THE

PROGRESS
IVE ERA
American History II
Fall 2020
Mr. Hulyo
WHAT
PROBLEMS
EXISTED
DURING THE
GILDED AGE?
(THINK: SOCIETAL, ECONOMIC,
POLITICAL, REGIONAL,
IMMIGRATION, RACISM)
ROOSEVELT & THE
ELECTION OF 1900
Problem: New York state Republican “bosses” did not like Roosevelt’s
reforms as Governor
 Attempted to break up political machines & reform local gov’t
 Pushed a progressive agenda
 “Forced” into running with McKinley
 “Don’t any of you realize that there’s only one life between that
madman and the Presidency?” – Sen. Mark Hana (R)
Advantages
 Republicans hoped he would win over progressive-minded voters
 A hero of the Spanish-American War
A “SQUARE
DEAL”
What is it? Roosevelt’s domestic policies
Roosevelt’s Three C’s:
1. Conservation of Resources
2. Controlling Corporations
3. Consumer Protection
 “ WHEN I SAY THAT I AM
FOR THE SQUARE DEAL, I
MEAN NOT MERELY THAT I
STAND FOR FAIR PLAY
UNDER THE PRESENT
RULES OF THE GAME, BUT
THAT I STAND FOR HAVING
THOSE RULES CHANGED
SO AS TO WORK FOR A
MORE SUBSTANTIAL
EQUALITY OF
OPPORTUNITY AND OF
REWARD FOR EQUALLY
GOOD SERVICE.”
CONSERV
ATION
Problem: “The American
had but one thought
about a tree, and that was
to cut it down.”
Forest Reserve Act
(1891)
 Allowed the
President to set
aside public lands as
forest reserves
 Roosevelt used the
act to set aside 148
million acres
 Est. 5 National Parks

“TRUST
BUSTER”
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
 Roosevelt first President to use it to
sue/legally break up trusts
Problem: Three large railroad companies
merged to create the world’s largest
monopoly
Northern Securities Co. v. The US
(1904)
 Overturned E.C. Knight v. The US
 Fed gov’t has power to regulate
commerce & break up monopolies
RAILROAD
REGULATION
Problem: The Interstate Commerce Act
too weak
Elkins Act (1903)
 Heavy fines to railroads that gave
rebates to favored customers
 Fines to companies that accepted them
Hepburn Act (1906)
 Allowed the Interstate Commerce
Commission to set maximum shipping
rates
FOOD INDUSTRY
REFORM
Problem: Unsanitary conditions in the meat packing
industry
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
 Allowed federal inspectors to visit meat packing
plants to enforce cleanliness & sanitation
Pure Food & Drug Act (1906)
 Prevented “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of
adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious
foods, drugs or medicines, and liquors.”
 CIVI Problem: Progressives mostly white middle-
class men/women

L
African Americans Largely Ignored
Roosevelt cautioned against “radical” changes
Favored a slow pace to equality

RIGH Referred to white race as “the favored race”

TS dinner…
Ridiculed across the South
WILLIAM H.
TAFT
Roosevelt supported Taft as his “successor”
Downfall of Taft
 Broke up 90 monopolies/trust, including US
Steel
 Roosevelt took that as a personal insult
 Payne-Aldrich Tariff: Taft had promised to
lower tariffs but gave support to an increase
 Women’s Suffrage: No support; women
“too emotional”
 Conservation: Replaced popular Sec. of
Interior with someone that reopened federal
lands for private use
1912 ELECTION
Roosevelt Returns
Felt Taft betrayed Square Deal ideas
Taft is incumbent—Roosevelt runs for Progressive Party/”Bull
Moose” Party
Results
Woodrow Wilson (D) – 42%
Taft (R) – 23%
Roosevelt (P) – 27%
Eugene V. Debbs (S) – 6%
PREVENTING
TRUSTS
Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
 Strengthened the Sherman
Antitrust Act
 Corporations can’t buy another
company if that makes a
monopoly
 Protected labor unions (strikes
now legal)
CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Federal Trade Act
(1914)
 Created a “watchdog”
agency to investigate
& bring an end to
unfair business
practice (anti-
competitive) in most
businesses
TARIFFS
Problem: American tariffs are as
high as 47% to raise revenue and
protect American businesses
Underwood Tariff (1913)
 Lowered tariffs significantly for
he first time since the Civil War
(40% to 25%)
 Revenue Act of 1913 created an
income tax to make up for lost
revenue (most didn’t pay)
FINANCIAL
PANICS
Problem: Recessions and bank runs caused
economic hardships nationwide in 1894 and
1907
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
 Gave the gov’t power to regulate banks
 Created a central bank to oversee
monetary policy
 Can print money
 Can transfer money to struggling banks
(avoid bank runs)
 Create economic stability
CIVIL RIGHTS
Re-Segregating the Federal Gov’t
 Appointed pro-segregationists to cabinet
 Ushered a decline in black fed. Employees
for several decades
 Angrily removed civil rights leader from
White House
Birth of a Nation
 1915 “Lost Cause” film
 Portrays black men as
unintelligent/aggressive
 First film ever screened at White House
 Hugely influential in the return of the KKK
Opposed an anti-lynching law
INCOME
TAXES
Problem: Most federal revenue
came from tariffs (unfairly taxed
the poor; lets shift the burden to
the wealthy)
16th Amendment
 Est. a federal graduated
income tax
 “Graduated” tax means higher
incomes are taxed more
 Problem: 15 states and 5
WOME territories already provided voting
rights to women by 1919 but 21

N’S states did not