Williams HIS 202 Progressive Era Part I and II

9.27.22

Progressive Era 1890- 1920

Assimilation and Response ❖ Native American Boarding

Schools

❖ Attempts to rid Native Americans of their traditional cultures

❖ Some reformers sought to ‘save’ Native Americans from their perceived inferior ways

❖ Goal: to make them more ‘American’ by destroying their home culture: “kill the Indian, save the Man”

http://genocide.leadr.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2014/12/Tom-Torlino.jpg

Responses to Assimilation

Ghost Dance ❖ Background: Native Populations

decimated by War with U.S., assimilation, and forced removal

❖ Wovoka (Paiute leader) developed a new ritual that rejected white dominance

❖ Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) - US Cavalry sent in to stop Ghost Dance, killed 146 Native American men, women, and children

American Expansionism ❖ Alfred T. Mahan The Influence of Sea Power upon History

(1890)

❖ Explained British Empire dominance and their Navy

❖ Argued for expanded American Navy and Ports to protect American trade with foreign countries

❖ After America’s western frontier ‘closed', Mahan’s theory became reality and America looked for new frontiers

Imperialism ❖ Spanish-American War - 1898

❖ Context: Cuban revolt against Spanish colonial rule

❖ USS Maine destroyed in Havana Harbor - 270 Americans died

❖ War between America and Spain ensued (first instance of American soldiers fighting outside Western Hemisphere)

❖ Theodore Roosevelt engaged in battle with his Rough Riders Cavalry, gaining fame

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.28705

Imperialism ❖ Results of the Spanish-American War

❖ The US acquired the Philippines (“to uplift and civilize”), Puerto Rico, and Guam as territories

❖ Platt Amendment (Cuban Constitution) - US could intervene militarily; Navy Station in Cuba - Guantanamo Bay

❖ The US acquired Hawaii - American Sugar Planters revolted and overthrew Hawaiian Queen

❖ America now tasted foreign power and influence, and many argued for a spreading of American values and ‘civilization’ under the banner of “white man’s burden.’

1900-1920

Progressivism ❖ Responses to: Industrialization, Urbanization, Immigration

ds 10253 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.10253

Progressive Era 1890-1916 ❖ Responses to the New

Era of Industrialism and American Expansion

❖ Topical Areas: ❖ Immigration

❖ Social Changes

❖ The Role of Business In America

❖ The Role of Experts to Solve Social Problems

❖ Attempts to eradicate social ‘ills’ through applied research and political reform

❖ The Role of America in the World

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire ❖ 1911 Fire, New York City ❖ Women and Immigrants

protested working and sanitary conditions prior to 1911

❖ Management/owners refused fire escapes and unlocked doors

❖ Fire erupted in the Factory, killing 146 workers.

❖ Public Outrage created national fight for Reform and improved working conditions

https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tff- sidewalk.jpg

Labor Reform

Journalism ❖ “Muckrakers” - journalists and writers that

exposed unsafe labor practices and dire social conditions in industrial America.

❖ Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives ❖ Visually documented urban poverty and

social conditions ❖ Influenced housing reforms in major

cities ❖ Promoted the idea that society needed

to help those in need within the new urban industrial reality

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jacob-riis/writer.html

https://www.archives.gov/files/education/lessons/hine-photos/images/mine- worker.gif

Progressive Reform: ‘Muckraking’ Journalists; Lewis Hine.

Exposed child labor, urban poverty, industrial waste, political corruption

Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-10960

Labor Reform

Upton Sinclair ❖ Novel depicting immigrant labor

in meat packing plant ❖ Exposed unsanitary conditions,

disease, filth ❖ Congress passed Meat Inspection

Act and Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906

http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-jungle

Social Gospel ❖ Charles Sheldon - What Would Jesus Do?

❖ Minister, published novel advocating application of Christian principles to society

❖ Walter Rauschenbusch

❖ “The social gospel seeks to bring men under repentance for their collective sins and to create a more sensitive and more modern conscience” (A Theology for the Social Gospel, 1917)

❖ Both advocated saving not just the individual, but society as a whole

Women’s Movements ❖ Evolution from female ‘Clubs’ and

Ladies Organizations ❖ Women’s Christian Temperance

Union (WCTU) - Francis Willard: viewed alcohol as a ‘social ill’

❖ Jane Adams and Hull House

❖ Settlement House in urban community to aid immigrants, mothers, children, and help people become citizens

❖ Generated data and statistics on labor and social conditions to assist national reformers and politicians

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a13016

Women’s Suffrage ❖ Increased public organizing of women by 1900

❖ Women’s Christian Temperance Union, National American Suffrage Association as national advocates

❖ Alice Paul, National Woman’s Party - militant wing of the suffragist movement.

