Chapter 21: The Progressive Era, 1900-1917

1. Organizing for Change
   1. The Changing Face of Politics
      1. Organization was indispensable for success among the reformers of this era.
         1. Improvements in travel and communication encouraged regional thinking.
         2. These new technologies eased the way for citizens to organize, since they were better able to express common concerns and promote common interests.
         3. Organizations to protect and advance certain economic interests were the most typical.
         4. Some organized interest groups increasingly looked to the government for help, and others expected to foster the interests of ethnic, racial, and gender groups.
      2. Most groups shared an optimism that responsible citizens could accelerate progress and, by 1910, many had started calling themselves progressives.
         1. The term progressivismsignifies three related developments: the emergence of new concepts of the purposes and functions of government, changes in government policies and institutions, and the political agitations that produced those changes.
         2. A progressive was a person involved in one or more of these activities.
         3. Many aspects of progressivism reflected concerns of the urban middle class.
      3. Progressivism appeared at every level of government: local, state, and federal.
   2. Women and Reform
      1. Organizations formed or dominated by women burst upon politics during this era.
         1. The New Woman stood for self-determination; this fresh attitude was sometimes called feminism.
      2. Women were increasing their control over their lives in regard to the birth rate.
         1. The birth rate fell steadily throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
         2. Many women used abortion in the early nineteenth century, but it became illegal.
         3. Some women, such as Margaret Sanger, began to challenge such restrictive laws because they were convinced that too large families created problems.
         4. These problems included contributing to poverty and damaging the mental and physical health of women.
         5. The National Birth Control League sought repeal of laws barring contraception.
      3. Some states passed laws specifically to protect working women.
         1. Muller v. Oregon(1908) upheld a law limiting women’s hours of work.
      4. Although prominent in reform causes, most women were not allowed to vote or hold office.
         1. Support for suffrage grew as social reform required political action.
         2. By 1896, four western states had given women the right to vote, but suffrage scored few victories outside the West.
      5. The National American Woman Suffrage Association was geared toward lobbying in Washington.
         1. During the 1920s the cause of woman suffrage ignited a mass movement.
         2. Some suffrage advocates turned the domesticity argument in their favor, saying that women would purify politics and make them morally righteous.
         3. Women also argued that they should vote because they deserved full equality with men.
   3. Moral Reform
      1. Alcohol was the primary target of moral reform during the Progressive era.
         1. The Anti-Saloon League became the model for successful interest group politics and endorsed only politicians who opposed Demon Rum.
         2. Opposition to Prohibition came especially from immigrants who did not regard the use of alcohol as inherently sinful.
         3. The drive against alcohol was ultimately successful at the national level.
      2. Prostitution was another target of moral reforms.
         1. The Mann Act made it illegal to take a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes."
   4. Racial Issues
      1. Racial issues were usually more remote than other issues.
         1. Lynchings and violence continued as a fact of life for African Americans.
         2. Some, such as W.E.B. Du Bois. posed alternatives to the accommodationist leadership of Booker T. Washington.
      2. Some African-American leaders organized the Niagara Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in support of black rights.
   5. Challenging Capitalism: Socialists and Wobblies
      1. The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was the political arm of workers and farmers who called for a cooperative commonwealth.
         1. Workers would share in ownership and control the means of production.
         2. Eugene V. Debs was the best known Socialist leader.
         3. In 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was organized.
2. The Reform of Politics, the Politics of Reform
   1. Exposing Corruption: The Muckrakers
      1. Journalists played an important role in preparing the ground for reform, and magazine publishers discovered sales boomed with dramatic exposés.
         1. President Roosevelt called them muckrakers.
         2. McClure’s Magazineled the surge in muckraking journalism, and muckraking eventually extended from periodicals to books.
         3. The most famous muckraking book was Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle(1906).
      2. Pressured by the public, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which banned impure or mislabeled food and drugs.
         1. Congress also passed the Meat Inspection Act which required federal inspection of meatpacking.
   2. Reforming City Government
      1. Muckrakers helped focus public concern on city government, and municipal reformers urged honest and efficient government.
         1. Most argued that corruption and inefficiency were inevitable without major changes.
         2. They also pointed out that city-wide elections would result in council members with broader perspectives.
         3. Some proposed more fundamental changes in the structure of government, including the commission system and the city-manager plan.
         4. Both plans reveal prominent traits of progressivism, including a distrust of political parties and a desire for expertise and efficiency.
