APUSH Chapter 28
What was dollar diplomacy and how was it practiced?
A policy which called for Wall Street bankers to sluice their surplus dollars into foreign areas of strategic concern to the US, especially in the Far East and in the regions critical to the security of the Panama Canal. Taft, seeing a possible triangulation of Chinese economic interests, had Secretary of State Philander C. Knox propose that a group of American and foreign bankers buy the railroads and turn them over to China.Taft also pumped US dollars into Honduras and Haiti, while in Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, American forces were brought in to restore order and protect American investment.
Seventeenth Amendment
Approved in 1913, established the direct election of US senators.
What were the goals of the Progressives?
Before the first decade of the 20th century, the US would be influenced by a "progressive movement" that fought against monopolies, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice. The purpose of the Progressives to use the government as an agency of human welfare.
"William Howard Taft was less suited for the presidency than he appeared to be." Explain.
He was fat, jovial, graduated second in his class at Yale, had an enviable reputation as a judge and a lawyer, and was a trusted administrator of Roosevelt's, but he had none of the arts of a dashing political leader, was passive to Congress, did not take criticism well, and he was more wedded to status quo than to change.
Square Deal
The principle of Theodore Roosevelt's program that embraced three c's: control of the corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources.
The Jungle
A 1906 novel published by Upton Sinclair designed to call attention to the plight of the workers in the big canning factories. However its effect was to cause public outcry against unsanitary food canning factories.
Initiative/ Referendum/ Recall
A progressive reform measure allowing voters to petition to have a law placed on the general ballot. Like the referendum and recall, it brought democracy directly "to the people," and helped foster a shift toward interest-group politics and away from old political "machines".
Forest Reserve Act
(1891) Authorizing the president to set aside public forests as national parks and other reserves for the public goof. 46 million acres of magnificent trees were rescued from the luberman's saw in the 1890s.
Elkins Act
(1903) Law passed by Congress to impose penalties on railroads that offered rebates and customers who accepted them. The law strengthened the interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The Hepburn Act of 1906 added free passes to the list of railroad no-no's.
Lochner v. New York
(1905) A setback for labor reformers, this 1905 supreme court decision invalidated a state law establishing a 10-hour day for bakers. It held that the 'right to free contact' was implicit in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Social Gospel
A reform movement led by Protestant ministers who used religious doctrine to demand better housing and living conditions for the urban poor. Popular at the turn of the 20th, it was closely linked to the settlement of house movement, which brought middle class, Anglo-American service volunteers into contact with immigrants and working people.
Pure Drug and Food Act
(1906) A law passed by Congress to inspect and regulate the labeling of all foods and pharmaceuticals intended for human consumption. This legislation, and additional provision passed in 1911 to strengthen it, aimed particularly at the patent medicine industry. The more comprehensive Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 largely replaced this legislation.
Meat Inspection Act
(1906) A law passed by Congress to subject meat shipped over state lines to federal inspection. The publication of Upton Sinclair's novel, 'The Jungle,' earlier that year so disgusted American consumers with its description of conditions in slaughterhouses and meat packing plants that it mobilized public support for government action.
Australian Ballot
A system that allows voters privacy in marketing their ballot choices. Developed in Australia in the 1850s, it was intro. to the US during the progressive era to help counteract boss rule.
Hepburn Act
(1906) Strengthened existing rail road regulations by: 1) increasing the size of interstate commerce commission to 7 members. 2) gave the ICC the power to establish maximum rates. 3) restricted the use of free passes. 4) brought other common carriers such as terminals, storage facilities, pipelines, ferries and others under ICC jurisdiction. 5) required the adoption of uniform accounting practices for all carriers. 6) place the burden of proof on the shippers not the UCC in disputes.
Muller v. Oregon
(1908) A landmark Supreme court case in which crusading attorney (and future Supreme Court justice) Louis D. Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of limiting the house of women workers. Coming on the heels of Lochner v. New York, it established a standard for male and female workers.
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
(1909) While intended to lower tariff rates, this bill was eventually revised beyond all recognition, retaining high rates on most imports. President Taft angered the progressive wing of his party when he declared it "the best bill that the Republican party ever passed."
Newlands Act
Authorized to collect money from the sale of public lands in the sunbaked western states and then use these funds for the development of irrigation projects. Settlers repaid the cost of reclamation from their now-productive soil, and the money was put into a revolving fund to finance more such enterprises. The result was dozens of dams thrown across virtually every major western River in the west.
Muckrackers
Bright young reporters at the turn of the 20th who wont this unfavorable moniker from Theodore Roosevelt, but boosted the circulations of their magazines by writing exposes of widespread corruption in American society. Their subjects included business manipulation of gov., included business manipulation of gov., white slavers, child labor, and the illegal deeds of the trusts, and helped spur the passage of reform legislation.
Jacob Riis
Danish immigrant, a reported for the New York sun, shocked middle-class American in the 1890 with how the other half lives. His account was a damning indictment of the dirt, disease, vice and misery of the rat gnawed human rookeries known as New York slums. The book deeply influenced a future N.Y.C police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt.
