Gilded Age Politics and the Progressive Era (1865 – 1920)

1. Gilded Age Politics and the Progressive Era(1865 – 1920) Teddy Roosevelt William Jennings Bryan Robert La Follette Woodrow Wilson

2. Well-Defined Voting Blocs DemocraticBloc RepublicanBloc • White southerners(preservation ofwhite supremacy) • Catholics • Recent immigrants(esp. Jews) • Urban working poor (pro-labor) • Most farmers • Northern whites(pro-business) • African Americans • Northern Protestants • Old WASPs (supportfor anti-immigrant laws) • Most of the middleclass

3. Urban Problems: Political Machines • This was an organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city • Immigrants connected into American political system • Jobs and housing for your vote. • Patronage • Graft

4. Political Boss • Bosses would except bribes (cash for silence) to allow illegal activities to thrive in their districts • They allowed gambling, and later, drinking in speak easies • Police rarely interfered because they were on the payroll (until 1890)

5. Role of the PartyBoss • Boss Tweed controlled thousands of municipal jobs in New York City • Police • Fire • Sanitation • He controlled license distribution • He controlledinspections • He helped place judges on the municipal courts

6. Immigrants and the Machine • The bosses met these poor saps at the dock (FOB’s or “fresh off the boat”) • They became loyal supporters • Many of these bosses were first or second generation immigrants themselves • Few were educated beyond grammar school • The machines helped immigrants get naturalized, found them a place to live, and got them jobs. All they wanted was their vote.

7. Thomas Nast • Political cartoonist • Exposed the Tweed Ring • Drew hundreds of cartoons during the Gilded Age

8. Scandals:Tweed Ring, Grant Scandals, Credit Mobilier

9. Forgettable Presidents James Garfield (1881) Assassinated Chester Arthur (1881-1885) Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) (1893- 1897) Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) Big Issues: Patronage, Civil Service reform, tariff, personalities

10. Democrats 1) Anti- tariffs 2) Anti- Gold Standard or for Bimetallism Republicans Pro-tariff Pro-gold standard Key Political Issues

11. The Money Issue

12. Key Congressional Actsof Gilded Age Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)-Arthur: restricted Chinese immigration until 1943. Pendleton Act (1883)- Arthur: started civil service reforms and a new alliance between big business and political parties. Dawes Act (1887)-Cleveland [first term]: Goal to force Native Americans off of reservations and assimilate them into white culture. Interstate Commerce Act (1887)-Cleveland [first term]: First attempt to regulate the railroads Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)-Harrison: First attempt to break up trusts in all industries under 14th amendment.

13. The Populist Party • Populist Platform: • Bimetallism • Direct election of U.S. Senators • 8 hour workday • Immigration restrictions

14. The 1896 Candidates Republican Democrat and Populist

15. The Money Issue “The Cross of Gold” speech “16 to 1” silver to gold ratio 16 to 1 ounces and Bimetallism

16. What is progressivism? It was a white, urban middle class movement They fought the decline in morality caused by industrialization and urbanization. A. Limit power of the trusts B. Attack political corruption C. Increase Efficiency D. Consumer Protection

17. Progressive Roots • Populists (Omaha Platform) • First Anti-trust Regulation (Sherman Anti-trust Act + Interstate Commerce Act) • Social and economic problems. • Against “laissez-faire” policy. • They attacked the “bloated trusts.”

18. Progressivism:State and Local Electoral Reforms • Direct primary elections = allowing voters to choose candidates for elected offices prior to the general election. • Initiative (20 states)= voters force a bill to be proposed • Referendum (20 states)= citizens vote on proposed laws • Recall (11 states)= voters force a new election to replace a corrupt sitting elected leader • Australian ballot = voting in a curtained booth on ballots made by the state

19. State ReformRobert La Follette (Wisconsin) • Lafollete’s “Wisconsin Idea” or using a brain trust of educated men to create solutions to problems like voting irregularities and bloated trusts. • Direct Primary, tax reform, and regulation of the railroads.

20. Progressivism:Settlement House Movement • Based on Christian teachings Jane Addams of Hull House (Chicago) fought to improve urban problems while inadvertently Americanizing immigrants.

21. What is a muckraker? • A phrase coined by Teddy Roosevelt. • Popular culture magazines costing ¢10 to ¢15 a copy including McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, and Collier’s. They exposed corruption of political machines, life insurance companies, money trusts, and tariff lobbies.

22. Expose • Most of their expose became best selling books: • Ida Tarbell’s - “The History of Standard Oil” • Lincoln Steffens- “Shame of Our Cities” • Jacob Riis- “How the Other Half Lives” • Upton Sinclair’s- “The Jungle”

23. Progressive Presidents (1901-1919)

24. The Square Deal TR was the first modern president He used the White House as a “bully pulpit.” • Labor Reforms • Trust-busting • Railroad Regulation * Consumer Protection * Conservation

25. Labor Reform Mediated strikes like the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 This restored the damaged image of labor unions (violent strikes of the 1890’s) in the public eye and led to their rebirth

26. Trust-busting TR broke up 44 trusts like the Northern Securities Company, a railroad trust, using the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. TR made a distinction between a. “good trusts” b. “bad trusts”

27. TR’s: Progressive Reforms Antitrust: • Strengthened the regulatory power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. • Enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act (trustbusting) Consumer Protection: After reading Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle, TR pushed several pieces of legislation through Congress: a. Meat Inspection Act (1906) b. Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) Conservation: • Newlands Act • Created a national park system

28. T.R. Steps Down T.R. decided to honor the two-term tradition (Washington precedent) Hand-picked William Howard Taft, his Secretary of War, to be his successor. He promised not to seek a third term.

29. William Howard Taft27th President (1909-1913) POSED AS A PROGRESSIVE Trustbuster (90 cases prosecuted) 16th Amendment ratified in 1913 Taft angered Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 leading to TR’s unsuccessful run for a third term. Lost the 1912 Election to Woodrow Wilson.

30. Election of 1912Who was the most Progressive candidate? Conservative Republican William H. Taft Democrat Woodrow Wilson Bull Moose Teddy Roosevelt Socialist Eugene V. Debs

31. Woodrow Wilson28th President(1913-1921) • First Democratic president since Cleveland. • Goals: Small government, attack corruption, and restore competition for small business owners • His platform = “The Triple Wall of Privilege” • Tariff reform – Underwood Tariff • Banking reform – Federal Reserve Act • Federal Reserve notes • 3) Trust reform- Clayton Antitrust Act

32. Progressive Movement:View of African-Americans The status of African-Americans had declined steadily since the Plessy v. Ferguson decision (1896) which created the “separate but equal” doctrine. Progressives did nothing about segregation and lynching: • They shared the prejudices of the times. • They considered other reforms more important than anti-lynching laws which only benefited one group. Booker T. Washington W.E.B. Du Bois

33. Women’s Suffrage In the early 1900’s, CCC takes over the women’s right movement from Susan B. Anthony. She created the “Winning Strategy”. Carrie Chapman Catt NAWSA

34. The Silent Sentinels • Alice Paul organized this group of female picketers. • They marched every day and night from January 19, 1917 until both houses of Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment (June 10,1919) to the states for ratification.

35. Key National Reforms • Sixteenth Amendment ( income tax) • Seventeenth Amendment (direct election of U.S. Senators) • Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition) • Nineteenth Amendment (women’s suffrage)