Chapter 18 - The Progressive Era (1900-1916)

CHAPTER 18 - THE PROGRESSIVE ERA (1900-1916) ●​ Progressivism: a way of thinking that holds that it is possible through political action for human societies to improve over time ○​ As a political movement, progressivism advances the human condition through social reform based on advancements in science, technology, and economy ●​ Urban Age, Consumer Society ○​ The progressive era was a period of explosive economic growth in both farms and cities: increasing industrial production, rapid rise in population, and expansion of consumer marketplace ○​ The city, was the focus of progressive politics and mass consumer society ○​ The city: inequality, corporate greed undermining “traditional american values” ○​ Muckraking: use of journalistic skills to expose underside of american life ○​ Immigration from Italy, Russia, and Austro-Hungarian Empire ■​ Poverty, illiteracy, taxation, declining economies, and political instability drove migrants to the US ■​ New York CIty had an immigrant population of 76% in 1920 ○​ New immigrants lived in close-knit ethnic neighborhoods ■​ Endured low wages, long hours, dangerous conditions ●​ Under Age, Consumer Society Part 2 ○​ Cities were a birthplace of mass-consumption society ○​ Large department stores, neighborhood chain stores ○​ Amusement parks, dance halls ○​ Working women: traditional gender roles were changing ■​ Jobs for native-born White women expanded tremendously, including wives ○​ Fordlism: Henry Ford’s production techniques at Ford Motor Company revolutionized manufacturing ○​ Abundance: new advertising industry, personal fulfillment through acquiring material goods ●​ Variety of Progressivism: Industrial Freedom ○​ Immediate task of Progressives was to humanise industrial capitalism and find common ground in a society racked by labour conflict and experiencing massive immigration ○​ They largely felt freedom has to be infused with new meaning to address social, economic conditions of early 20th century ○​ Frederick W Taylor believed scientific study could optimise production processes scientific management ■​ Skilled workers saw erosion of their influence over work process as a loss of freedom ■​ Progressives felt lack of “industrial freedom” was at the root of the labour problem - wanted to empower workers ○​ American socialism peaked in influence - Socialist party called for reforms including free college, labour improvements, public ownership of factories, railroads ■​ Gained support from AFL, strongholds in lower east side ■​ Eugene v. Debs - spread socialist gospel, linking it to equality, self-government, and freedom ○​ After the depression of the 1890s, labour saw a spike in membership as immigrants protested for better working conditions and new labour leaders rose to prominence ■​ 1905: unionists formed Industrial Workers of the World ■​ Sought to mobilise immigrants, migrant agricultural workers, women, black and chinese workers ■​ AFL had been exclusionary towards non-White, less skilled workers ○​ Mass strikes pushed for collective bargaining - negotiations between employer and a group of employees ■​ Courts largely rejected free speech claims by labour organisers ●​ Variety of Progressivism: New feminism, Native Americans ○​ During the progressivism era, the word “feminism” first entered the political vocabulary ■​ “Both has human being and a sex-being” ○​ Issues of intimate personal relations appeared in magazines and public debates ○​ Women in labour market reinforced demands for contraception ■​ Margaret Sanger placed birth control movement at heart of new feminism ■​ Sanger founded the precursor to Planned Parenthood, but they disavowed her in 2020 over her past record with eugenics and racism ●​ Variety of Progressivism: Native Americans ○​ A new generations of Native American reformers participated in the progressive impulse ○​ Native American reforms formed Society of American Indians in 1911 ■​ Pressed to include Native studies in federal boarding schools ■​ Other native groups aimed to retain, restore land as a basis for indigenous freedom ■​ Congress established state of Oklahoma in 1907 uniting Indian and Oklahoma territory, limiting indian sovereignty ●​ The Politics of Progressivism ○​ Progressivism was a global government, as many cities struggled with rapid industrialisation and urban growth ○​ As governments in Europe instituted pensions, minimum wage laws and unemployment insurance, Americans felt they had much to learn from Europe as they sought to adopt an activist, socially conscious government ○​ State and local reforms ■​ Goals: reduce power of political bosses, control natural monopolies, improve public transportation ○​ Direct democracy to revitalise corrupt politics ■​ William U’Ren and Oregon System: Initiative, referendum, recall ■​ Oregon used initiative to grant women’s suffrage and California and Washington followed ■​ La Follette instituted primary elections for