APUSH The Progressive Era 1901-1917

Progressive movement

A movement, or groups of different reform movements, that took place at the turn of the 20th century until WWI directly caused by industrialization and urbanization. This movement sought to improve life in the industrial age by making moderate political changes and social improvements through governmental action. They wanted to limit the power of corporations, improve the democracy so it benefited the people, and strengthen justice.

pragmatism

A philosophy that was prevalent during the Progressive era, taking the place of earlier transcendentalism. William James and John Dewey were big advocates of this philosophy that stated that people should have practical, rather than abstract, approaches to morals, ideals, and knowledge. Progressives took the idea that people should experiment with ideas and test them until something work in stride.

William James

Founded the American philosophy of pragmatism

John Dewey

Was an advocate for pragmatism

Frederick W. Taylor

Discovered the scientific management system by using a stopwatch to time the output of factory workers. He realized how to produce more products by arranging workers in the most effective way.

scientific management system

A practical system founded by Frederick W. Taylor that organized factory workers in such a way that the most goods could be produced. He approach was widely used in factories, but reformers in the Progressive sought to apply this approach to government. They thought the government would be more effective if put in hands of experts and scientific managers as opposed to the undemocratic and inefficient political machines.

muckrakers

The term that Theodore Roosevelt coined that referred to the writers of popular, in-depth, investigative stories about corruption in business and government as well as the horrible conditions of slums. Magazines such as McClure’s, Coller’s, and Cosmopolitan always sought to outdo the others with their shocking expose stories. They began to decline after 1910 because it became hard to constantly outdo each previous story. Also, newspapers and magazines faces pressure from banks and advertisers to turn it down.

Henry Demarest Lloyd

One of the earliest muckrakers from Chicago who wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly attacking the practices of the Standard Oil Company and the railroad companies. He wrote Wealth Against Commonwealth in 1894 that exposed the corruption and greed of the oil monopoly. However, it did not suggest a viable solution to the problem.

Lincoln Stefens

Wrote muckraking articles in 1902 for McClure’s Magazine entitled Tweed Days in St. Louis that set the precedent for other articles of that type. He also wrote The Shame of the Cities in 1904 about the corrupt deals in big-city politics like Philadelphia and Minneapolis.

Ida Tarbell

A muckraker who exposed the oil monopoly with The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1902 and wrote a series in McClure’s Magazine. Her articles set the standard for the many muckraking articles to come.

Jacob Riis

One of the first photojournalists who wrote articles about tenement life and published How the Other Half Lives in 1890

Theodore Dreiser

A novelist who wrote The Financier and The Titan that portrayed the ruthlessness of an industrialist.

Australian ballot

A method of using a secret ballot that started in Australia and was adopted in the United States starting in 1888 in Massachusetts. By 1910, all states adopted this method. Previously, political parties would manipulate and intimidate voters because their ballots were public.

direct primaries

A method in which voters can directly vote for their party’s candidates introduced by Robert La Follette. Previously, Republicans and Democrats nominated candidates in conventions ruled by party bosses. This new method was common by 1915. However, party bosses still maintained power by confusing voters and splitting the anti-machine vote. Also, southern states used this system as a way to keep blacks from voting.

Robert La Follette

The Progressive governor of Wisconsin who introduced his stated to direct primaries in 1903. He also won the passage of the "Wisconsin Idea" which were a series of Progressive measures that included a direct primary law, tax reform, and regulation of railroad rates.

Seventeenth Amendment

An amendment passed in 1913 that required all U.S senators be elected by popular vote instead of majority vote of the state legislature.

initiative; referendum; recall

Methods developed by Progressives in order to make the state governments more democratic: ________ where voters could compel a legislature to consider a bill _______ allowed citizens to vote on proposed laws printed on their ballots ________ enabled voters to remove a corrupt politician while still in office by majority vote And the end of WWI, twenty states, most in the Western United States, had accepted the first two while 11 also offered the third.

social welfare

Where the government is involved in improving the lives of the people. Jane Addams, Frances Kelly, and other leaders of the social justice movement lobbied for better schools, juvenile courts, liberalized divorce laws, ad safety regulations for tenements and factories. These reformers also fought for a system of parole, separate reformatories for juveniles, and limits on the death penalty as they believed that criminals could improve themselves to be better citizens. These reformers were largely successful.

municipal reform

Before the Progressive era, city municipalities such as water, transportation, and electricity were privately owned. The companies that controlled such were often corrupt. Thus, there was a movement to have the utilities owned by the government instead.

Samuel M. "Golden Rule" Jones

Became the Republican mayor of Toledo, Ohio in 1897 and was a self-made millionaire introduced municipal reform to his city with free kindergartens, night schools, and public playgrounds.