❖ Picketed the White House, demanded the female vote.

❖ Nineteenth Amendment (1919) - supported by President Wilson, it provided the right to vote for all American women

❖ Culminated years of public messaging, protest, organizing, and determination

Progressive Politics

Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette

Wisconsin Idea • Used the advice and research findings of

University of Wisconsin social scientists to help create laws

• Issued the Direct Primary to allow voters to select political candidates

• Initiative and Referendum: gave voters the right to introduce and repeal legislation

• Recall: allowed voters to reject/remove public officials

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/lhbum.07510 Library of Congress

Theodore Roosevelt ❖ 26th President (1901-1909) ❖ Advocated regulating corporations

rather than breaking them up ❖ Hepburn Act (1906) - Roosevelt

strengthens the Interstate Commerce Commission in its fair regulation of Railroad rates and practices

❖ TR supported sensible regulation of business under the banner of supporting the ‘public interest’

❖ TR also expanded the role of government in these matters

https://www.biography.com/people/theodore-roosevelt-9463424

Environment

❖ Increasing understanding of environmental / biological impact of American Industrial development ❖ Bison, Passenger Pigeon, Forests, Water - lost to development ❖ Progressive Reform Efforts: Preservation vs. Conservation

❖ John Muir (founder, Sierra Club) advocated leaving natural wilderness alone to provide spiritual human escape from urban / civilized decay

❖ Gifford Pinchot (US Forest Service) argued for national regulation and conservation of 'natural resources’ for the use of man ❖ Hetch Hetchy Controversy: Conservation won

http://www.hetchhetchy.org/what_is_wrong_with_this_picture

Conservation Movement ❖ Progressive Era approach to land

and natural resource management ❖ Roosevelt used experts to set policy

for land use and conservation

❖ US Forest Service, 1905; Antiquities Act, 1906; National Parks; National Monuments; Protection of 230 million acres in the US

❖ Roosevelt expanded the role of the President and Government to protect and manage wildlife and natural resources in America

https://www.doi.gov/blog/conservation-legacy-theodore-roosevelt

Panama Canal

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.03152https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/suez.html

Panama Canal - 1914

❖ TR sought a trade route through South America to the Pacific

❖ Canal would express America’s growing power: increased military and industrial strength

❖ Progressive spirit of applying experts, science, and management to find solutions

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/photos/2012/11/06/today-in-photo-history-1906-teddy-roosevelt- visits-panama-canal-project

Roosevelt Expansion

❖ U.S expansion and increased control in the Western Hemisphere (Latin America)

❖ Panama Canal

❖ Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine - The US would intervene in Latin America to prevent European powers from exerting influence or force in the Western Hemisphere.

❖ Great White Fleet: Roosevelt sent US warships on a tour of the Pacific and Japan to display US Naval Power (1907)

Election of 1912 ❖ Background: Roosevelt ended his term in 1908 and was

succeeded by William Howard Taft

❖ Election of 1912: Roosevelt decided to run again, ultimately as the leader of a new party: The”Bull Moose” or Progressive Party

❖ Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) vs. Roosevelt (Progressive) vs. William H. Taft (Republican) vs. Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)

❖ Issue: TR's 'New Nationalism’ vs. WW’s ‘New Freedom’

Election of 1912 ❖ Roosevelt’s New Nationalism • Advocated a strong federal government to regulate

industry

• Sought to tax personal and corporate wealth

• Wanted an end to child labor

• Supported women’s voting rights

• Supported an 8-hour work day

• Supported national insurance for the unemployed and for medical costs

❖ Wilson’s New Freedom • Argued for smaller, but still active government to

protect personal freedoms

• Argued for small business, and against giant/ consolidated corporations to maintain free markets

• Argued for the break up of Trusts, regulation of big banks, and lowering protective tariffs

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/wilson-legacy-racism/417549/

https://www.biography.com/people/theodore- roosevelt-9463424

28th President of the United States

Woodrow Wilson

❖ Democrat - Southerner from Virginia

❖ President of Princeton University ❖ Governor of New Jersey ❖ Progressive: Anti-Trust; Pro-

Competition; Management by Experts

❖ New Freedom

https://www.biography.com/people/woodrow-wilson-9534272

Wilson Legislation ❖ Once President (1913), Wilson quickly enacted many pieces of the Progressive

agenda:

❖ Made the President the central power in the US

❖ Personally addressed Congress to pass legislation

❖ Underwood-Simmons Act: lowered the Tariff to increase business competition

❖ Federal Reserve Act, 1913: 12 Regional banks with leaders appointed by President; Set Interest Rates; Managed money supply and credit

❖ Federal Trade Commission, 1914: investigated business corruption and unfair labor practices, to protect competition

❖ Introduced 8-hour workday for Railroads / influenced national 8-hour day

Wilson and Race

❖ Although President Wilson initiated many Progressive reforms aimed at helping average Americans and halting the power of business corruption, Wilson did not believe in racial equality.