nominations, state regulation of railroads and public utilities safety devices on machinery, and others ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ○​ Progressive Amendments: Sixteenth (income tax) Seventeenth (direct election of senators), Eighteenth (prohibition) Nineteenth (women’s suffrage) James Addams and Hull House ○​ Even while barred from voting, women like Jane Addams were central to reforms of the Progressive Era ■​ Addams formed Hull House in Chicago ■​ Settlement house devoted to improving lives of immigrant poor Women’s Suffrage and Materialist Reforms ○​ The desire to exalt women’s role within the home reinvigorated the suffrage movement ○​ After 1900, the campaign for women’s suffrage moved from the elitism of the 1890s to engage a broad coalition: middle class members of women’s clubs, unionists, socialists, and settlement house workers ○​ Membership in NAWSA grew from 13,000 to 2 million from 1893-1917 ■​ 1900: more than half of states allowed women to vote in local elections ■​ 1913: Illinois became first state east of Mississippi to allow women to vote in presidential elections ○​ Suffrage campaigns effectively used advertising, publicity, mass entertainment ○​ Maternalist reforms rested on assumption that government should encourage women’s capacity for bearing, raising children ■​ Supreme court upheld a law setting maximum working hours for women ■​ Maternalist agenda built gender inequality into the early foundations of the welfare state, but eventually this spilled over into universal economic entitlements and protections. Women’s Suffrage and Maternalist Reforms ○​ Ironically, the desire to exalt women’s roles within the home reinvigorated the suffrage movement ○​ The movement moves from elitism in the 1890s to engage a broad coalition: middle class members of women's club, unionists, socialists, and settlement-house workers ■​ Membership in NAWSA grew from 13,000 in 1893 to 2 million in 1917 ○​ Birth control, prohibition (ruining the household and causing crime), eventually voting ○​ !900: more than half of states allowed women to vote in local elections ■​ 1913: illinois became first state east of Missipi to allow women to vote in presidential elections ○​ Suffrage campaigns effectively used advertising, publicity, and mass entertainment ○​ Maternalist reforms rested on assumption that government should encourage women’s capacity for bearing, raising children ■​ Supreme court upheld a law setting maximum working hours for women ■​ Maternalist agenda built gender inequality into the early foundations of the welfare state, but eventually this spilled over into universal economic entitlements and protections Two arguments: the progressive era was a time of presidents vs. the progressive era was a time for people to push from the bottom up ●​ Progressive Presidents ○​ Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Woodrow WIlson all addressed challenges of democratic self-determination and individual freedom - both progressive goals ○​ Roosevelt’s domestic programme was called the Square Deal ■​ Addressed problems caused by economic consolidation ■​ Used Sherman Antitrust Act to break up holding companies ■​ Passed Pure Food and Drug Act ○​ John Muir organised Sierra Club to preserve forests ■​ Roosevelt made conservation movement a federal policy ○​ Taft broke up Standard Oil and supported 16th amendment (graduated income tax) ■​ Ballinger-Pinchot affair led to Progressive breaking from Republicans ○​ Wilson sought to reinvigorate democracy by restoring market competition - New freedom ○​ Adopted Underwood Tariff (reduced import duties), passed Clayton Act (exempted labor unions from antitrust laws) ■​ Outlawed child labour, established 8 hour workdays on railroads ■​ Established Federal Trade Commission, Federal Reserve, greatly expanding the role of government ○​ 1912 MAP - When woodrow Wilson won the election ■​ He won a lot of states, but not a lot of votes ■​ Most votes a third party candidate has ever gotten CHAPTER 19 - Safe for Democracy: The US and World War I (1916-1920) ●​ An era of intervention ○​ Just as they expanded powers of the federal government in domestic affairs, Presidents Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson increasingly projected American power outside the country’s borders ○​ Theodore Roosevely was most active ■​ Was convinced that a canal between Atlantic and Pacific oceans would facilitate sailing ■​ When Columbia refused to code land for the project, Roosevelt set in motion an uprising by Panamians, and prevented the Colombian army from intervening ■​ Upon gaining independence, Panama signed a treaty filing the US the right to construct and have sovereignty over a canal zone ○​ The US maintained this until December 31st, 1999 ●​ Roosevelt Corollary ○​ A monroe doctrine United States had a right to exercise an “international police power in Western Hampshire” ○​ Taft: Emphasized economic investment over direct