Tom L. Johnson

The mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1901-1909 devoted himself to the cause of tax reform and three-cent trolley fares for his city. Although he was unsuccessful, he also fought for public ownership and operation of the city’s utilities and public services (water, electricity, and trolleys)

commission plan

A municipal reform in which voters elect the heads of city departments like fire, police, and sanitation rather than just the mayor. It was first used in Galveston, Texas in 1900, but was replaced by the manager-council plan of municipal government.

manager-council plan

A municipal plan first used in Dayton, Ohio in 1913. An expert manager would be hired by an elected city council to direct the work of various departments of city government. It was more effective than the commission plan and by 1923, more than 300 cities adopted it as their municipal government system.

Charles Evans Hughes

The reform governor of New York who battled fraudulent insurance companies

Hiram Johnson

The reform governor of California who fought against the economic and political power of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was successful.

Theodore Roosevelt; Square Deal

Brought the Progressive Movement to a national level when he took over as president in 1901 because he thought it was the president’s job to also set the legal agenda for Congress. His _________ represented his desire to treat both corporations and workers fairly in any dispute. In the coal miner’s strike of 1902 he treated the strike and company leaders as equals, and he continued this policy when dealing with other such issues.

anthracite coal miners’ strike of 1902

When coal miners went on strike for a greater part of the year of ________, and people feared that without coal, they would freeze in the winter. President Theodore Roosevelt tried to mediate the dispute by calling the leaders of the United Mine Workers and the company to the White House, but was angry when the company leaders refused to compromise. The threatened to take over the mine with federal troops, and the owners finally agreed to a 10 percent wage increase and a nine-hour work day to the miners. The commission did not grant union recognition. This was the first example of Roosevelt’s Square Deal policy.

trust-busting

The nickname given to Roosevelt as he broke up what he saw as "bad trusts", which harmed the public and stifled the competition. Roosevelt became the first president to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. He broke up the railroad monopoly of the Northern Securities Company, owned by John Pierpont Morgan in 1904 with a Supreme Court decision backing Roosevelt’s case. He also took antitrust action against Standard Oil and more than 40 other corporations. However, Roosevelt supported what he saw as "good trusts" which through efficiency and low prices dominated the market.

Elkins Act of 1903

Strengthened the regulatory powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission by giving it more authority to stop railroads from granting rebates to their favored customers.

Hepburn Act of 1906

Strengthened the regulatory powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission by giving it the authority to fix "just and reasonable" rates for railroads.

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

A muckraker who published this book that described the conditions in the Chicago stockyards of the meatpacking industry that caused public outcry. The publication of the book also caused Congress to enact two laws in 1906: the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

This act forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs.

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

This act required that inspectors hired by the federal government must visit meatpacking plants to ensure that they met standards of sanitation

conservation

Roosevelt was the first president to actively protect the nation’s natural resources. For example: 1. Used the Federal Reserve Act of 1891 to set aside 150 million acres of land as a national reserve 2. Won passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902 3. Hosted a White House conference about the subject in 1908 where he established the National Conservation Commission under Gifford Pinchot

Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902

This act provided money from the sale of public land for irrigation projects in western states

Gifford Pinchot

The first director of the U.S Forest Service and was in charge of the National Conservation Commission set up by Roosevelt and was liked and respected by the Progressives. However, he was fired in the Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy

William Howard Taft

Elected in 1908 and continued Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive policies, including trust-busting and conservationism. However, Roosevelt was angered when Taft broke up U.S Steel, which Roosevelt had approved of. The Progressives also did not like Taft and thus there was a split in the Republican Party between the conservative and progressive factions.

Mann-Elkins Act of 1910

An act gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to suspend new railroad rates and oversees telephone, telegraph, and cable companies.

Sixteenth Amendment

Authorized the U.S government to collect an income tax and ratified by the states in 1913

Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909

Raised the tariff on most imports that angered the Progressives because Taft signed and endorsed the tariff

Joseph Cannon

The Conservative Speaker of the House who the Progressives tried to reduce his power, but Taft did not support them. This angered the Progressives.

Socialist Party of America

A party that grew in power in the first decade of the twentieth century that was dedicated to the welfare of the working class. It was more radical than the Progressive movement and called for public ownership of railroad, utilities, and even major industries such as oil and steel. Eugene V. Debs was one of the founders of this party and was its presidential candidate for five elections. However, although Progressives and ________ joined forces on issues like workers’ compensation and minimum wage, Progressives wanted to distance themselves from this group because Progressives favored only mild reforms. Public ownership of utilities, eight-hour workday, and pensions for employees were __________ ideas that were eventually adopted.

Eugene V. Debs

One of the founders of the Socialist Party and was the party’s presidential candidate for five election from 1900 to 1920. He was a former railway union leader and led the Pullman Strike in 1894, after which he was jailed. He openly criticized business and was a championed. _______ won 6 percent of the total votes in the election of 1912 (Woodrow Wilson won), when the Socialist Party reached its peak.

