Starting into the 20th century the people knew that the Gov’t had to take more responsibility and they could’t have any more laissez-fare officers Well before 1900 and after, politicians and writer had began to pin point targets for the progressive attack The social Gospel promoted a brand of progressivism based on Christian based teaching to help get better housing and living conditions for the poor.

many women improved the fight for their list of needed reforms The Progressive had their roots with the Green Back labor party and the populist party II. Racking Muck with the MuckrakersBeginning about 1902 a group of ten and fifteen percent popular magazines begun to through up dirt about trust muckraker - An early twentieth-century group of American writers. Typically, their works exposed the wrongdoing of big business and government in the United States. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exemplifies the muckraking novel.

despite presidential scolding these muckraker keep writing and some became best sellers books Some of the most effective fire of the muckraker was shot a social evil like the “white slave” and industrial accidents, blacks who were still illiterate or child labor. Dr. Harvey W.Wiley exposed the frauds that sold potent patent medicines by experimenting on himself. The muckrakers sincerely believed that cures for the ills of American democracy, was more democracy.

III. Political Progressivism Progressive reformers mainly were middle-class men and women who felt squeezed from the corporations from above and the immigrant hord from below. their 2 main goals were 1: to use state power to curb the trusts 2: and to stem the socialist threat by improving conditions of life. first step of the progressive reforms was to have regain the power that had slipped from the people’s hands.

Also they wanted direct primary election so to under-cut bosses, they also wanted all laws placed on the ballet for final approval of the people A number of state legislature passed corrupt prac. which in the end limited the amount of money they could spend on their election. The secret ballet was becoming more famous and bribery was becoming harder because bosses didn’t know if their bribery worked. Direct election of senators become a favorite. congress was know as the millionaires club The seventeenth amendment to the constitution approved in 1913 established election of us senatorsWoman suffrage the goal of feminist received powerful new support progressive early in the 1900s believed that women’s votes would elevate the political tone.

IV. Progressivism in the cities and states progressives scored some of their most impressive gains in the cities. Urban reformers tackled “slumlords,” juvenile delinquency, and wide-open prostitution. In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette wrestled control from the trusts and returned power to the people, becoming a Progressive leader in the process Other states become progressive and begun to undertake railroads and trust V.

Progressive WomenWomen proved themselves to be apart of the progressive party A critical focus was the settlement house’s because women could’t hold office or vote settlement house’s opened the door to the public life. Literacy clubs helped women show poetry and pose ands to educate themselves Progressives also made improvements in the stand against child labor, especially after a 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in NYC which killed 146 workers, mostly young women. Many people because would get drunk and invest in prostitution so the progressive started a war with alcohol and started organizations like the Woman’s ChristianTemperance Union (WCTU), 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. VI TR’s Square Deal forLabor TR soon jumped into the progressive feeling and his “Square Deal” embraced the three Cs: control of the corporations, consumer protection, and the conservation of the United States’ natural resources.

In 1902, a strike broke out “the coal miner strike” and some 140,000 workers demanded a 20% pay increase and the reduction of the workday to nine hours. * because they coal miners refused to coal the schools, hospitals, and factories during hat winter began to freeze. TR threatened to take over the mines and operate them with federal troops if he had to in order to keep it open and the coal coming to the people. * Finally the owners and workers came to agreement the workers got a 10% pay increase and a 9-hour workday, but their union was not officially recognized as a bargaining agent.

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was formed VII. TR Corrals the Corporations In 1887 the Interstate Commerce Commission was formed but proven to be inadequate, so with the failing of the interstate commerce Commission in 903, Congress passed the Elkins Act, which fine railroads that gave rebates and the shippers that accepted them The Hepburn Act restricted the free passes of railroads Roosevelt had made up his mind saying that there were “good trusts” and “bad trusts,” and with that set out to control the “bad trust” such has the trust founded by J. P Morgan. * In 1904, the Supreme Court upheld TR’s antitrust suit and ordered Northern Securities to dissolve, a decision that angered Wall Street but helped TR’s image. TR cracked down on over 40 trusts, and he helped dissolve the eef, sugar, fertilizer, and harvester trusts, but in reality, he didn’t bust so many trust has one might have thought * He had no wish to take down the “good trusts,” but to use the trust he had taken has a symbol for the other trust to reform themselves TR’s friend/enemy William Howard Taft,actually crushed more trusts than TR, and in on one occasion , when Taft crack down on the U.

S. Steel, a company that had personally been allowed by TR to absorb the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company, the reaction from TR was hot! VIII. Caring for the consumerWhen the people of America read Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle has he said “I aimed at America’s heart and hit the stomach” When TR and America read this many people couldn’t eat meat for months But in 1906 the meat inspection was passed has was the pure food and drug act of 1906 Another reason to make these new laws was that European countries could trust America’s meat. IX.

Earth Control By 1900, only a quarter of the nation’s trees remained, so TR set aside 125 million acres Because of the concern about the disappearance of the frontier led to the riting of such books like Jack London’s Call of the Wild and the establishment of the club like Boy Scouts of America and the Sierra Club, a member of which was naturalist John Muir. X. The “Roosevelt Panic” of 1907 TR had widespread popularity such as the nickname “Teddy” bear when he saved a young cub but other people such has the conservatives branded him as a dangerous rattlesnake However, in 1904, TR announced that he would not run for office in the election of 1908 In the year 1907, a short and sharp panic on Wall Street placed Roosevelt in the center of its blame, but TR lashed back and the panic died.In 1908, Congress was able to pass the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, which was able to authorize national banks to issue currency in times of emergency.