military intervention (Deller Diplomacy) ○​ Wilson: Appointed anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State ■​ Promised to respect Latin American independence ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ■​ Moral imperialism actually led to more military intervention - intervened in Mexico against uprisings by Zapata and “Pancho” Villa America and the Great War ○​ In June 1914, following the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, World War 1 broke out, and the US found itself sharply divided, often siding with their ancestral nations ○​ Immigrants were British Americans, German Americans, Irish Americans, and Russians ■​ Especially jews ■​ All took sides ○​ Wilson proclaimed American neutrality, but sinking Lusitania outraged Americans ○​ Wilson reelected; had promised not to send American troops ■​ Following discovery of Zimmerman telegram, Wilson asked for a declaration of war in 1917 ■​ November 1917: communist revolution led by Lenin overthrew Russian government and Russia withdrew from war ■​ January 1918: Wilson issues Fourteen Points speech The War at Home ○​ While millions died overseas during the war, between 20 and 40 million were killed by a pandemic ○​ Wartime mobilization contributed to vital spread ■​ Progressives saw war as a chance to reform society along scientific lines and disseminate progressive values worldwide ○​ National state with unprecedented powers: ■​ Selective Service Act of May 1917 ■​ War Industries Board oversaw wartime production ○​ Propaganda war - Wilson created Committee on Public Information to explain why the US fought ■​ Distributed propaganda, including posters, to support the war effort The War at Home: Suffrage and Prohibition ○​ Discussion of democracy and freedom led to their expansion at home, and eventually the coming of women’s suffrage ■​ Most women’s suffrage leaders endorsed the war ■​ Wilson endorsed Women’s suffrage in 1916 ■​ Outrage over Alice Paul’s treatment helped increase support ■​ 1920: Nineteenth Amendment ratified ○​ ○​ War added to Prohibition’s cause - passage of Eighteenth Amendment ■​ There were many reasons: prominent breweries were German-owned and alcohol was seen as a problem by employers (workplace discipline and urban political machine organising) ■​ Domestic violence, and imposition of “american” values on immigrants The War at Home: Civil Liberties ○​ World War 1 raised questions that the nation has grappled with from the Civil War through McCarthyism, the war on terror, and the Second Trump administration - what is the balance between security and freedom? ○​ Government enacted laws to restrict freedom of speech ■​ Espionage Act of 1917: crime to spy and interfere with draft, also make “false statements” that might impede on military success ■​ Sedition Act of 1918: crime to mae spoken or printed statements that intended to cast “contempt, scorn, or disrepute” on the “form of government”, or that that advocated interference with a war effort ○​ Eugene V. Debs was jailed for making an anti war speech ■​ Patriotism eventually became coercive, as all levels of government - and even private groups - equated patriotism with support of the war. ■​ Most progressives saw the national state as the embodiment of democratic purposed and believed in national power to improve social conditions, so they were ill prepared to defend minority rights against a majority tyrannical government ●​ Eugenics, Rights, Freedom, and 1919 ○​ The 1910s were a dark time for race relations and minority rights ■​ Dictionary of Races or Peoples listed 45 immigrant “races” and characteristics ○​ Now tying race to characteristics ○​ Racial purity is important because other races have characteristics you do not want ○​ Eugenics: studied alleged mental characteristics of different groups of people ■​ This is where “racial purity” comes from ■​ Indiana passed a law allowing doctors to sterilise developmentally disabled houses in state institutions (these practices were carefully studied by Nazi Germany) ○​ Forced Americanisation, especially in public schools, was levied most heavily on Germans ■​ Segregation was common, even against Mexicans and Mexican Americans ■​ Gentleman’s Agreement (1907) whereby Japan ended migration to the US ○​ African Americans were excluded from nearly every Progressive definition of freedom ■​ Wilson screened D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation at the White House ■​ W.E.B DuBois ●​ Race Relations, Civil Liberties ○​ African-Americans were excluded from nearly every Progressive definition of freedom ■​ Wilson screened D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation at the White House ■​ W.E.B. Dubois wrote extensively about the Black condition and American democracy ■​ Opposed Booker T. Washington, pressed for equal rights ■​ Believed education, investigation, and exposure would lead to solutions for social problems ■​ Organised Niagara movement (in