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Progressive movement
Developed the Progressive Party, the popular name of the "People's Party," formed in the 1890's as a coalition of Midwest farm groups, socialists, and labor organizations, such as the American Federation of Labor. It attacked monopolies, and wanted other reforms, such as bimetallism, transportation regulation, the 8-hour work day, and income tax.
A philosophy which focuses only on the outcomes and effects of processes and situations.
William James
Psychologist who laid groundwork for most Progressive thought in his seminal book, Principles of Psychology. Argued humans could control own evolution. Philosophy of pragmatism.
John Dewey
Philosopher-educator; Rejected tradition of rote memorization; Emphasized creative, flexible education that enabled students to acquire practical knowledge.
Frederick W. Taylor
Pioneered scientific management by doing time-motion studies on worker's operations. Determined the simplest, cheapest way of performing each job.
Scientific management
Subdivided manufacturing into small tasks, thus imposing a new level of regimentation on factory life; Resulted in standardization of work procedures.
Name given by Theodore Roosevelt to journalists who combined factual reporting with heavy moralizing to expose dishonesty, greed and corruption in America and to arouse the indignation of middle-class readers.
Henry Demarest Lloyd
Chicago lawyer, journalist, author. A critic of trusts, complaining they destroyed competition, undermined free enterprise, and stifled individual opportunity.
Standard Oil Company
Owned by John D. Rockefeller and one of the country's largest corp's. A trust busted by T. Roosevelt with Sherman anti-trust act Standard Oil became many smaller companies like Chevron and Texaco.
Lincoln Steffans
An American journalist and one of the most famous and influential practitioners of the journalistic style called muckraking. He is also known for his 1921 statement, upon his return from the Soviet Union: "I have been over into the future, and it works." (Often misquoted as "I have seen the future, and it works.")
Ida Tarbell
A leading female muckraker who wrote the History of the Standard Oil Company this book exposed the monopolistic practices of the company. Strengthened the argument to end monopolies.
Jacob Rills
Danish-American muckraker journalist,pioneer investigative journalist, went under cover in meat packing factory. wrote books, friend with theo roosevelt; worked to improve life of urban poor
Theodore Dreiser
American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life; wrote novel sister carrie.
Australian ballot
Originated in australia in 1850s; voting method in which voter's choices are confidential. stops attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery, acheives goala of political privacy
Direct primary
A preliminary election in which a party's candidates for public office are nominated by direct vote of the people.
Robert La Folette
Wisconsin senator and governor who several times unsuccessfully sought the Republican and Progressive Party presidential nominations; also, one of the founders of the National Progressive Republican League.
direct election of senators; Seventeenth Amendment
Since April 8, 1913, the passage of the 17th amendment, senators have been elected to their posts directly by thier constituents and not by the Lower house of Representatives.
Initiative; Referendum; Recall
A system of direct legislation by the people. Approved in 1902, it allows the citizenry of Oregon to propose new laws or change the State Constitution through a general election ballot measure. To place an initiative on the ballot, supporters must obtain a specified number of signatures from registered voters. The number required is determined by a fixed percentage of the votes cast for all candidates for governor at the general election preceding the filing of the petition.
Social welfare
Refers to any government program which seeks to provide a minimum level of income, service or other support for disadvantaged groups such as the poor, elderly, disabled and students. Social welfare payments and services are typically provided free of charge or at a nominal fee, and are funded by the state, or by compulsory enrollment of the poor themselves.
Municipal reform
Changes in city governments made to encourage greater efficiency, honesty, and responsiveness residents, particularly middle-class businessmen, organized against the corruption and inefficiency that they thought plagued their cities. This movement was particularly strong in cities controlled by political machines, the undemocratic and corrupt arrangements through which bosses could profit by controlling city governments.. The greatest era of municipal reform came in the late 1800s and early 1900s. City
Samuel Milton Jones
a.k.a. "Golden Rule Jones", lived from 1846 to 1904 and served as a Progressive Era Mayor of Toledo, Ohio from 1897 to 1904, passing away while still in office. Jones was originally a businessman. In 1894, he began the Acme Sucker Rod Company. He announced that the one company rule was the Golden Rule. He set up a Golden Rule Hall, a Golden Rule Dining Room, Golden Rule Park, even a Golden Rule Band. He was often mistaken as a socialist, although he was not.
