The Progressive movement (ca. 1900-1920) responded to an increasingly urban, corporate, and industrial American society, whose outlines alarmed the middle classes. In the view of reformers, political machines, ethnic enclaves, and social disorder threatened democracy and equality. Consequently, Progressives embarked on a drive to reform American life. Child labor laws, welfare benefits, factory inspections, restrictive immigration laws, Prohibition, trust-busting, and women's suffrage are just some examples of the contradictory yet historic reforms enacted by the Progressives. Historians view the American entry into the First World War as both the high point and the beginning of the end for the movement, but many Progressive impulses survived into the New Deal era. Help yourself & your classmates gain an even deeper understanding of the key aspects of this era by creating a study guide for your assigned topic. (16 points)
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States, become president after the assassination of William McKinley. He took a radically different stance on politics then his predecessor. Roosevelt went after big businesses and finally enforced the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. His reforms became known as the "Square Deal" because he pledged not to favor one side exclusively and it would be balanced on all sides, like a square. Unlike all the presidents before him, Roosevelt was surprisingly pro-Union. The first trust busting case also occurred during Roosevelt’s presidency. This was against Northern Securities Company, a railroad holding company. Roosevelt’s administration filed 43 suits against trusts and broke up monopolies during his presidency. Another part of the Square Deal involved consumer protection. Appalled by the unsanitary conditions of food plants and the dangers lurking in food, Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906. Federal regulation of the industry kept US citizens safer. Roosevelt was also the first president to conserve nature. His preservationist nature drove him to create the National Conservation Commission and set up national parks and monuments. Roosevelt’s famous “Speak softly and carry a big stick” quote summarizes his foreign policy. The Panama Canal was created under his guidance. It would shorten shipping routes and benefit the United States greatly. To get what he wanted, Roosevelt aided the Panamanians in revolting against the Columbians. The Roosevelt Corollary asserted that the United States should dominate South America. Also, it stated that any “chronic wrongdoing” by a country in South America would warrant US intervention. The Roosevelt Corollary furthers on the Monroe Doctrine, which warned Europe to stay out of Latin American affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe progressive era brought forth many significant changes to white Americans because it was a movement which primarily took place in white northern industrial cities. The needs of many African Americans needed to be addressed but was ignored and overlooked by the wants of the whites. The African Americans were unhappy with their lifestyles and the way they were being treated and their needs varied from wealth to education. The Southern African Americans had very little real wealth. Many African Americans were southern agricultural tenant farmers and others were just hired hands. Many who didn’t work remained in the south near their families and had very little opportunity of finding jobs that paid decent wages. Not only did blacks have to deal with being unemployed but they also had to deal with the social inequality taking place. The ruling out of the Plessy v. Ferguson court case is still in effect and the idea of “separate but equal” was taking place. At the time 90% of all African Americans lived in the south and also had to overcome the Jim Crow Laws which hindered Black Americans from getting ahead. This created a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages. Any accomplishments by blacks were looked down upon and considered inferior to those of whites. Many blacks were also being lynched by white mobs at the time. Between 1914 and 1916 more than one thousand blacks were lynched. Blacks not only had to deal the Jim Crow laws but also had to deal with an unfair education. Black schools were inferior to white schools and blacks were not receiving nearly as good of an education as whites were at the time. This was also a need that concerned many African Americans. A solution to many blacks was to migrate north. Many did but only found the same problems as they did in the south. Many African Americans couldn’t find jobs and the problems still existed in terms of education. Many African American reformers tried to change this. Some were Booker T. Washington, W.E.D DuBois, and Marcus Garvey. Washington believed black should not hate whites and blacks should just accept there inferior political positions. He wanted this because he believed economic equality could be achieved before political equality. He later founded the Tuskegee institute which was an all black farming college. DuBois disagreed with the beliefs of Washington and he believed black should never accept inequality. DuBois even blamed Washington for the creation of the black underclass. DuBois founded the NAACP which is still in effect today. Garvey disagreed with both Washington and DuBois. He believed that blacks were unwanted in America and believed blacks would never achieve social inequality. Garvey influenced the formation of the nation of Liberia in Africa. This was a nation of escaped slaves and African Americans who migrated to Africa. During the progressive era, the fight for social inequality was present and some movements were successful like the NAACP which is still in effect and others were not as successful.
