Chapter 18 The

Progressive Era
The object of Government is
the welfare of the people

McKinley
President William
McKinley - public
reception in Buffalo, NY
McKinley was a
conservative Republican:
Big business with
limited government
involvement

McKinley
Assassinated by an anarchist
His VP takes over

Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt
Roosevelt was a Progressive
Progressivism: Favors achieving political and
social reform through education and
participation of all social classes with direct
Government involvement
Roosevelt begins the
PROGRESSIVE ERA

1) The Progressive Era

A. Principles
1. Promoting Direct
Democracy
2. Increasing
Government
Efficiency
3. Advocating
Government
Intervention

1. Direct Democracy
a. Secret Ballot: Voting is Private; limited
corruption
b. Direct Primaries: Power from Political
Bosses The People
c. Initiative: petitions to legislators
d. Referendum: People decide yes; no
e. Recall: Remove official from office
. Took place on State / Local Levels

2. Government Efficiency
Mostly took place in local governments
Fill city positions with qualified business
leaders; not politicians

3. Government Intervention
Trust Busting
Gov. Regulations

3. Government Intervention
Gov. run
Business
Gas and Water
Socialism
Labor Unions
Labor Laws

B. Constitutional Progressivism
16th
Amendment
17th
Amendment
18th
Amendment
19th
Amendment

16 Amendment
th

Income Tax Created

Rich pay more than poor

17 Amendment
th

Direct Election of U.S. Senators

18 Amendment
th

Prohibition
Created
Illegal to Buy
or Sell Alcohol

19 Amendment
th

Women
Suffrage
Right to
Vote
Susan B.
Anthony

C. People of the Progressive Era

Muckrakers: Journalists who
uncovered the dirty areas of
society
Political Progressives
William Jennings Bryan (D)
Robert La Follette (R)
Eugene Debs (Socialist)

Progressive Presidents
1.Theodore
Roosevelt
2.William Taft
3.Woodrow
Wilson

2) Progressive Politics

A. Roosevelt & Square Deal

Roosevelt got
his way.
Every man
deserves a
Square Deal

1. Trust Busting!
Used Sherman
Anti-Trust Law
Broke up
monopoly
Create
Competition

2. Regulation
Tell Businesses what
to do for Public
Good
Railroads and Food
Inspection
The Jungle (1906)

3. Coal Strike
Roosevelt stepped in;
threatened to open
mines using troops
Owners caved and
met demands
10c raise and 9 hr.
work day

4. Conservation
Set aside 100
million acres of
land to be
federal parks

5. Race Relations
Scaling back of Japanese
Immigrants
Roosevelt dined with
Booker T. Washington
Jim Crow Laws:
Segregation
Poll Tax
Plessy v. Fergusson
Separate but Equal

5. Race Relations
Booker T.
Washington:
Better yourself
W.E.B. Du Bois:
Demand political
equality
NAACP: Fight legal
battles

3) Big Stick Policy

A. Big Stick?
Roosevelt was
famous for saying:
Speak softly and
carry a big stick
US. Active in
foreign policy
Moral obligation to
do good

B. Philippines
Philippines were
a Territory
Granted
Independence
over 30 year
period
Self-Rule

C. Panama Canal
US buys out French company thats building
canal in Columbia
Columbia rejected deal wanted more $$$
France and US support revolution of
Panamanians against Columbia
Panama accepts previous deal
10 Years; 40k Americans
Finished days after WWI began

D. Roosevelt Corollary
US. Leader of the
Western Hemisphere
Protect; Regulate this
half of the world
US. - Policeman to
keep Latin America
safe

E. Japan
Trade in the
Pacific brought
US closer to
Japan
1904: Japan
war with
Russia

Roosevelt to come
Mediate

Great White Fleet

Root-Takahira Agreement

4) Tafts Presidency

A. Taft Elected
Hand Picked by
Roosevelt
Huge 300+
Likable, personable
1908 defeated
William Jennings
Bryan

B. Tariff Fiasco
Tried to lower
tariff
Failed to Pass
the Senate
Progressives
angry at Taft

C. Split with Roosevelt

Conservation Taft
cared; but wanted more
legal ground to do it
Fired Pinchot (US
Forestry Service)
US Steel Monopoly

D. Election of 1912
3 way Race
1. Taft Republican Party
2. Roosevelt Progressive Party
3. Wilson Democratic Party
. Taft / Roosevelt split Republican Votes
. Wilson wins with only 43% of the vote

5) Wilsons Presidency

A. Tax Reform
Underwood Tariff Act
Slashed tax rate by
a third
Income Tax: 1% to
6% of your income;
only wealthy paid in

B. Federal Reserve
Regulates
Banking in the
U.S.
Prints official
U.S. Currency

C. Business and Labor

Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Federal Trade
Commission Act:
board that stops
unfair business
practices

6) Progressive Society

A. Transportation
Henry Ford: Automobiles; Assembly Line;
Prices of cars drop drastically

A. Transportation
Wright Brothers:
Airplane

B. Agriculture
Farming Thrived:
1. More demand
for food
2. Tractor
3. Science

C. Medicine
Medical
Education
available
Yellow Fever

D. Education
Progressive Education
Teach students trade
skills, not subjects
Experience >
Memorization
John Dewey
Secular Humanism
Ultimately Failed

E. Religion
Modernism
God + Evolution
Social Gospel Doing
Good
Heroes: Benjamin Warfield;
Billy Sunday; D.L. Moody

7) Progressivism Evaluated

Positives

Purer Food and Drugs

Better Gas and Water
More involvement in Government

Positives

Economic Growth
Gender Equality

Negatives

1. No Progress in Race Equality

2. Big Growth in Government
3. Government hard to control

Negatives

1. Assumption that man / people are good

2. Looked to Education to fix man

The End!