Highlights of Progressivism

1. Highlights of Progressivism

2. Guiding Question • Do the ends justify the means? • What matters more: the goal or how you reach the goal?

3. Review • Progressives • Broad term applied to social activists in a variety of areas from 1870-1915 • While most of the attention is on social reforms, the progressives were active or influenced other areas: • South and West settlements • Environmental activism • Women’s rights • Political reform • Business reform

4. Prelude to Progressives: The South • Post-Civil War and Reconstruction • South is still dominated by cotton • 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments create a firestorm of reform • Little increase in quality of life for African Americans • Progress Made…and Lost • Cotton goes from 82 cents in 1865 to 12 in 1890 • Diversify crops, railroad, introduce more factories • Farmers’ Alliance • Create equality on plantations and workers’ rights • Jim Crow Laws • Unspoken rules to control the behavior of African Americans • Segregation, bigotry, racism

5. Prelude to Progressives: Native Americans • Brief History • 1787 – Constitution gives government to regulate trade with NA • 1824 – Bureau of Indian Affairs created to handle government relations with NA • 1830 – Indian Removal Act forces all tribes west of the Mississippi • Changes • Displacement from native lands • Cultural assimilation: other tribes or white culture • Question: Where to go? What is the identity now?

6. Prelude to Progressives: Native Americans • New Settlers and Government Clashes • Sand Creek Massacre: Unprovoked attack, led to reservation reduction in Colorado territory • Red River War – 1874-5: Indians out of Texas panhandle • Battle of Little Big Horn: Dakotas, fight over land rights with gold, Sioux defeat army • Nez Perce Flight: Chief Joseph leads Nez Perce to Canada but is stopped, “I will fight no more forever” • Wounded Knee: Army attacks Lakota refugees, 100-300 NA die in attack • View Safari Montage video • Dawes Act of 1871 – establishes reservation system

7. Prelude to Progressives: The West • Homestead Act of 1862 • Government provided 160 acres of land to anyone that would 1) live on it for 5 years, 2) dig a well, and 3) build a road • Challenges to Homesteaders • Weather: windstorms, blizzards, droughts • Bugs: Locusts • Land claims • Diversity: Whites vs African Americans vs Mexican Americans vs Chinese

8. Prelude to Progressives • New Businesses • Mining • Discovery of silver and gold deposits bring in big businesses to professionally mine • Ghost towns: Towns abandoned after its use was reached, often old mining towns • Cowboys • Open-range system: brand livestock, let it roam, round it up, take it to the railroad depots to sell • Land claims force the end of the open-range system • Barbed wire • Cowboys vs. Vigilantes (Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, etc.)

9. Prelude to Progressivism • Populism and Populist Party • With economic conditions more straining, farmers united and formed a grassroots political party • The Populist Party believed in: • Unlimited coinage of silver (help national economy) • Graduated income tax • Government ownership of railroads and telegraphs • Bank regulations to help farmers and poor workers

10. Prelude to Progressivism • Populist Party • Strong in West and South • Integrated membership of blacks and whites • Height: 3 governors, 5 senators, 10 representatives • Election of 1896 • Populist back Democrat candidate William Jennings Bryan instead of electing their own • Bryan is defeated and Populism loses support • Many Populist ideas adopted by progressive groups • Showed an urban vs rural separation

11. Prelude to Progressives: Conclusion • How did changes in the South and West spark progressive thought? • Need to modernize whole country • Living conditions – homesteaders • Railroad, factories in South • Lack of formal education limits economic potential • Social control – good or bad? • Jim Crow laws • Assimilation of Native Americans to white culture

12. Goals of Progressives • Most progressive individuals and groups focused on four goals: • Protect Social Welfare • Promote Moral Improvement • Create Economic Reform and Stability • Foster Efficiency

13. Environmental Activism • Started under Teddy Roosevelt • Deep love of nature • Forests and National Parks • Protect forest areas to allow trees to mature and be used as lumber • Set aside certain lands for public use but to be maintained and unperverted – national parks • 58 national parks today • Utah has 5: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion • Water Reclamation • New irrigation canals and reservoirs • Water distribution in West placed under government control

14. Gender Activism - Women • Muller v. Oregon • Women are in a class of themselves and work hours limited • Also used to justify paying women less – a problem that is still being rectified today • Birth Control • Seen as one of the first ways in which a woman has more say over her body than a man • Social and employment opportunities limited by lack of education • Suffrage • Aided by other social reform successes • Originally proposed in 1870s • Protests, arrests, jail time, and continued support catch eye of politicians • Many politicians see value in gaining female vote for their party • Passed in 1919, ratified in 1920 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQhRCs9IHM

15. Race Activism – African Americans • Lack of formal education, limited skills, scientific-based employment practices restrict economic opportunities • How should AA respond to discrimination? • Booker T. Washington • Achieve economic independence, tolerate discrimination, gradual equality • W.E.B. Du Bois • Demand social and civil rights in order to gain economic independence • Formation of NAACP • Becomes unofficial political voice of the AA • Initiates voter registration • Notifies people about hate crimes • Creates network unifying nation’s AA

16. Business Reform • Roosevelt’s Square Deal • Goal was to prevent wealthy from driving small businesses out • Conserve natural resources, control corporations, protect consumers • Trustbusting • Breakup of trusts from monopolizing an industry • Subjective in which businesses to target • Workplace changes • 10 hour workday (varied by industry but 10 was standard, now it’s 8) • Breaks and lunches • Employee protection against injury

17. Workplace and Food Concerns • There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had trampled and spit. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms…and thousands of rats would race about on it…A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of dried dung. The rats were nuisances and the packers put out poisoned bread for them, they would die, then rats, bread and meat would go into the hoppers together. • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

18. Food Reform • Meat Inspection Act • Any meat sold across state lines must be inspected by federal agents to insure quality • Pure Food and Drug Act • Inspected all food and medicine sold across state lines • Called for truth in labeling • So, what is in a hot dog and why do we freak out about it? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAn0PBjhwW4

19. Government Reform • Galveston Flood • After criticisms of mayor and aldermen in not preventing flood, city commission adopted • Many cities still use this model or a hybrid in hopes of a more equal view and prevent laziness and cronyism • Voting Changes • Initiative, recall, referendum gives voters more direct power over leaders and laws • 17th amendment – direct election of senators • People elect all national offices

20. Recap • The Progressive Era was a whirlwind of reform • Many of the reforms are still in place today • Prevailing sense that government can adapt and fix problems • Was the result worth the process to obtain it?