The Progressive Era
KEY TO ORGANIZE FLASHCARDS
*Vocab **Acts/Laws ***People ****Lists
****List: Political progressive accomplishments.
-"Progressive Presidents" Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson -Prevent voter fraud (adding fake names on list of candidates) and voter intimidation -Socialist party (formed by Eugene Debs of ARU) -Direct primary (choosing candidates to represent the party) -Allows you to narrow down leaders -Citizens can initiate new laws, then referendum to vote on laws, then recall (to vote out a politician) -To give better representation and power to the people -Direct election of Senators by the people choosing (17th Amendment) instead of state legislators -Women's suffrage laws -Banning of alcohol -Immigration restriction
****List: Tactics used to move toward the 19th Amendment.
-1869~ Wyoming Territory granted women right to vote -1878~ NWSA and collective suffrage movement had enough influence to lobby the US Congress for a constitutional amendment -When the proposal reached the Senate floor (1886), it was defeated -NAWSA lobbied for women's voting rights on a state-by- state basis (slow, deliberate) -Non-aggressive actions to not make people too upset -March for Wilson's Inauguration~ protesters thronged a massive suffrage parade in nation's capital -NWP wanted a constitutional amendment -Staged demonstrations (picketed the White House) -Lobbied (lawyers convince the Senate to vote a certain way on national laws) -Wilson tied the proposed amendment to the increased role women played in the war efforts in World War I -His proposal failed in Senate by two votes
***Who was: Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.
-26th president of the US -Made many accomplishments for health and environment -Made many accomplishments using Federal Power
***Who was: President Woodrow Wilson.
-28th president of the US -Had many federal reserve accomplishments, and progressive Antitrust and Tax accomplishments
**Define: Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.
-400 cease-and-desist orders to companies engaged in illegal activity -"Watchdog agency"
*Define: Prohibition.
-A nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages -Progressives applied religious values to prohibit alcohol
*Define: Industrial Age.
-A period of history that encompasses the changes in economic and social organization -The replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines such as the power loom and steam engine
*Define: Progressive Era.
-A period of widespread social activism and political reform across the US -Goal: to eliminate corruption in government -Primarily targeted political machines and their bosses
*Define: Political machine.
-A political group in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses (usually campaign workers) -Receive rewards for their efforts -The only welfare system for immigrants
*Define: Social Gospel Movement.
-A religious movement -Progressives used Christianity to solve social problems -Goal: to make the Christian churches more responsive to social problems, such as poverty and prostitution -Ex: prohibition
*Define: Hull House.
-A settlement house aimed at reducing poverty by providing social services and education to work class, immigrants, and laborers -Co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams -Open to recently-arrived European immigrants -Provided education, art, ethics, religion, job training, daycare, etc -2,000 people visited it weekly
****List: State reforms.
-Abolished unsafe working conditions -Workers' compensation for workers injured on the job -Labor laws for working women and children -Maximum wage for women (eventually for all) -Compulsory (obligated) education because children were no longer able to work -Social benefits (widows' pensions) -Pension for state workers -Direct primaries -Initiative, referendum, and recall (you can vote someone out of office)
***Who was: Florence Kelley.
-Advocate for improving the lives of women and children -Famous leader of the Social Gospel Movement -Social and political reformer -Pioneer of the term "wage abolitionism" -Worker against sweatshops -Worked for minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's rights
What came out of the Social Gospel Movement?
-Americanization Movement
****List: Jane Addams' values and beliefs.
-Believed in places for social progress (settlement houses) -Was a pacifist and did not like conflict -Did not want the US intervening in WWI -Focused on child labor and women's rights -Campaigned for women's suffrage and founding of American Civil Liberties Union in 1920 -Helped provide relief supplies to women and children in enemy nations
*Define: Americanization Movement.
-Came out of the Social Gospel Movement -Movement to assimilate immigrants through settlement houses, which were not supported by government -Aimed at turning foreigners into Americans
*Define: Federal Reserve System.
-Central bank of the United States -Purpose: to maintain stability in the US economy and provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system 1) It printed and sent cash to be sure that banks had money 2) Set interest rates -Gave people confidence that their money would be there to withdraw it -Prevented banks from collapsing -Businesses relied on banks for income -If banks collapsed, businesses wouldn't get income, which led to unemployment
*Define: State reform.
-Changes in state governments to encourage greater efficiency, honesty, and responsiveness
*Define: Municipal reform.
-City/town reforms -Changes in city governments made to encourage greater efficiency, honesty, and responsiveness
What issue of the Industrial Age was disregarded in the Progressive Era?
