose of
Standard Oil
David Phillips—The Treason
of the

8. • Creating Economic Reform
Eugene Debbs
Muckrakers
Ida Tarbell

9. Muckraking Targets











Malpractice of life insurance
company
tariff lobbies
beef trust
money trust
railroad barons
White slave traffic in women
Slums
High rate of industrial accidents
Child labor
Plight of blacks in the south
Adulterated Patent Medicine

10. Goals of Muckrakers




Was out-pouring of national criticism and
exposure of ways in which the system was
broken.
Articles had a profound impact on the nation
Like progressives in general, these articles were
long on complaint but short on solutions.
They sought not to overthrow capitalism, but to
cleanse it to cure the ills of American
democracy.

11. Progressives in the Middle
 Were mainly middle-class

What pressures did middle class feel.
 Curbing capitalism; insulation against
socialism.
 Progressives crossed party boundaries,
existed in all regions and at all levels of
government.
 Is reform from those in the middle

12. Goals of Progressives

Regain the power that had slipped from the hands of the
people into the hands of the special interest. Thus,
pushed for:





primary elections.
initiatives
referendum
recalls, allowing voters to remove candidates who were
screwing up.
Another objective was rooting out corruption.



corrupt practices acts.
secret ballot
direct election of US senators.
• This eventually passes as the 17th Amendment.

Woman’s suffrage.

13. Progressivism In The Cities And States




Progressives scored their biggest
victories at the State and City level.
City commission form of
government --Galveston Texas.
Urban reformers
Wisconsin a test lab for progressive
proposals.




Gov. Robert La Follette.
Oregon.
Hiram Johnson in California
Charles Evans Hughes in New York.

14. Cleaning up
Local
Government
Reforming Local Government
natural disasters/city
managers
reform mayors
Reform at
state level
Robert La Follette

15. Progressive Women




Settlement House
movement
Social Clubs.
“Women’s issues”
Sweat shops.



Triangle Shirt Waste Fire
Muller v. Oregon
Lochner v. New York

17. Triangle Shirt Waist Factory
Fire

20. Temperance Movement


Temperance movement
Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union :Frances Willard.



one million members.
Some states and counties
passed laws controlling,
restricting or banning liquor.
The big cities generally stay wet.

Why?

21. The Progressive Era
Four Goals of
Progressivism
• Protecting social
welfare
– YMCA
– Salvation Army
– Florence Kelly:
improving women's
and children's lives.
• Promoting Moral
Improvement:
Prohibition, W.C.T.U.

22. Women in Work
Force
Farm Women
Women in
Industry
Domestic Workers

23. TR’s Square Deal For Labor




Roosevelt a progressive.
Demanded a “Square Deal” for capital, labor and the
public.
Believed the government should uphold the public
interest.
He pushed control of three Cs:




Intervened in the coal strike of 1902.



corporations,
consumer protection
conservation of natural resources.
Significance
Department of Commerce and Labor 1903.
Bureau of Corporations

24. A Rough Riding
President
“Trust Buster”- President
Teddy Roosevelt
Accepted BIG BUSINESS
but regulated business that
abused their power.
Roosevelt's Rise:
Wealthy
Sickly as a child
Outdoorsman
Harvard Graduate
Rough rider war of 1898
Modern Presidency
Used presidents office
as a “BULLEY PULPET”. Promised
Americans a “SQUARE DEAL”

25. TR Corrals The Corporations





RR monster still largely
untouched.
Interstate Commerce Commission
was largely ineffective.
Elkins Act of 1903
Hepburn Act of 1906
Interstate Commerce Commission
given new teeth.

jurisdiction expanded; allowed to set
maximum rates and nullify existing
rates.

26. Using Federal Power
Trust-busting
1902 Coal Strike
government enforced
and strengthened
Sherman Anti-Trust
Act
Coal running low
after 5 month strike
Roosevelt intervenes
and sides with
strikers
Strike threatens
public safetyintervention
Railroad Regulation
Strengthened I.C.C.

27. TR Trust Busting


Northern Securities Co.
case.
Under TR the Justice
Department initiated over 40
anti-trust suits.



Targets
Roosevelt’s exaggerated rep
as a trust-buster
Roosevelt’s goal and
philosophy in busting trusts?

29. Caring For The Consumer




TR backed legislation
protecting against
adulterated and
mislabeled food.
1906 Upton Sinclair The
Jungle
Meat Inspection Act of
1906
Pure Food and Drug Act
of 1906

30. "There would be meat stored in
great piles in rooms; and the water
from leaky roofs would drip over it,
and thousands of rats would race
about on it. It was too dark in these
storage places to see well, but a
man could run his a hand over these
piles of meat and sweep
off handfuls of the dried dung of
rats. These rats were nuisances, and
the packers would put poisoned
bread out for them; they would die,
and then rats, bread, and meat
would go into the hoppers
together."

