The Progressive Era

1. The Progressive Era

2. Overview • Late 1890s-1920s • Period of social activism and political reform • Main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government • Attempt to eliminate corruption by exposing political machines and bosses • A second goal was achieving efficiency in public and private sectors by identifying old ways that needed modernizing • Early on, the movement operated mostly at local levels • Later it expanded to state and national levels • Supporters of Progressive politicians included the middle class (lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers and business people)

3. William McKinley • 25th President (March 1897-Sept 1901) • 3rd President to be assassinated • Commander-in-Chief during the Spanish-American War • Foreign policy issues during his presidency paved the way for the U.S. becoming a world power • Shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz on Sept 6 and dies on Sept 14th

4. William McKinley 25th President 3rd President to be assassinated

5. Leon Czolgosz Executed October 29, 1901 by electric chair

6. Spanish-American War • Main issue was Cuban independence from Spain • American public opinion grew angrier at reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba • February 15, 1898: • Battleship, USS Maine, sent to protect U.S. interests in Cuba: • Explodes in Havana Harbor killing 261 sailors • “Yellow Press” introduced by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer: • Journalism using little or no legitimate facts but presents exaggeration and sensationalism to sell more papers • “Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain” • Spain declares war on the U.S. April 23, 1898 U. S. declares war on April 25, 1898

10. William Randolph Hearst

14. Spanish-American War Cont. • May 1, 1898, Battle of Manila Bay (Philippines) • Commodore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet • July 1, 1898, Battle of San Juan Hill (Cuba) • Victory for Teddy Roosevelt and the “Rough Riders” • Fighting ends on August 12, 1898 • Treaty of Paris signed on December 10, 1898

15. Commodore George Dewey

17. Effects of the Span-Am War • Temporary American control of Cuba: • Teller Amendment was passed prior to the war which promised Cuban independence (anti-imperialists) • Platt Amendment was passed which prohibited Cuba from signing treaties with other countries (imperialists) • After purchase from Spain, U.S. obtained indefinite colonial authority over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. (20 million dollars) • Hawaii annexed by the U.S. in June 1898 • The war marks the beginning of the U.S. in world affairs • Marked the end of the Spanish Empire

18. Progressive Era Politicians • Theodore Roosevelt • Assistant Secretary of the Navy (April 1897-May 1898) • Governor of New York (January 1899 – December 1900) • Vice President under McKinley (March 1901-Sept 1901) • 26th President of the U.S. (Sept 1901-March 1909) • Leader of the Republican Party • Founder of the “Bull-Moose Party” (Progressive Party) for the 1912 election • Won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War, 1st American to win the prize in any area

19. Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the U.S. “Speak softly but carry a big stick”

21. T.R.’s Square Deal • Roosevelt’s domestic agenda • Three basic ideas: • 1. Conservation of natural resources • 2. Control of corporations • 3. Consumer protection • Overall, designed to help the middle class

22. Newlands Reclamation Act • United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. • The act set aside money from sales of semi-arid public lands for the construction and maintenance of irrigation projects • Led to the eventual damming of nearly every major western river.

23. T.R. and National Parks • Signed legislation establishing five national parks: • Crater Lake, Oregon • Wind Cave, South Dakota • Sullys Hill, North Dakota (now a game preserve); • Mesa Verde, Colorado • Platt, Oklahoma (now part of Chickasaw National Recreation Area) • Proclaimed four national monuments: • Devils Tower, Wyoming • El Morro, New Mexico • Montezuma Castle, Arizona • Petrified Forest, Arizona

28. T.R. and Big Business • T.R. was considered a “trust-buster” due to his aggressive attacks on large corporations known as trusts • Sherman Antitrust Act: • Passed by Congress in 1890 • It was intended to prohibit business practices that reduced competition in the marketplace • It was the first federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies • Until the presidency of T.R., politicians were unwilling to use the law

30. Trust busting cont. • Roosevelt opposed banning monopolies • He wanted the federal government to “assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business.” • 1902-T.R. brings suit against Northern Securities Company which controlled all major railroads in the northwestern states (J.P. Morgan) • Morgan lost in the lower courts and took his case to the Supreme Court that ruled against the railroads • The Court ordered the breakup of Northern Securities into independent competitive railroads