Canada) to reinvigorate abolitionist position, and he later formed NAACP ○​ Great Migration of African Americans from South to North ■​ Crushing racial violence: Tulsa Massacre in 1921 ○​ Russian Revolution sent tremors of fear through the west ■​ 1919 was peak of labour unrest - 4 million engaged in strikes ○​ If you’re saying something that poses danger to the government it does not get government protection CHAPTER 20 - THE GREAT DEPRESSION ●​ Depression ○​ GDP is down and inflation is up ●​ The Business of America ○​ The 1920s were a time of economic prosperity captured succinctly by President Valvin Coolidge - “The chief business of the American people is business” ●​ Industrial production boomed as Europe was recovering from WW1 ○​ Proliferation of consumer goods in particular ○​ Increased spending on leisure activities, growth in celebrity culture ●​ Limits of prosperity ○​ Real wages rose less than corporate profits ■​ 1% of banks controlled half financial resources ○​ Many families had no savings; productivity increases led to deindustrialisation ●​ Farmer’s plight: mechanisation and fertiliser use increased agricultural output, but world demand fell, so prices fall ○​ Many migrated out of rural areas to places like Southern California ●​ Despite underlying economic problems, businesses worked hard to justify their corporate practices and hang attitudes about wall street ●​ Companies adopted “welfare capitalism” ○​ Private pensions and medical insurance ●​ Alice Paul and National Women’s Party proposed Equal Rights Amendment ○​ Proposed eliminating all legal distinctions “on account of sex” ○​ Only six states ratified the ERA ○​ Social gains- female liberation was representative in the flapper (a symbol of cultural rebellion) ■​ Represents youth, freedom, changing societal norms ■​ What society is turning into ●​ Prohibition Enforcement ○​ The government’s role in crime control expanded greatly, but the wealthy who desired to consume alcohol remained one step ahead ○​ Wealthy people can often get by and get alcohol, poor people get caught ●​ The Supreme Court backed aggressive Prohibition enforcement ○​ New agencies included Border Patrol, Customs Bureau, and coast guard ○​ Illegal manufacturers managed to pay off judges, politicians, and police ●​ Business and Government ○​ The 1920s featured three consecutive Republican presidents and government politics reflected the pro-business ethos of the time ●​ Warren Harding promised a “return to normalcy” but his admin was one of the most corrupt ○​ Teapot Dome scandal: Secretary of Interior Albert Fall accepted bribes to lease government land to oil companies ○​ Died in 1923; Coolidge reelected in 1924 in a landslide ●​ The Birth of Civil Liberties and other Tensions ○​ Among the casualties of World War 1 era was the idea that an active government was a good thing ○​ The suppression of civil liberties, prohibition, and the pro-business policies of the 1920s led to a new appreciation of civil liberties and specifically a protection of speech ●​ Amidst aggressive censorship, many intellectuals ridiculed American culture ○​ They became known as the Lost generation ○​ Prominent members were Emest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald ●​ Birth of American Civil Liberties Union to protect civil liberties ○​ Many of anti-speech decisions were upheld, like Schneck ●​ Fundamentalist revolt-Scopes trial, over arrest of Tennessee teacher teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution ○​ Scopes (teacher) was found guilty, but fundamentalists later retreated from education ●​ Johnson-Reed Act (1924) - limited immigration from Asia ●​ Also birth of Harlem amidst Great Migration ○​ Harlem Renaissance ●​ The Birth of Civil Liberties and other tensions ○​ Among the casualties of WW1 era was the idea that an active government was a good thing ○​ The suppression of civil liberties, prohibition, and the pro-business policies of the 1920s led to a new appreciation of civil liberties and specifically a protection of speech ●​ Amidst aggressive censorship, many intellectuals ridiculed American culture ○​ They became known as the Lost Generation ●​ Birth of American Civil Liberties to protect civil liberties ○​ Many anti-speech decisions were upheld CHAPTER 21 - THE NEW DEAL (1932-1940) ●​ After the crisis of the Great Depression (economic crisis), Americans were desperate for new leadership ○​ Rejected hoover and the Republican party ●​ Goals: ○​ An alternative to socialism ○​ A reconciliation of democracy, individual liberty, economic recovery, and development ●​ Step #1: Address the banking crisis ○​ Emergency Banking Act: provided money to shore up institutions ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ○​ Glass Steagall Act: established FDIC and barred commercial banks from buying and selling stocks ○​ National Recovery Administration: established standards for output, prices, working conditions ○​ Civilian Conservation