Assess the following statement, "Teddy Roosevelt's reputation as a trustbuster is undeserved."
He understood the political popularity of monopoly-smashing, but did not consider it a sound economic policy. He did not want to punish the trusts for their economic success, so he made his purpose symbolic. He wanted to prove that the government, not private business, ruled the country. He did not come down on trusts as hard as he could have.
What was the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency?
He was to be known as the president to tame capitalism giving it a long adult life, with enthusiasm and perpetual youthfulness, that strenuously sought the middle road between unbridled individualism and paternalistic collectivism, and, most of all, the president that started a conservation crusade.
Why did the Progressive wing of the Republican Party split at the party's 1912 convention?
In 1911, the National Progressive Republican League, was formed, with LaFollette as its leader, but in February 1912, Roosevelt began writing to state governors that he was willing to accept the Republican nomination. Roosevelt for with seized the Progressive banner pushing LaFollette aside.
Who deserves the nickname, "Trustbuster," Roosevelt or Taft?
In his four years of office, Taft brought 90 suits against trusts. In his seven and a half years in office. Roosevelt brought 44 suits against trusts. In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company. After Taft tried to break apart US Steel despite Roosevelt being personally involved in one of the mergers that erupted the suit, Taft increasingly became Roosevelt's antagonist.
What was the effects of Upton Sinclair's book, 'The Jungle'?
It enlightened the American public to the disgustingly unsanitary food products in the big canning factories.
What factors led Americans to take an active interest in conservation?
Roosevelt, convinced by the actions other conservationists like Gifford Pinchot, head of the federal Division of Forestry, convinced Congress to pass the Newlands Act. He pined the preserve the nation's shrinking forests by setting aside 125 million acres of coal deposits, and he earmarked water resources for irrigation and power.
Triangle Shirtwaist Company
Shirt factory in NYC that had locked doors and other flagrant violations of the fire code turned the factory into a death trap when it caught on fire in 1911. 146 women burned to death. The tragedy led to public outcry and a strike led the NY legislature to pass much stronger laws regulating the hours and conditions of sweatshop toil.
Why did the Progressive wing of the Republican Party turn against Taft?
Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Bill, thus betraying his campaign promises and outraging the progressive wing in his party. Taft rubbed salt in the wound by proclaiming it "the best bill that the Republican party ever passed."
Define each of the major political reforms that progressives desired.
The Progressives favored the "initiative" so that voters could directly propose legislation, the "referendum" so that the people could vote on laws that affected them, and the "recall" to remove bad officials from office. They also wanted to root out graft, using a secret Sustralian ballot to counteract boss rule, and have direct election of the US senators to stop corruption.
What were the results of the Roosevelt Panic of 1907?
The panic paved the way for long-overdue fiscal reformers and Congress, in 1908, passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act in response to the hard pressed banks being unable to increase the volume of money in circulation.
What were the three C's of the Square Deal?
They were get control of the corporations, consumer protection, and the conservation of the US natural resources.
how successful were Progressives in combating social ills?
They were successful. Progressives made major improvements in the fight against child labor. The landmark case of Muller vs. Oregon found attorney Louis D. Brandeis persuading the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of laws that protected women workers. Anti-Liquor organizations like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded by Frances E. Willard, and the Anti-Saloon League were formed. Finally, in 1919, the 18th amendment prohibited the sale and drinking of alcohol.
What changes did progressives make at the city and state level?
Progressives in Galveston, TX either used, for the first time, expert-staffed commissions to manage urban affairs or the municipal administration. Urban reformers attacked the "slumlords" juvenile delinquency, and wide open prostitution. In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette wrestled control from the crooked corporations and returned power to the people. Under the leadership of Governor Hiram W. Johnson, other states also took to regulate railroads and trusts, such as Oregon and California. Charles Evans Hughes, governor of New York, gained fame by investigating the malpractices of gas and insurance companies.
Suffragists
Progressives who championed the vote for women. They cried: 'votes for women' and 'equal suffrage for men and women.' It was said that a suffragist was 'one who has ceased to be a lady and has not yet become a gentleman!'
What issues were addressed by the major muchrakers?
Lincoln Steffens unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and the government. Ida M. Tarbell published an expose amassing of American fortunes. David G. Phillips charged that 75 of the 90 US senators did not represent the people, but actually the railroads and trusts. Ray Stannard Baker said that 90% of America's 9 million blacks still lived in the South, and that a third of them were illiterate. John Spargo brought the abuses of child labor to light. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley exposed the frauds that sold potent patent medicines by experimenting on himself.
Progressives
Members of a reform movement. They were against monopoly, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice. Their purpose was, "to use government as an agency of human welfare." The cure for the ills of American democracy, they earnestly believed, was more democracy.
Dollar Diplomacy
Name applied by President Taft's critics to the policy of supporting US investment and political interest abroad. First applied to the financing of railways in China after 1909, the policy then spread to Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua. President Woodrow Wilson disavowed the practice, but his administration undertook comparable acts of intervention in support of US business interests, especially in Latin America.