❖ Authorized segregation in the federal government and White House.

❖ William Trotter (Boston Newspaper Editor) met to disagree with this policy. Wilson replied: “segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.” (as quoted in http://www.bu.edu/professorvoices/2013/03/04/the-long-forgotten-racial-attitudes-and-policies-of-woodrow-wilson/)

Jack Johnson ❖ Born Galveston, Texas in 1878 ❖ Johnson was not only a superior

athlete, but an outspoken personality

❖ Disregarded segregation - publicly displayed relationships with white women

❖ Became a hero for African Americans ❖ Defeated Jim Jeffries (“Great White

Hope”) in 1910

❖ “White men in my county could not take it…” (Benjamin Mays, South Carolina, as quoted in A Fierce Discontent, 276)

Progressive Legacies ❖ Eight Hour Workday

❖ Women and the Vote

❖ Direct Election of Senators

❖ Graduated Income Tax (Corporate Taxes)

❖ Public Utilities

❖ The creation of the “active and interventionist modern state.” (Nation of Nations, 641)

Wilson’s Moral Diplomacy

❖ “We are chosen…to show the way to the nations of the world how they shall walk in the paths of liberty.”(as quoted in Nation of Nations, 648)

❖ Democracy and Capitalism

Road to War

• 1914-1917: European Nations increasingly expanded their Alliances and Empires

• Germany, Austria- Hungary, Italy sign mutual defense treaty in 1882

• Great Britain, France, Russia sign treaty in 1904 and 1907 - “Triple Entente”

https://www.vox.com/a/world-war-i-maps

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i

• Archduke Ferdinand (Austria) made a state visit to Bosnia in 1914 • Context: Serbian patriots wanted to expand their country to provide new lands for fellow Serbs

living in Bosnia. Serbian national assassinates Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, forcing European countries react according to their Alliance and Treaty obligations.

Road To War

❖ Austria issues a declaration of war against Serbia

❖ Russia would defend Serbia (fellow Slavic peoples)

❖ Germany (Kaiser Wilhelm II), who wanted to stop British military and imperial dominance in Europe, and build his own German Empire, declared war on Russia

❖ Great Britain, in defense of France, and in treaty agreements with Russia, declare war on Germany

Wilson and American Neutrality ❖ The United States initially remains neutral

❖ Anti-War rallies led by Jane Addams, forming Woman’s Peace Party

❖ However, traditional cultural, economic, and political ties to the ‘Old World’ strained America’s effort to remain neutral

❖ German immigrants supported Germany. Irish immigrants supported Germany victory over Great Britain, hoping to free Ireland from British control

❖ *In 1914, the US produced roughly 1/3 of the world’s manufactured products

Lusitania

http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/europe_may_2_1915.jpg

• Through the use of submarine warfare (U-Boats) Germany declared the seas around Britain a war zone

• Sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania (May 1915). Later confirmed this ship was carrying munitions of Britain

• 1,198 passengers killed, including 128 Americans

The Road To War

❖ Election of 1916: Wilson re-elected with the help of women voters: “He kept us out of war!”

❖ Britain and Germany battled to control the oceans during the war - attempting to prevent American shipments to both countries

❖ Their efforts to protect and control shipping pushed the United States closer to entering the war.

Escalation

❖ Wilson sends notes of protest to Germany but maintains neutrality

❖ US contributes financial support to the “Allied” war effort: Loans to Britain and France: by 1917, the US loaned $2 Billion to the Allies; $27 Million to Germany as well

❖ Trench warfare in Europe and terrible stalemate

❖ Germany steadily viewed as ‘the Enemy’

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/04/world-war-i-in-photos-the-western-front-part-i/507197/

Zimmerman Telegram ❖ Germany escalated submarine attacks on Allied and American ships

in an effort to win the war stalemate

❖ 1917: Britain intercepts a telegram from Germany to Mexico, showing German support to Mexico if Mexico agreed to join in war again the United States

❖ April 2, 1917: President Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war against Germany: “The world must be safe for democracy..” ❖ Increasing German submarine attacks

❖ American investment in the Allies

❖ American immigrant and traditional cultural links to Allied countries