-Civil rights of African Americans
****List: Wilson's progressive Antitrust accomplishments.
-Clayton Antitrust Act 1914 -Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 (FTC)
*Define: "How The Other Half Live."
-Collection of photographs -Depicted lower class poverty (especially immigrants in urban settings)
***Who was: William "Boss" Tweed.
-Corrupt American politician -The "boss" of Tammany Hall -Used New York people's taxes to provide civil service to them -Accepted bribes from wealthy business owners to use their business in New York Government even if they didn't provide the best service
****List: Political problems of the Industrial Age.
-Corruption (ex: Credit Mobilier in railroad industry) -Radical unions had no government support -Voter/identity fraud -Political machines, which had the intention of getting people elected
**Define: Federal Reserve Act.
-Created a bank run by federal government (but independent of federal government) that tried to keep economy stable -It was approved by the federal government, but independent of it -It created the Federal Reserve System (central bank), whose purpose was to maintain stability in the US economy
*Define: Federal Power
-Delegated powers granted to the federal government -Includes: power to coin money, regulate commerce, declare war, raise and maintain armed forces, and establish a Post Office
*Define: Tammany Hall.
-Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in politics -Led by William "Boss" Tweed -Powerful democratic political machine in NYC -Started as an immigrant organization -Became more powerful as they controlled elections -Tweed fleeced the public out of millions of taxpayer money, which went into his and his associates' hands -They corrupted politics, embezzled money, and controlled the cities' voters.
****List: Results of Progressivism.
-Developed government regulatory commissions to oversee banking, insurance, railroads, gas, electricity, telephones, transportation, and manufacturing -Created public parks, libraries, hospitals, and museums -Constructed new water and sewer systems -Bridged the gap between capital and labor; called for arbitration and mediation of labor disputes -Progressive businessmen called for a new style "welfare capitalism" that provided workers with higher wages and pensions -Increased popular control over government -Reformers saw adoption of first restrictions on political lobbyists and the first regulations on campaign finances -Established licenses for professionals like pharmacists, vets, and undertakers -Lobbied for water standards, state and local departments of health, sanitary codes for schools, and laws prohibiting the sale of adulterated foods and drugs
**Define: Meat Inspection Act of 1906.
-Dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meat packers and created federal meat inspection
*Define: Muckraker.
-Journalists/reporters who intentionally exposed problems of urbanization and industrialization for profit or gain
*Define: Sixteenth Amendment of 1913.
-Legalized federal income tax, which provided revenue by taxing individual earnings and corporate profits -More money made meant more money paid -Tried to solve the gap between the rich and poor -US lost money with tariffs, so the majority of its money came from income tax
**Define: Elkins Act of 1903.
-Legalized railroad officials to give (and shippers to receive) rebates for using particular railroads -Specified that railroads could not change set rates without notifying the public
**Define: Hepburn Act of 1906.
-Limited the distribution of free railroad passes (a common form of bribery) -Gave ICC power to set maximum railroad rates -Government could now regulate railroads
****List: Social problems of the Industrial Age.
-Mass genocide of Native Americans -Overpopulation in cities -Cities lacked better transportation and sanitation (no indoor plumbing) -Cities lacked fire departments -Higher crime rates -Workers lived in tenements, leading to disease/poor living conditions -Tenements burned easily (wooden) -Labor/worker unrest -Worker- management relationships -Long work hours and low wages -Assimilation for immigrants -Segregation and racial tension
****List: Origins of the Progressive Era.
-Muckraker journalists -Social Gospel Movement -Americanization Movement
***Who was: Lincoln Steffens.
-Muckraker, exposed political machines, boss rule, & corruption in government -Wrote "The Shame of the Cities" -Exposed corruption in government and business
****List: Organizations formed by/for the 19th Amendment.
-National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)~ wanted a federal constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote -American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)~ supported 15th Amendment and feared it wouldn't pass if it gave voting rights women -Believed women's enfranchisement could best be gained through amendments to individual state constitutions -National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)~ merging of NWSA and AWSA -Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (National Woman's Party/NWP)~ staged numerous demonstrations -Very militant (in-your-face) -Would get arrested -Went on hunger strikes -Did not want to wait a state-by-state approach
****List: Social progressive accomplishments.
-New focus on compulsory (mandatory) education (*modern) -Lower class will now have skills to improve their future lives -Public health officials -Child labor -Culture/the arts (photography) -Camera was accessible -It could be used to show the problems and advertise -Largely ignored by Progressive Era: segregation/discrimination (especially in the South) -Women's suffrage -New vocabulary
****List: Municipal reforms.
-New schools, parks, sports, bathrooms, playgrounds -Professional city services -Fire, police, safety, garbage -Decreased the size of city councils (positive) -"At large" elections (instead of electing by city council member, the whole town now elected) -Was meant to spread out who elects our leaders -Hire city managers (hired - not elected- so they could be fired) -City planning, zoning, building codes -Housing reform, slum clearance -Non-partisan elections
**Define: Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.
-Outlawed formation of trusts that interfered with free trade -Roosevelt filed lawsuits against trusts and monopolies
*Define: Settlement houses.