31. Trust busting cont. • 1906- Hepburn Act signed which gives the Interstate Commerce Commission power to regulate railroad rates • 1906- T.R. files suit against J.D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil • Standard Oil ordered broken up • 1907- T.R. files suit against American Tobacco Company • ATC is broken up into 4 companies • T.R. recognized a difference between “good trusts” and “bad trusts” • He believed that “good trusts” benefited the public with efficient distribution of new products. • It was his decision to determine the difference between good or bad trusts

32. T.R. and Consumers • 1906: “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair • Exposed the corruption of the American meat packing industry • Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 • Provided federal inspection of meat products and prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines

33. Muckrakers • Term made popular by T.R. • Journalists who exposed waste, corruption, and scandal • Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained they were not being helpful by raking up all the muck • Ida Tarbell: • Known as one of the leading "muckrakers" of the progressive era • Best known for her 1904 book The History of the Standard Oil Company • First woman to challenge Standard Oil

34. Ida Tarbell

35. Robert M. La Follette, Sr. • Republican and later a Progressive politician • Member of the U.S. House of Representatives • Governor of Wisconsin • U.S. Senator from Wisconsin • Considered the most important and recognized leader of the opposition to the growing dominance of corporations over the Government • Tied for first with Henry Clay as being in the top ten senators in American history

36. Robert La Follette

37. William Jennings Bryan • Democrat • Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson • Presidential candidate for Democratic Party 1896, 1900, and 1908 • Advocate of trust busting • Opponent of Darwinism (Theory of Evolution) • Lobbied for state laws banning public schools from teaching evolution • Involved in the “Scopes Monkey” Trial of 1925 • Known as the “Great Commoner” because of Christian values

38. William Jennings Bryan

39. Progressive Era Amendments • 16th Amendment ratified Feb. 1913: • Allows Congress to levy an income tax • 17th Amendment ratified May 1913: • Direct election of senators by the people • 18th Amendment ratified Jan 1919: • AKA Volstead Act • Outlawed manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol which started the era known as “Prohibition” • 19th Amendment ratified Aug. 1920 • Gave women the right to vote

40. Direct Democracy • Initiative: • Piece of legislation proposed by any citizen THEN: • Circulated through a petition phase to qualify for the ballot • If it receives a statutory minimum number of valid signatures it qualifies for the ballot and is then put to the vote • Referendum: • Petition from citizens to seek an election to put legislation that has passed the executive and legislature up to a vote • Provides a form of citizen veto for legislation • Recall: • Process by which the people seek to remove a elected official from office.

42. Election of 1908 • T.R. decides not to run but had handpicked his successor: • William Howard Taft (T.R.’s Secretary of War) • Easily wins the election based on the popularity of T.R. • Continued with agenda of T.R.(Trust busting, etc) • “Dollar Diplomacy”: • Effort of the United States under President Taft to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries • Extension of T.R.’s “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine: • “If any nation in the Western Hemisphere appeared politically and financially so unstable as to be vulnerable to European control, the United States had the right and obligation to intervene.”

43. William Howard Taft 27th President of the U.S. After presidency, serves as the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

46. Election of 1912 • T.R. decides to run again but does not get the Republican nomination • Remains with Taft • T.R. forms the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party) • Other candidates include: • Woodrow Wilson from the Democratic Party • Eugene Debs from the Socialist Party • Election won by Woodrow Wilson • Last election in which a candidate who was not a Republican or Democrat came second in either the popular vote or the Electoral College • First election in which all 48 states of the contiguous United States participated.

49. Woodrow Wilson 28th President Governor of New Jersey President of Princeton University

50. Wilson as President • Continues with progressive reforms • Federal Reserve is established: • Known as today “The Fed” • Created on Dec. 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act • Central banking system of the U.S. • Originally, three key objectives for monetary policy: • maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates • Events such as the Great Depression were major factors leading to changes in the system