      2. City governments also took up city planning.
   3. Saving the Future
      1. Other professions developed that also had an impact on society, including public health, mental health, social work, and education.
         1. Their objective was to use scientific and social scientific knowledge to control social forces so that they could define the future.
      2. Professionals also sought change in the public schools.
         1. They pushed for greater centralization in school administration.
         2. In addition, they pushed to reduce the role of local school boards and superintendents.
         3. They began to rely on recently developed intelligence tests for student placement.
      3. Standards of medical colleges were raised, and access to the profession began to be restricted.
   4. Reforming State Government
      1. Robert M. La Follette pushed the Wisconsin state government to the forefront.
         1. It limited both corporations and political parties and adopted a direct primary.
         2. Wisconsin also set up a commission to regulate railroad rates and increased taxes on corporations, including railroads.
         3. It enacted a merit system for hiring and promoting state employees and limited the activities of lobbyists.
         4. These reforms and reliance on university experts was called the Wisconsin idea.
         5. La Follette’s success prompted imitators elsewhere, and a number of states chose to adopt the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.
         6. Many also switched to direct primaries and the direct election of U.S. senators so that the candidates now had to appeal directly to voters rather than party leaders.
   5. The Decline of Parties and the Rise of Interest Groups
      1. Organized interest groups also opened up political participation and focused greater attention on the legislative process.
         1. Lobbyists urged congressmen to support their group’s position by reminding them of the electoral power of their group.
         2. They also arranged campaign support for those who voted according to the group’s wishes.
3. Roosevelt, Taft, and Republican Progressivism
   1. Roosevelt: Asserting the Power of the Presidency
      1. Roosevelt saw political office as a duty he owed the nation rather than an opportunity for personal advancement.
         1. He launched antitrust actions, including the Northern Securities case, and created a reputation as a trustbuster.
         2. Roosevelt initiated more than forty antitrust actions, although not all of them were successful.
         3. He used trustbusting successfully, since he believed it made more sense to regulate trusts than to break them up.
         4. Roosevelt intervened on the side of labor in the coal strike.
      2. According to Roosevelt, his Square Deal gave everybody fair treatment.
   2. The Square Deal in Action: Creating Economic Federal Regulation
      1. Roosevelt’s trustbusting and coal strike settlement brought him great popularity.
         1. Congress approved several measures he requested and endorsed, including the Expedition Act, the Departments of Commerce and Labor, and the Elkins Act.
      2. Roosevelt won reelection by one of the largest margins up to that time - 56 percent of the popular vote.
         1. Elected in his own right, Roosevelt set out to implement meaningful legislation, including the Hepburn Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act.
   3. Regulating Natural Resources
      1. Roosevelt took great pride in establishing five national parks and over fifty wildlife preserves.
         1. He strongly supported the National Reclamation Act of 1902, which set aside proceeds from the sale of western lands to finance irrigation projects.
   4. Taft’s Troubles
      1. William Howard Taft was virtually named Roosevelt’s successor for the Republicans as the 1904 election approached.
         1. William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic nominee for president for the third time.
         2. Taft won just under 52 percent of the vote, and the Republicans kept control of Congress.
      2. Taft’s approach to the presidency was more restrained than Roosevelt’s, and the Republican party split over tariff rates, conservation, and other issues.
4. Wilson and Democratic Progressivism
   1. Debating the Future: The Election of 1912
      1. Republicans were plagued by divisions and an economic downturn, and Roosevelt ran as the Progressive party’s candidate.
      2. Wilson centered his campaign on the issues of big business and depicted monopoly itself as the most serious problem, not its behavior.
         1. Wilson received 42 percent of the total vote, and the Democrats won in Congress.
   2. Wilson and Reform, 1913 - 1914
      1. Wilson believed in an active role for the president in policymaking and focused first on tariff reform through the Underwood Act.
         1. He also pushed for the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act.
   3. Wilson and Social Reform
      1. Beyond his support for labor, Wilson did little in the area of social reform.
         1. He considered efforts to outlaw child labor unconstitutional.
5. Progressivism in Perspective
   1. The Transformation of American Politics and Government
      1. Roosevelt and Wilson asserted presidential authority, and Franklin Roosevelt followed their example.
         1. Americans came to expect domestic policy to flow from the White House.
      2. Reforms rarely fulfilled all the expectations of their proponents.