Corps: set unemployed young men to work on projects enhancing the environment The new deal was a series of programs, laws, and reforms introduced by US President Franklin Roosevelt (1930s) to help the country recover from the Great Depression ○​ Aimed to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery for the economy, and reform to prevent future depressions ○​ Key initiatives included public work projects, financial regulations, and the creation of social security Public works projects ○​ Public Works Administration: built roads, schools, hospitals, public facilitates Agriculture ○​ Agricultural Adjustment Act: government set production quotas for crops and paid farmers to plant less ○​ Raised farm prices and incomes, but benefits flowed mostly to property owning farmers ○​ Dust Bowl: a dust storm caused by a drought and the erosion of topsoil in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Colorado Housing ○​ The home loan marked was decimated due to foreclosures and collapse of banks ○​ Federal Housing Administration: insured millions of long-term mortgages issues by private banks ○​ Fannie Mae: federal national mortgage association ■​ Goal was to expand the flow of mortgage money by creating a secondary mortgage market ○​ Freddie Mac: federal home loan mortgage corporation created later to further support fannie mae Courts ○​ Under republican control, they invalidated a lot of the New deal programs ○​ The First New Deal largely failed to end the depression or win judicial approval, so it ground to a halt ○​ Pressure was mounting outside Washington for more radical policy departures The Failure of the first new deal ○​ It focused mainly on emergency relief and recovery rather than long term reform ○​ It provided jobs and stabilized banks, but didn’t significantly reduce unemployment or revive the economy The Grassroots Revolt ○​ FDR’s first administration saw an upheaval by organised labour (strikes and violent confrontations alike) ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ○​ His administration also resulted in a political realignment will labour becoming a mainstay of the democratic coalition ■​ The federal government was now on the side of labor ○​ American born children of new immigrants dominated the labour force ○​ Employers had substantial power- fire employees at will, control length of work day ○​ Congress of industrial organizations: sought to organise all workers within a given industry ○​ Gradually, the labour upsurge helped to put economic justice on the political agenda, as Americans name to believe that prosperity would result from an American standard of living based on mass consumption Traditionally republican voters began moving toward democratic party because of FDR’s economic relief programs and progressive reforms ○​ This shift formed a new deal coalition ■​ A diverse alliance that made the democratic party dominant in national politics for decades ■​ It marked the transformation of the democrats into the party of federal government intervention in the economy and social welfare The Second New Deal ○​ Roosevelt launched the second new deal - more focused on economic security than recovery ■​ Distributing national income to sustain mass consumer purchasing power ○​ Works progress administration: hired 3 million americans and constructed buildings, bridges, roads, airports, stadiums, swimming pools ○​ Social security act: created unemployment insurance, old age pensions, and aid to people with disabilities A reckoning with Liberty ○​ Roosevelt used fireside chats to speak to the public ○​ Redefined liberalism as a large, active government ○​ 1936 election: working class voters helped democrats won big, and politics reflected class divisions The Court Fight ○​ FDR’s presidency still featured a supreme court largely appointed by Republican presidents who preceded him and ruled against many of his platforms ○​ Roosevelt proposed appointed a new justice for each past age 70 ■​ Rejected by congress ○​ Momentum of the second new deal slowed ■​ Economic downturn and failures of US Housing Act ○​ Rooesevelt was ready to follow Keysian economics - use of government spending to stimulate economic activity ■​ This was a shift New Deal Philosophy, public spending as the major tool to combat unemployment and stimulate growth The New Deal and the Limits of Change ○​ In many ways, for many groups of people, the New Deal did not bring substantive change ○​ American women: brought women into government ■​ Ideal of male-headed household dominated - demands for women to leave workforce surfaced ○​ The Southern veto: Social security law excluded agricultural and domestic workers ○​ Redlining ○​ Native americansL government policies from decades prior had devastated native economies ■​ Indian new deal: indian recognition act abolished forcible division of Native land into small plots, ended forced assimilation ○​ Mexican americans were nor eligible for social security