Bull Moose Party

When the Progressive faction of the Republican party grew tired of Taft’s conservative acts, they asked Theodore Roosevelt to run for president again. Taft was nominated for president again for the election of 1912 when Roosevelt’s delegates were not included in the party’s convention. Roosevelt’s party was called the _______________. He called for New Nationalism, but because of the Republican split, he lost to Woodrow Wilson.

New Nationalism

What Roosevelt campaigned for during the election of 1912 that called for more government regulation of business and union, women’s suffrage, and more social welfare programs.

New Freedom

What Wilson campaigned for during the election of 1912 that limited both big business and big government, bring about reform by ending corruption and revive competition by supporting small business. He wanted to bring back conditions of free and fair competition in the economy and attack tariffs, banking, and trusts

Underwood Tariff of 1913

Fulfilled Wilson’s promise to public to reduce tariffs. This was the first time tariffs were substantially reduced in fifty years. To make up for the loss of money, the rate of graduated income tax was increased from 1% to 6%.

Federal Reserve Act of 1914

Set up the Federal Reserve System that established 12 district reserve banks and the creation of Federal Reserve notes to protect the U.S economy from future panic like the Panic of 1893. Wilson proposed this plan because he felt that the gold standard was too inflexible which was causing the banks to no longer serve the public interest. With the Federal Reserve System, Wilson hoped for stability and flexibility.

Federal Reserve Board

Supervised the 12 district reserve banks that were set up in the Federal Reserve System planned by Wilson and enacted in 1914

Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

Part of Wilson’s New Freedom Program that strengthened the provisions in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 for breaking up monopolies. Unions were exempted from being prosecuted as trusts.

Federal Trade Commission

Set up in 1914 as part of Wilson’s New Freedom Program as a regulatory agency meant to investigate and take action against unfair trade practices in every industry except banking and transportation.

Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916

In which 12 regional federal farm loan banks were established to provide farm loans at low interest rates

Child Labor Act of 1916

Prohibited the shipment the interstate commerce of products manufactured by children under 14 years of age. However, the Supreme Court found this act unconstitutional in 1918 in Hammer v. Dagenhart.

urban migration

Referring to the time between 1910 and 1930 when a million African Americans traveled north to seek jobs in the cities. Previously, in the nineteenth century, 9 out of 10 African Americans lived in the South. This was because of the deteriorated race relations in the South, destruction of cotton crops by the boll weevil, and job opportunities that opened in the North when the white workers left to fight in WWI. It slowed in the 1930s, but increased again during WWII, with over 4 million African Americans migrating between 1940 and 1970. In the North, they still faced racial tension and discrimination

Niagara Movement

Started in 1905 by W.E.B Du Bois and a group of black intellectuals to discuss of program of protest and action aimed at securing equal rights for blacks. In 1908, they helped found the NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Founded on Lincoln’s birthday in 1908 by members of the Niagara Movement and a group of white progressives to end all forms of discrimination and increase educational opportunities for black children. With 100,00 members in 1920, it became the nation’s largest civil rights organization.

National Urban League

Formed in 1911 to helped African Americans who were migrating to Northern cities from the South. Its motto was "Not Alms But Opportunity", which reflected its emphasis on self reliance and economic advancement.

Carrie Chapman Catt

Became the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1900 who argued for women’s suffrage so they would be able to more actively care for their families in an industrial society. At first she advocated for this at a state level, but soon sought to add a suffrage amendment to the U.S Constitution. After the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, she organized the League of Women Voters.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

An organization founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1890 that fought for women’s rights and suffrage. Carrie Chapman Catt became president of the organization in 1900 and she shifted the focus to adding a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage.

Alice Paul

Broke from NAWSA in 1916 to form the National Women’s Party and from the beginning lobbied Congress and the president for an amendment to the Constitution.

National Women’s Party

Founded by Alice Paul in 1916, it adopted a more militant approach than NAWSA for gaining women’s suffrage including mass picket demonstrations, parades, and hunger strikes from its supporters

Nineteenth Amendment

Ratified by Congress in 1920, this amendment guaranteed women’s right to vote in all elections at the local, state, and national levels. Wilson originally did not support women’s suffrage, but the dedication efforts of women on the homefront during WWI helped convince him.

League of Women Voters

Founded by Carrie Chapman Catt following the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, this organization was dedicated to keeping voters informed about candidates and issues.

Muller v. Oregon

People challenged an Oregon law that limited women to a 10-hour workday, but the Supreme Court upheld the law in 1908, which set the precedent of the Supreme Court using its power for social reform.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Occurred in 1911 when a fire caused the deaths of approximately 150 women workers because they were locked in the building and had no fire escapes. This tragic event convinced many progressives to push for reforms of safety and health conditions in factories.