Political Reform and the Progressive Era (1870-1920)

1. Political Reform and the Progressive Era (1870-1920) Chapter 19

2. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • The era after the Civil War was known as the Gilded Age which means “Coated with a thin layer of gold paint.” • This age lasted from the 1870s-1890s

3. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • Americans had two fears • Feared industrialist and other wealthy men • Feared corruption or dishonesty in government • There was corruption in the government; critics say it was because of the spoils system.

4. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • In 1881, James Garfield became President-He was shot 4 months later and died 2 months after that. • His assassination worked to end the spoils system

5. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • Chester A. Arthur worked with Congress to reform how people got government jobs. • In 1883, the Pendleton Act created the Civil Service Commission • To fill jobs based on merit-or highest scores on civil service exams • Big Business had power over politics, the railroads and industrialists bribed members of congress. • The Constitution had the right to regulate interstates trade.

6. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • 1887, The Interstate Commerce Act-forbid practices such as rebates • President Benjamin Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 • It prohibited businesses from trying to limit or destroy competition.

7. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • Particularly a problem in city governments- mass corruption • Powerful politicians controlled work done locally and demanded payoffs from businesses • Boss Tweed-William Tweed, Cheated NYC out of more then $100 million. • Journalists exposed his crimes • Tweed fled to Spain where he was arrested, he ended up dying in jail in 1878

8. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • Progressives were reformers who believed in the public interest. • Wisconsin had a Progressive reformer, Robert La Follette, he opposed political bosses. • In 1903, Wisconsin was the first state to adopt a primary

9. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • States had new reforms, recalls, initiatives and referendums; also there was graduated income tax. • The wealthy pay taxes at a higher rate than the poor or middle class • This became the 16th amendment

10. Gilded Age and Progressive Reform • Muckrakers • The press exposed corruption and other problems. • These people were muckrakers which is a crusading journalist • Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle which talked about the grisly details about the meatpacking industry.

11. Progressive Presidents • Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901 after President William McKinley was assassinated • Came from a wealthy family • At age 23 he was elected to the NYS legislature • Headed the NYPD and served as assistant secretary of the Navy • He had a reputation as a trust buster • Believed in good trusts and bad trusts

13. Progressive Presidents • He took action to protect the wilderness and began conservation and National parks • Passed a law in 1906 which allowed closer inspections of the meatpacking industry • Passed the Pure Food and Drug Act • Food and drug makers had to list all ingredients

14. Progressive Presidents • William Howard Taft • He broke up trusts, believed in graduated income, safety rules for mines, and gave government workers an 8 hour work day • In 1909, he signed a bill that raised most tariffs • He lost support of the Progressive party • Roosevelt ran for the 1912 election under the Progressive party

15. Progressive Presidents • Woodrow Wilson ran for the Democratic party • He was honest and idealistic but he was also rigid and unwilling to compromise with others • Wilson won the election • He wanted to restore competition between American corporations • This was called New Freedom

16. Progressive Presidents • He created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 • It had the power to investigate companies and order them to stop using unfair practices • Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914 banned many businesses • Set up the Federal Reserve Act in 191, gave the government the power to raise or lower interest rates and control the money supply

17. The Rights of Women • Seneca Falls Convention of 1848(Began organized women’s rights movement) • Many states opposed women’s suffrage. • Only 4 western states allowed it-Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho.

18. The Rights of Women • By the early 1900’s, support grew. Carrie Chapman Catt had a plan to get states to allow women to vote. • This happened one by one. • Women called for a change to make it so they could vote in federal elections. When a suffragist, Alice Paul, met with Woodrow Wilson and he eventually pledged his support for an amendment. • By August of 1920, 3/4th of the states had ratified the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote.

19. The Rights of Women • Although women were gaining more rights, some were still withheld. • Women managed to get higher education. Boston University gave the first PhD to a woman. • Women’s clubs became more then book clubs; they became a group for reformers. • Women worked in cities to help the people. Florence Kelley investigated conditions in sweatshops and organized boycotts.

20. The Rights of Women • A Crusade against Alcohol • In 1874, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, led by Frances Willard spoke of the evils of alcohol. She worked to get a ban on the sale of liquor. • Carry Nation

21. The Rights of Women • Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment in 1917, this was prohibition, and it prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol

22. Struggles for Justice • African Americans faced discrimination in the North and the South. • Booker T. Washington-was born into slavery, taught himself to read, worked in coal mines, helped to found the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He wanted African Americans to learn trades and try to move up in society. • He won the support of Andrew Carnegie and John. D Rockefeller

23. Struggles for Justice • W.E.B Du Bois was a brilliant scholar and was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. • He urged people to fight discrimination and in 1909 joined reformers to form the national Associated for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP.

24. Struggles for Justice • In the 1890’s there were more the 1,000 victims of lynching. These murders outraged people • Ida B. Wells wrote a newspaper, Free Speech, called for the boycotting of segregated streetcars and white-owned stores.

25. Struggles for Justice • Few white progressives gave much thought to African American problems. • Woodrow Wilson even ordered segregation in the federal civil service. • Despite these circumstances, some African Americans succeeded.

26. Struggles for Justice • Mexican Americans faced legal segregation. • There was an increase in immigration in 1910 when a famine swept Mexico. They came from all levels in society. • They initially lived in the South-west but had to move to find jobs.

27. Struggles for Justice • Often worked as field hands, built roads or dug irrigation ditches, worked on railroads, and city factories. They were paid less then Anglo workers. • They sought to preserve their language and culture. • They created barrios which were Mexican American neighborhoods.

28. Struggles for Justice • Asian Americans • 1882(Chinese Exclusion Act)-Chinese were not allowed into the United States • Many Japanese entered the US in the early 1900’s. They sought a better life. • Many newcomers were farmers.

29. Struggles for Justice • There was a lot of prejudice against Japanese students. In 1906, they were forced to attend different schools. • Unions and other groups put pressure on President Theodore Roosevelt to limit immigration.

30. Struggles for Justice • He came to a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with Japan in 1907. Japan would stop any more workers from coming to the US, and the US would allow Japanese women to join their husbands who were already here. • Anti-Japanese feelings were still high.

31. Struggles for Justice • Religious minorities faced prejudice, mainly against Roman Catholics and Jews. –these people were discriminated against. • Because of this, American Catholics set up their own schools, parochial schools.

32. Struggles for Justice • Anti-Semitism, prejudice against Jews was everywhere. • Leo Frank was killed by a mob. • Jews founded the Anti-Defamation League (Spreading of false, hateful information)