ReplyDelete-DOM-
Settlement Houses- young, idealistic, and well-educated middle class women and men moved into immigrant neighborhoods to learn about the problems of immigrant families first hand
ReplyDeleteoHoped to relieve effects of poverty by providing social services for people in the ghetto
oMost famous experiment= Hull House in Chicago (started by Jane Addams in 1889)
-Hull House promoted Women’s rights and social reform
oSettlement houses taught English to immigrants, gave children education, taught the arts and established theaters and music schools
oSettlement workers were the foundation for social workers
oFrances Perkins and Harry Hopkins (settlement workers) went on to leadership roles in President Roosevelt’s reform program (the New Deal in the 1930s)
The socialist party, which originated as the Socialist Labor Party, can be considered a group of radical progressives. Taking up momentum in the beginning of the 1900's the party was mostly made up of the middle working class. The Socialist party can be thought of as a radical version of the progressives. They were in favor of all the things progressives were as well as other radical reforms such as public ownership of major companies like steel, oil, utilities (i.e. electricity) but mostly railroads. The socialist party favored the idea that the people would own corporations together, not just one person who controls all the wealth. This way manipulation of workers wouldn't be an issue because everyone would essentially be there own boss in a sense. One of the founders and main leaders of the socialist party was Eugene V. Debs, a former railway union leader. Debs ran for president under the socialist 5 times, and in once case won 6% of the votes, a large turnout for a 3rd party. Debs and the party focused on issues such as workers pension, in order to improve the quality of the working mans life, an 8 hour work day, and minimum wage laws. The socialist never gained too much momentum because for the most part progressives distanced themselves from the socialists because of the fact that most voters were in favor for mild reform, not the extreme reform that the socialists stood on. Voters had a hard time voting for public ownership of utilities, an 8 hour work day, and employee pension, and as a result the Socialists weren't able to truly rise in America.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Gospel--
ReplyDeleteDuring the progressive era and during the 1880s and 90s, there was an awakening of reform due to the huge gaps between classes and the conditions that each class lived and worked in. The Social Gospel was just one of the many attempts to address the urban problems. The Social Gospel was a belief preached by Protestant clergymen where the importance of applying Christian principles to social issues was demonstrated. Walter Rauschenbusch, a New York minister was the leader of the Social Gospel, writing several books and trying to spread his ideas to other organized religions. His preaching encouraged many middle class Protestants to be aware of and attack urban problems. As for the progressive era, we already know that Americans who were aware of how their country was rapidly changing had new motives and attitudes to extend those changes.The Social Gospel was just one of the extremely important elements for the progressives in changing what was around them.
-Julia Coash
William H. Taft was the 27th President of the United States. After easily winning his election in 1909, Taft addressed some important domestic issues. One issue was ratifying the 16th Amendment, Taft felt that the addition of the amendment would allow congress to regulate and levy income taxes easier, without the need for any census or state to intervene. With the 1909 tax debate brewing Taft felt that it was necessary for congress to levy income taxes on corporations, so right before Taft presidency ended, the amendment was passed. Before his departure Taft also attacked other domestic issues such as trust busting. Taft wanted to limit the power of corporations over the consumers of the US market, by regulating anti-competitive conduct. Taft had a different drive towards foreign policy, as it is also referred to as his “Dollar Diplomacy”. Taft was mildly an expansionist, but he required the dollars of investors rather than using warfare. He focused on China and Central America, as he believed that private American financial investments would help stabilize them. Doing this would also promote business interests in the US, Taft first utilized this foreign policy when he got US bankers to invest in the construction of railroads in China. It was also used in Nicaragua, to help settle what was viewing to become a civil war, as Taft sent marines in to help protect American investments. Overall, William Taft served his presidency in hopes that his domestic solutions would resolve conflict over taxes and corporate regulation, and his foreign solutions would strengthen America’s financials internationally.
ReplyDelete*Stephen Cirillo*
The 28th president and winner of the 1912 election, democratic Woodrow Wilson provided some progressive ideals such as trying to keep the US out of WW1, reducing the tariff so the middle-class could afford the prices, and reforming the federal bank. He created the Federal Reserve which in turn made the banking system the way it is today. He is considered to be one of the best presidents primarily because of all the reform he promoted. His New Freedom program included giving slightly more rights for unions and eliminating monopolies, the Federal Farm Loan Act which helped farmers with debts, and tried to prevent child labor. Industry and economic reform were present from the start of his term and he along with others sparked this era. He, however, did not extend progressive social reform for African-Americans. Being Southern he did not address the segregation issue since there were more ‘pressing’ problems. He helped led America out of the Gilded Age of political corruption and other issues into women suffrage with the 19th amendment and his 14 points plan which had dealt with the end of the war and trying to establish a League of Nations. The Zimmerman Telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania also sunk Wilson’s policy of neutrality when Congress had voted for war.
ReplyDeleteWomen suffrage
ReplyDeleteDuring the Progressive era..
- Women demanded the right to vote
- Political, economic equality and social reforms
- Women employment rate in 1910 was 7.8 million (most of them had jobs of domestic servants, men still had the major jobs)
- They gained the right to control their earnings, own property
- Made social reforms, clubs and orginizations were formed
- Women were able to do these reforms because they were being provided with education and they had free time
Farhan Nasim
The progressive era had both a positive effect and negative effect on labor conditions.
ReplyDeletePositive
-started factory inspections
-quell hazardous working conditions
-raised wages imperceptibility
-new labor federations were created
-progressives tried to make working conditions suitable for women and children
- creation of a state commission to study the origins of the fire and the condition of the industrial workplace
-limit working women's maximum hours on the job, as well as a child labor law
-restrictions on factory owners and provide means of enforcement for the new labor legislation
-safety utilities in workshops/factories
-multiple escape routes in factories including windows and escape hatches.
Negative
-still long work hours
-intense manual labor
-low pay, many workers are still poor
-women had to raise children and work
-child labor continued
-abuses of the capitalist system
-strict management continued, owners set rules and quotas
-corruption in the government prolonged, favoring big business
-Indians and Africans were still discriminated in workshops
Important people that helped reform labor conditions:
Samuel Gompers- American Federation of Labor
Eugene Debs- American Socialist Party
Bill Haywood-“the Wobblies”
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn-American Civil Liberties Union
**DEAN**