* This would lead to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 XI. The Rough Rider Thunders out In the 1908 campaign, TR chose his friend William Howard Taft as his “successor,” and Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan. TR expanded the powers of the presidency, shaped the progressive movement, launched the Square Deal—a precursor to the New Deal that would come later, and opened American eyes to the fact that America shared the world with other nations so that it couldn’t be isolationist.XII. Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole William Taft was a mild progressive, quite jovial, quite fat, and passive.

* He was also sensitive to criticism and not as liberal as Roosevelt. XIII. The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat Taft wanted Americans to invest in a policy called “Dollar Diplomacy,” which called for Wall Street bankers to give their surplus of dollars into foreign areas of strategic concern to the U. S. , especially in the Far East and in the regions critical to the security of the Panama Canal.

This helped America take control of the seas. In the year 1909, a threat to the monopolistic Russian andJapanese control of the Railway, Taft 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. XIV.

Taft the Trustbuster During his 4yrs Taft busted 90 “trusts” In 1911 the US supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the standard steel company When Taft tried to break up the U. S. Steel TR’s prior approval of the “good trust” Taft increasingly became TR’s enemy. XV. Taft Splits the Republican Party Two main issues split the Republican party: (1) the tariff and (2) conservation of lands.

Taft promised to lower tariff but when congress meet on March 1909 he broke his promise and keep the tariffs. Old Republicans were high-tariff; new/Progressive Republicans were low tariff. Taft did establish the Bureau of Mines to control mineral resources. XVI.

The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture Rejected by the Taft supporters of the Republicans, TR became a candidate on the Progressive party ticket, shoving LaFollette aside. In the Election of 1912, it would be Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive Republican) versus William H. Taft (Old Guard Republican) versus the Democratic candidate, whomever that was to be.XVIII.

The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912 1. With the Republican party split down the middle between TR and Taft , the Democrats could feel that there was hope that they could win the presidency for the first time in 16 years. * the first possible candidate was Dr. Woodrow Wilson, conservative who had been the president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey * In 1912, , the Democrats nominated Wilson on the 46th ballot * The Democratic ticket would run under a platform called “New Freedom,” which would include many progressive reforms. At the Progressive convention, Jane Addams put TheodoreRoosevelt’s name on the nomination * TR became the nomination for the progressive when entering into the campaign, TR mentioned that he felt “ strong as a bull moose,” making moose the unofficial Progressive symbol. Republican William Taft and TR began to bicker, as the former friends, they became enemies and now ripped every aspect of each other’s platforms and personalities.

Meanwhile TR’s had a new idea called “New Nationalism” and Wilson’s new idea was “New Freedom” became the key issues of the election. * Roosevelt’s New Nationalism was inspired by HerbertCroly’s the government should control the “bad trusts” leaving the “good trusts” alone and free to operate. TR also campaigned for female suffrage and a broad program of social welfare, such as minimum-wage laws and “socialistic” social insurance. * Wilson’s New Freedom helped small enterprise, unlike TR he wished to break up all trusts and shunned social-welfare proposals. XVIII. Woodrow Wilson a Minority President * With the Republicans split down the middle Woodrow Wilson the democrat easily won with 435 electoral votes TR had 88 and Taft only had 8.

! William Taft would later become the only U. S. president to be appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, when he was nominated in 1921. IXX.

Wilson: The idealistic in Polities Woodrow Wilson was a helper with the South, a orator, a morally appealing politician, and a very intelligent man. When people saw him in puble they thought h e was cold personality-wise, and very idealistic. but in private he could be a very funny man XX. Wilson Tackles the Tariff When Wilson stepped into the presidency he knew he was going to tackle the “triple wall of privilege”: the tariff, the banks, and the trusts.To tackle the tariff, Wilson successfully helped in the passing of the Underwood Tariff of 1913, which substantially reduced import fees and enacted a graduated income tax (under the approval of the recent) 16th Amendment).

XXI. Wilson Battles the Bankers In June 1913, Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and asked for a sweeping reform of the banking system. The result was the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, which created the new Federal Reserve Board, which over saw a nationwide system of twelve regional reserve districts, each with its own central bank, and had the power to issue paper money (“Federal Reserve Notes”)XXII. The President Tames the trusts In the year 1914, Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act, which empowered a president-appointed position to investigate the activities of trusts and stop unfair trade practices such as unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, & bribery. The 1914 Clayton Anti-Trust Act pretty much the Sherman Anti-Trust Act’s list of practices of trust XXIII.

Wilson Progressivism at High Tide After taking down the triple wall Wilson proceeded with further reforms, such as the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, which made credit available to armers at low rates of interest, and the Warehouse Act of 1916, which permitted loans on the security of staple crops—both Populist ideas. * The La Follette Seamen’s Act of 1915 required good treatment of America’s sailors * The Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 granted assistance of federal civil-service employees during periods of instability but was invalidated by the Supreme Court. * The 1916 Adamson Act established an eight-hour workday with overtime pay. * Wilson even nominated Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court—making him the first Jew ever in that position but would’t help black and civil rights