31. Roosevelt and Conservation
Earth Control

32. Yosemite National Park
Conservation measures
set aside millions of acres
John Muir:
preservationist
appointed Gifford Pinchot U.S. Forest
service
CONSERVATIONIST: Use some land
common good

33. Earth Control



Americans using up natural resources
Corporations hungry to exploit resources.
Conservation and naturalist movement started
before TR president.





Desert Land Act of 1877.
Forest Reserve Act of 1891
TR gave the movement a huge kick in the pants
Newlands Act of 1902
Roosevelt set aside vast tracts of forests to
prevent logging on it.

34. Roosevelt Emboldens Enemies


Roosevelt is easily elected in
his own right in 1904.
TR’s big mistake:



announces that he will not run
for a “Third” term.
Makes him a Lame Duck
Emboldens the conservative
wing.

35. Roosevelt Panic Of 1907
 Sharp but short-lived panic on Wall Street
in 1907.
 Why do conservatives blame TR?.
 TR lashes back hard. What does he say?
 Causes of panic
 Aldrich-Vreelant Act
 Sets the stage for Federal Reserve Act of
1913.

36. Booker T
Washington
(Tuskegee Institute)
Vs.
W.E.B.
Du Bois
1905 Niagara fall
conference
1909 creation
of
National
Association
for the
Advancement of
Colored
People
(NAACP)
Roosevelt and Civil
Rights

37. The Rough Rider Thunders Out





Roosevelt used his political
clout to engineer nomination of
Taft in 1908
Taft platform.
Dems nominate Bryan. His
theme?
Taft wins easily.
Socialists manage nearly a
half-million votes

38. Contributions of TR





Enlarged the power and prestige
of the presidency
Began the process of taming
capitalism ensuring that it would
survive rather than being
replaced.
Developed technique of using
publicity as a political weapon
Helped shape the progressive
movement and to lay the groundwork for later liberal reforms
Opened Americans, eyes to world
affairs and America’s role and
potential influence on world
events.

39. Taft: A Round Peg In A Square Hole



Taft was initially very
popular.
He was quite
qualified.
Taft has Van Buren
problem:

40. Taft Stumbles
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
tariffs opposed by progressives
Public lands lead to dispute
within administration

41. Taft




Taft was passive, comfortable
with the status quo and not a
strong leader.
Poor judge of public opinion;
Foot-in-mouth disease.
Passive toward Congress

42. Dollar Diplomacy





What is dollar diplomacy?
What is the goal?
Leads to much investment in Caribbean,
Causes US entanglement in these countries
US Marines land in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras
and the Dominican Republic to restore order and
to protect US investments.

Continues the distrust of Caribbean and Central
American countries toward US.

43. The United States in the Caribbean

44. Taft The Trustbuster
 Taft brought antitrust suits at nearly four
times the rate of TR. 90 in his 4-year
term.
 Sup. Ct. decision in Standard Oil case,



rule of reason
Only “unreasonable” restraints of trade were
illegal.
Created a huge hole in fed’s anti-trust net.
 Taft also went after US Steel,

Angered TR.

45. TR Busts Taft
 TR increasingly annoyed with Taft


TR expected and wanted Taft to be
progressive in his mold.
TR was not ready to leave the stage.
 TR moving from Taft’s mentor to his
antagonist.
 The progressive wing longed for the return
of TR.

46. Taft Splits The Republican Party
 Lower tariff one of the primary progressive
aims; viewed as the mother of all Trusts.
 Payne-Aldrich Bill.


Taft: the “best bill ever passed by the party.”
Reactions of progressive wing.
 Gifford Pinchot.

47. Republican Split



By 1910 the progressive wing of
Republican party moving into open
revolt
Taft being pushed into the camp of
the conservatives.
Osawatomie, Kansas, speech


Doctrine of “New Nationalism”
Mid-term elections.

48. The Republican Party Splits
Problems with in the republican party. Democrats take control of the House
in 1910 mid term election

49. The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture






National Progressive Republican
League; LaFollette at the head.
TR lets it be known that he will accept
a third term if nominated by
Republicans.
He seizes the progressive banner.
Wins a number of the new primaries
TR is more popular with voters, but
doesn’t win the nomination. Why?
Roosevelt outraged. What does he
do in response?