-Places for social progress -Provided education, job training, daycare, housing, meals, and any other needs the public had -Social progress, education, democracy, ethics, art, religion, peace, and happiness could all be daily experiences
How did political machines benefit immigrants?
-Political machines were the only "welfare" system for them
**Define: Interstate Commerce Act of 1887.
-Prohibited wealthy railroad owners from colluding to fix high prices by dividing the business in a given area -Was designed to regulate the railroad industry -Required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just"
****List: Examples of progressives in the Social Gospel Movement.
-Prohibition~ progressives applied religious values to prohibit alcohol -Settlement houses~ especially the Hull House (Chicago, IL)
**Define: Underwood Act of 1913.
-Reduced tariff rates -Taxed imported goods -Made goods cheaper by fighting monopolies (more competition meant lower prices)
***Who was: Jacob Riis.
A New York journalist who devoted himself to revealing the squalid housing of the nation's poor -Newspaper reporter, social reformer, photographer -Wrote the book "How the Other Half Lives"
****List: Leaders in moving toward the 19th Amendment.
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott~ Seneca Falls Convention to launch the movement for women's rights -After, the demand for the vote was the center of the women's rights movement -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony~ formed NWSA -Stanton, Mott, and Susan B. Anthony raised public awareness and lobbied the government to grant voting rights to women -Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell~ formed AWSA -Carrie Chapman Catt~ stepped up to lead NAWSA -Influenced President Wilson to change his stance from objection to support -Alice Paul~ founded NWP -US Representative James R. Mann~ proposed the House resolution to approve the amendment, which then passed the House 304 to 89 -2 weeks later (June 4, 1919), Senate passed it by 2 votes -Harry T. Burn (Republican from Tennessee)~ cast the deciding vote (their state legislators had a 48-48 tie); his mother convinced him to approve it (he didn't want to)
*Define: "The History of the Standard Oil Company."
-Exposed Rockefeller's cutthroat business practices
*Define: "Tweed Days in St. Louis."
-Exposed how city officials worked in league with big business to maintain power while corrupting the public treasury
*Define: "The Jungle."
-Exposed the deplorable conditions of the US meat packing industry
****List: Florence Kelley's greatest accomplishments.
-Factory Act of Illinois -Helped found NAACP -Pure Food and Drug Act -Lowered women working hours so they had more time to spend with and take care of children --Encouraged companies to adhere to set production standards -Wrote "Condition of Working Class in England in 1844" -Helped found National Child Labor Committee
****List: Wilson's federal reserve accomplishments.
-Federal Reserve Act
Who were two famous leaders of the Social Gospel Movement?
-Florence Kelley -Jane Addams
***Who was: Jane Addams.
-Founder of Hull House, the first settlement house in the US -Advocate of immigrants, the poor, women, and peace -Wrote "Twenty Years at Hull House" -Famous leader of the Social Gospel Movement
How did political machines get their money?
-From public tax money -From bribes from the business sector that gave them money
*Define: Nineteenth Amendment.
-Granted women the right to vote (women's suffrage)
****List: Roosevelt's accomplishments for health and environment.
-He appointed experts to investigate the meatpacking industry -Meat Inspection Act (1906) -Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) -He condemned the view that America's resources were endless and made conservation a primary concern -He set aside 1.5 million acres of water-power sites, and 80 million acres of land that experts from US Geological Survey would explore for mineral and water resources -Established more than 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several national parks (ex: Yosemite) -Progressive belief of using experts -He named Gifford Pinchot as head of the US Forest Service, who advised Roosevelt to conserve forest and grazing lands by keeping large tracts of federal land from private sale -Conservation to Roosevelt meant that some wilderness areas would be preserved while others would be for the common good -His federal water projects transformed dry wilderness areas for possible agriculture -National Reclamation Act of 1902 (Newlands Act)