Tom L. Johnson
Democrat; he headed relief efforts after the Johnstown, Pennsylvania floods of 1889, was a US Representative and the 35th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1903, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Ohio. He invented a pay-box for trolleys and became wealthy from licensing the patent. He began investing in street railways in Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Detroit.
Charles Evans Hughes
Governor of NY. In 1908 he was offered the vice-presidential nomination by Taft, but declined it to run again for Governor. As Chief Justice, he led the fight against FDR attempt to pack the Supreme Court.
Hiram Johnson
His role as attorney in the successful prosecution of Abe Ruef, political boss of San Francisco, led to his election (1910) as governor of California. Johnson broke the political tion of the Southern Pacific RR in California and secured the enactment of much reform legislation. A founder of the Progressive party, he was Theodore Roosevelt's running mate on the unsuccessful Progressive ticket of 1912; Johnson had been a stubborn opponent of the League of Nations, and he remained one of the most consistent of the isolationists in Congress.
Theodore Roosevelt; Square Deal
The term used by President Theodore Roosevelt and his associates for the domestic policies of his administration, particularly with regard to economic policies, such as antitrust enforcement. The term is a general reference to the concept of a square deal being an agreement that is made fairly between businesses and the consumers and workers.
Anthracite coal miner's strike (1902)
Demanding union recognition, a nine-hour day, and wage increase. In the face of a threatened coal shortage, Roosevelt intervened and threatened to work the mines with federal troops, whereupon the owners accepted his suggestion of a commission to investigate. The miners returned to work, but when the commission made its award, union recognition was withheld. Not until 1916 did the miners receive union recognition, with an eight-hour day. Still, for the first time the federal government had intervened in a labor-management dispute without automatically opposing the claims of organized labor.
Dissolving business trusts especially through vigorous application of antitrust regulations.
Elkins Act (1903)
This strengthened earlier federal legislation that outlawed preferential pricing through rebates. Rebates are returns of parts of the amount paid for goods or services, serving as a reduction or discount. This act also prohibited railroads from transporting goods they owned. As a dodge around previous legislation, railroads were buying goods and transporting them as if they were their own.
Hepburn Act (1906)
It imposed stricter control over railroads and expanded powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, including giving the ICC the power to set maximum rates.
Upton Sinclair; The Jungle
United States writer whose novels argued for social reform (1878-1968); Jungle is a major critique of capitalism and an important example of the "muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. The book's underlying message is that socialism is the only effective tool with which to fight unfettered capitalism and the only true remedy available to America's poor masses
Pure Food and Act (1906)
Forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or erated food or, it gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of in order to abolish the "patent" trade; Still in existence as the FDA.
Meat Inspection Act of 1906
A United States federal law that authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to order meat inspections and condemn any meat product found unfit for human consumption. Unlike previous laws ordering meat inspections which were enforced to assure European nations from banning pork trade, the law was strongly motivated to protect the American diet. All labels on any type of food had to be 100 percent accurate. Although all harmful food wasn't banned, there were still warnings provided on the container. The law was partly a response to the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, an expose of the Chicago meat packing industry, as well as to other Progressive Era muckraking publications of the day.
Conservation movement
A political and social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including plant and animal species as well as their habitat for the future. The early conservation movement included fisheries and wildlife management, water, soil conservation and sustainable forestry.
Newlands Reclamation Act 1902
A United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of the American West. It was authored by Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada.
