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The Progressive Era. 1900 - 1920. Middle Class Movement. Middle class emerged in late 1800s – product of industrialization Professionals, managers, “white collar” workers Increasingly segregated from working class Primarily concerned with urban, industrial problems
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The Progressive Era 1900 - 1920
Middle Class Movement • Middle class emerged in late 1800s – product of industrialization • Professionals, managers, “white collar” workers • Increasingly segregated from working class • Primarily concerned with urban, industrial problems • Rapid growth of cities exacerbated problems • Concerned about crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and unsanitary & unsafe living & working conditions • Progress entailed both efficiency & justice • Elitist & democratic simultaneously • Linked to industrialists, who provided money for new research universities & social research efforts • Advocated “scientific” social reform – solutions based on social science research
Urban Social Work • Settlement Houses • Jane Addams est. Hull House in Chicago (1889) • Secular missionaries – lived in foreign neighborhoods & tried to “uplift” working class immigrants • Charity Organization Societies pooled & coordinated resources • G. Stanley Hall & John Dewey advocated educational reform to create better citizens • 18 million children in public schools in 1910 (up from 7 million in 1870) Jane Addams Hull House
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People • NAACP founded in 1909 by whites & blacks • Whites like Oswald Garrison Villard were grandchildren of abolitionists • Blacks like W.E.B. DuBois were frustrated middle-class professionals • challenged Jim Crow laws in court • Guinn v. Oklahoma (1915) invalidated grandfather clauses • Buchanan v. Warley(1917) banned residential segregation ordinances • National Urban League founded in 1910 to promote economic development W.E.B. DuBois
Immigration Restriction • Immigration Restriction League • Led by Prescott F. Hall & Robert D. Ward • Advocated literacy test to keep out “undesirable” southern & eastern European immigrants • Eugenics • Charles Davenport founded Eugenics Record Office on Long Island • Advocated sterilization of criminals & mentally disabled • Margaret Sanger advocated birth control and abortion for eugenic reasons Harry Laughlin & Charles Davenport
The Role of Women • Cult of “true womanhood” • women as moral guardians of family & society • Used to demand voting rights • Upper & middle-class women led many reform groups • Women’s Christian Temperance Union • Children’s Aid Society • Settlement houses • Bolstered argument for women’s suffrage Frances Willard
Taking on the Party Machines • Opposed machines as both antidemocratic & inefficient • City gov’t reforms were antidemocratic: • Expert Commissions to replace city councils • Professional City Managers to administer affairs • Other reforms were more democratic: • Direct Primaries took control of nominations away from party leaders • Initiative & Referendum allowed voters to bypass legislature & enact laws directly • Recall elections allowed removal of unpopular officials before term expired
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) • Added 150 million acres to forest preserves • Dept. of Commerce & Labor created (1903) • Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act (1906) regulated food industry • Hepburn Act (1906) gave ICC authority to set maximum railroad rates • Broke up Northern Securities Trust (1904) • Mediated United Mine Workers’ strike (1902)
Pres. William Howard Taft (1909-1913) • Busted more trusts than T.R., but had pro-business reputation • Added to forest preserves, but angered conservationists by firing Gifford Pinchot • Mann Act (1910) outlawed “white slave trade” • Mann-Elkins Act (1910) strengthened ICC further • 16th & 17th Amendments passed by Congress in 1913
The 1912 Election • Roosevelt unsuccessfuly challenged Taft for the G.O.P. nomination • Roosevelt then formed Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party • Woodrow Wilson won Democratic nomination & election
Pres. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) • Federal Reserve Act (1913) created modern monetary system • 12 banks rediscount member banks’ loans • Notes backed 40% by gold, 60% by commercial paper • Sets “prime” interest rate, thus able to expand or contract credit & money supply • Underwood Tariff (1913) lowered rates & est. graduated income tax • Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) outlawed price discrimination, tying agreements & interlocking directorates • Federal Trade Commission (1914) created to regulate
Wilson (cont.) • Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) created 12 banks to make low-interest loans to farmers (part of Subtreasury Plan) • Adamson Act (1916) mandated 8-hour day & time and a half for overtime for railroad workers • Keating-Owen Act (1916) banned goods made by child labor from interstate commerce, but overturned by Supreme Court • 18th & 19th Amendments (1918, 1919) added to Constitution
The Progressive Amendments • 16th Amendment (1913) allowed for a graduated income tax • 17th Amendment (1913) mandated direct election of U.S. Senators • 18th Amendment (1919) permitted prohibition of alcohol • 19th Amendment (1920) granted right to vote to women