****List: Jane Addams' greatest accomplishments.
-Hull House~ provided education, art, ethics, religion, job training, daycare, etc -Essay "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements"~ stated that the settlement movement existed to add social function to political democracy, to assist the progress of humanity, and to express Christianity through humanitarian action -Helped found National Child Labor Committee -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) -Book "Peace of Bread in Time of War" -Helped launch numerous social programs like the Immigrants' Protective League, Juvenile Protective Association (the first one in the US), and Juvenile Psychopathic Clinic -Helped enact protective legislation for women and children, child labor regulations, and mandatory education laws -Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 -Known as the "Mother of Social Work"
**Define: Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
-It require truthful labeling on all products -It came in direct response to "Jungle" -Halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines -Called for truthful labeling -Reflected the progressive belief that given accurate information, people would act wisely
**Define: Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.
-It was supposed to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 -Prohibited corporations from acquiring others' stocks -Prohibited monopolies -If a company violated the law, its officers were prosecuted -Labor unions and farm organizations weren't subject to antitrust laws -Legalized strikes, peaceful picketing, boycotts, and the collection of strike benefits
*Define: Progressivism.
-Responses to the economic and social problems rapid industrialization introduced to America -Early progressives rejected Social Darwinism
***Who was: John Spargo.
-Revealed child labor -Supported the craft unionism of the American Federation of Labor against the radical industrial unionism of the Industrial Workers of the World
**Define: Factory Act of Illinois.
-Set working standards in factories in Illinois -Prohibited child labor under the age of 14, which led to national prohibition -Set factory and safety standards, as well as maximum hours for women
****List: Florence Kelley's values and beliefs.
-She worked towards rights for women (specifically in workplace) -Child labor -Took the legislative approach by trying to get laws passed
**Define: Newlands Act of 1902 (National Reclamation Act).
-Stated that money from the sale of public lands in the West funded large-scale irrigation projects -Established that the federal government would manage the precious water resources of the West
****List: Roosevelt's accomplishments using Federal Power.
-Stopped (only harmful) "trusts" that were against consumers' interest -A trust is similar to a monopoly (AKA consolidation/combination) -Ex: oil companies agreed to share their oil within a trust (Standard Oil Company), which could overcharge -Trusts controlled ⅘ of US industries -Convinced that America required a powerful government -Sherman Antitrust Act -Ordered the Justice Department to sue Northern Securities Company, which established a monopoly over northwestern railroads -Filed 44 antitrust law suits -Settled the 1902 Coal Strike: forced workers (Union) and ownership to come to an agreement -Miners won 10% pay hike and a shorter, 9-hour workday, but had to give up their demand for a closed shop (workers must belong to union) and right to strike for three years -Roosevelt's actions created a new principle that when a strike harms public interest, the government will intervene -His actions reflected the belief that disputes could be settled in an orderly way with the help of experts -Interstate Commerce Act (1887) -Interstate Commerce Commission -Elkins Act -Hepburn Act of 1906
What did political machines eventually lead to?
-The first group of progressers: Muckrakers
*Define: Reform.
-The improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc.
***Who was: Ida Tarbell.
-The muckraking author of "The History of Standard Oil Company" -Exposed Rockefeller's cutthroat business practices
How did political machines work?
-They embezzled tax money -Fraud and kickbacks -Bribed people to vote for them -Encouraged voter fraud -Manipulated immigrants
****List: Economic progressive accomplishments.
-Trying to improve economic situations for workers -New taxes to shorten poor/rich gap -Income tax on money you earn, to be paid toward the government -Inheritance tax -National banking system (later known as the Federal Reserve) -Antitrust Laws (to prohibit formation of trusts and monopolies) -Monopolies were bad because they had a lot of power over consumers -Government regulation -Railroad and shipping rates, to make rates more equitable -Raise wages -Provide pensions (retirement) -Workers compensation (if injured on the job, the business must pay you % of your pay to survive) -Minimum wage laws -Mediation/arbitration (if there is a dispute between workers and management, someone from the government must settle/mediate it) -Pro-Union
****List: Economic problems of the Industrial Age.
-Unstable banks
What did voters and bosses get out of political machines?
-Voters got jobs and services out of it -Bosses got political votes
****List: Wilson's progressive Tax accomplishments.
-Worked to lower tariff rates -Underwood Act of 1913 -Established a precedent of delivering the State of the Union message in person -Denounced lobbyists (people who influenced senators), who fought the Underwood Act -Urged voters to monitor senators' votes -Because of his use of the bully pulpit (to pass Underwood Act), Senate voted to cut tariff rates (he told senators they would lose support from the federal government) -With lower tariff rates, federal government had to replace revenue that tariffs had previously supplied -Sixteenth Amendment of 1913
***Who was: Upton Sinclair.
-Wrote "The Jungle" -Exposed the horrible conditions of the meat packing industry