Gifford Bryce Pinchot
(August 11, 1865 - October 4, 1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905-1910) and the Republican Governor of Pennsylvania
William Howard Taft
Mann-Elkins Act of 1910
A United States federal law that is considered to be among the Progressive reforms. The act extended the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission to include communications. Supported by President William Howard Taft, it also made the long-short haul clause of the original act more effective, i.e., it strengthened government regulation of the railroads. It was passed by the Senate with a vote of 50-12. Not to be confused with the Elkins Act of 1903.
Federal income tax; Sixteenth Amendment
Authorized income taxes in their present form, ratified on February 3, 1913. The amendment states that the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909)
The bill originally entered the senate with the intention of lowering tariffs, but during the debate, President Taft, fearing a split in the Republican Party, sided with conservatives on the bill, which actually ended up raising tariffs. The incident lost Taft the support of the Progressive Republicans, creating a rift in the party and allowing the Democrats to take the election of 1912.
Joseph Cannon
Speaker of the House during Taft's presidency, he often contested Taft's attempts at reform. Taft's refusal to overcome Cannon's opposition also led the Progressives to lose faith in him. Historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such control over the House that he could often control debate. Cannon is the second longest-serving Republican Speaker in history,
Socialist Party of America
A socialist political party in the United States. It was formed in 1901 by a merger between the Social Democratic Party, and a wing of the older Socialist Labor Party of America. It flourished in numerous ethnic enclaves 1904-1912, with Eugene Debs as presidential candidate. It splintered over support for World War I, and was a minor political movement after 1920, often nominating Norman Thomas for president.
New Nationalism
Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive political stance during the 1912 election, which promoted a centralized federal government that could regulate the economy in order to provide social equality. He supported child labor laws, a minimum wage, and regulation of corporations. It stood in contrast to Wilson's "New Freedom" policy, which supported a less powerful federal government.
New Freedom
Policy of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson that promoted antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters.
Bull Moose Party
When Teddy Roosevelt lost the Republican nomination to Taft in 1912, he ran as a third party candidate of the Progressive Party. During his acceptance speech, he said he felt "as strong as a bull moose." This split in the Republican Party candidates allowed Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the election.
Underwood Tariff
Law passed by Congress in 1913 that substantially reduced tariffs and made up for the lost revenue by providing for a small graduated income tax.
Federal Reserve Board
Urban migration
The migration of a country's population from primarily rural to urban in search of better jobs and living conditions.
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. Du Bois
Souls of Black Folk; attacked Atlanta Compromise's accommodations philosophy of Booker T. Washington; "Talented Tenth"; organized National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Founded in 1909 to improve living conditions for inner city Blacks, evolved into a national organization dedicated to establishing equal legal rights for Blacks.
National Urban League
Voluntary nonpartisan community service agency, founded in 1910, whose goal is to help end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States, especially toward African Americans, and to help economically and socially disadvantaged groups to share equally in every aspect of American life. It provides direct service in the areas of employment, housing, education, social welfare, health, family planning, mental retardation, law and consumer affairs, youth and student affairs, labor affairs, veteran's affairs, and community and minority business development.
Carrie Chapman Catt
(1859-1947) A suffragette who was president of the National Women's Suffrage Association, and founder of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance; Instrumental in obtaining passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
National American Women's Suffrage Association
Formed in 1890 and united 2 major women's suffrage groups at that time discrimination, and recognition of human brotherhood
Alice Paul
A suffragette who believed that giving women the right to vote would eliminate the corruption in politics
National Women's Party
A women's organization founded in 1913 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men and against employment discrimination. In contrast to other organizations, the NWP put its priority on the passage of a constitutional amendment ensuring women's suffrage.
Nineteenth Amendment
Prohibits both the federal government and the states from using a person's sex as a qualification to vote; it was specifically intended to extend suffrage to women.
League of Women Voters
A nonpartisan political organization, developed in 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. Its basic purpose is to make democracy work for all citizens.