How do the experiences of the disenfranchised (left behind) influence changes to American ideals and shifts in power?
The Populism Movement as a Foundation
Populism as a movement emphasizes that there is a group that views themselves as a majority ("the people") who want to push back against a small group of elites that holds power. This specific populist movement was made up of farmers who were having a tough time holding on to their farms. As technology improved, it made it more efficient to farm, which drove down prices. This forced farmers into a panic where they needed to spend money to buy the new equipment so they could be more productive, but to do so meant going into debt. Since more farmers were doing this, it continued to drive down prices. The lower revenue from lower prices, combined with a particularly harsh drought, made it challenging for farmers to pay back their debt, which meant the big banks on the east coast that they owed money to would likely repossess their farms or houses.
Farmers were particularly irritated by the insistence that the US stay on the gold standard. A move to allow silver would have opened up more money to flow into the economy.
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Speakers like Mary Lease and William Jennings Bryan spoke to crowds of people to convince them to join forces to push back against the eastern bankers who threatened their homes. To do this, farmers joined groups like the Farmers Alliance and turned their social groups, such as the Grange, into a co-op that gave them the ability to make bulk purchases and cut shipping costs.
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Bryan himself went on to run for president. In the 1896 presidential election, he secured the nomination to be the Democratic party's candidate for president. In doing so, he changed the Democratic Party to be more in favor of many populists measures. It was during this time that he delivered his most famous speech, his Cross of Gold speech (click on the picture of Bryan with the gold cross to learn more). Ultimately, Bryan lost the election to McKinley, a man who was supported by industry and big business and who famously never left his house during the entire election. Bryan would go on to to run for president two more times, losing both times. Although the populist movement faded out, a lot of those ideas, like a government that is more responsive to the common people rather than big corporations, become the foundation for the progressive era.
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Muckrakers
There were certain people of this era who looked around to see if they could find out what was wrong with things and promote ideas to fix them. The investigative journalists and authors who did so came to be called muckrakers, named so for their penchant to rake up the "muck" of society and find the story to tell, shining a light on abuse and corruption by the powerful.
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These investigative journalists looked at the society around them and noticed things didn't seem to be going great for everyone. People like Lewis Hine took his camera and entered into the slums, factories, and fields to document the conditions of children's lives and working conditions to expose the dangerous conditions children went through. His work led to investigations into child labor and how to improve conditions and find ways to get children out of hazardous working environments. Others took up their pen to write about the horrors they witnessed.
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The articles and stories of those below showed people what other problems there were in society and brought sympathy to the people who were subject to those problems. This convinced people of the need for change, which in turn pressured lawmakers and politicians to provide rules and regulations to reform the problem.
Lincoln Steffens shed a light on political corruption in St Louis, Missouri that mimicked Boss Tweed's.
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Upton Sinclair sought to promote better treatment for workers but shocked people at the horrific practices their food went through.
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Ida Tarbell pushed back on the corporate corruption that harmed her family and investigated Rockefeller's oil monopoly.
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Daring investigative journalist Nellie Bly had herself institutionalized to describe the poor conditions of women who were labelled insane.
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The Progressive Era
The three main progressive goals were:
Government is more democratic when it is more responsive to the people and the people's voices are more easily heard by government. This is typically done by making the United States more accessible to people through voting. For example, during this era the 17th Amendment was passed. This amendment changed the way Senators are elected. Originally, they were chosen by each state's legislatures, but after the passage of the 17th Amendment, voters would vote directly for their own senators.
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Progressives also pushed for more state reforms to make governments more responsive. One was the initiative process, that allowed for voters to put forward ideas for laws themselves and then vote on them. A second was the referendum. A referendum allows citizens to vote their approval or disapproval of laws, policies, or ideas put forward by the local or state governments. Finally, the last one gave voters the power to recall their elected officials if they disapprove of their actions before their term is over. This allows voters to vote to kick out an elected official. Though not all of these are available for everyone in the nation nor did every state adopt them, but many states did.
The era of the Gilded Age and freedom for major corporations and businesses to do as they pleased was over at this time. Roosevelt was elected using lots of the same rhetoric the populists used when it came to taking on corporations. And he followed through as president. At the outset, he sought to break apart trusts (monopolies) of businesses that he deemed harmful to America. He initially targeted railroads, which would allow Americans to purchase cheaper tickets and shipping costs. Later, Roosevelt continued to involve himself in ways that supported workers. During the coal strike of 1902, Roosevelt and his administration negotiated to try to come to an agreement between the coal mine owners and the coal workers - a first, since the government in the Gilded Age had always acted to protect the owners of businesses. Wilson continued Roosevelt's trust busting and efforts to limit business by strengthening anti-trust laws and implementing reforms on the banking industry. Wilson also made changes to tariffs (taxes on good coming in to the United States), which lowered the US revenues and created a need for the government to collect taxes - which gave us the 16th Amendment, constitutionally allowing the government to institute an income tax.
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Roosevelt broke from the Gilded Age in another way, as well. During that era, land was available to any person or company would could make use of it. The government practically gave it away. But under Roosevelt, with input from people like John Muir, land was set aside for future logging or water usage. These conservations limited corporations from entering into new areas for resources.
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Other areas where corporations faced limits occurred after the muckraking of Upton Sinclair shocked people at the conditions in the meatpacking industry. Upon reading about these horrors, Roosevelt sought and secured passage of the Meat Inspection Act
and the Pure Food and Drug Act. These acts forced corporations to clean up their production and introduce standards and practices they skipped initially to save costs. |
Other members of the progressive movement fought to solve social problems of society. Women led many of tthese efforts. For example, the Temperance Movement led efforts to stop alcohol consumption. The Women's Christian Temperance Union sought "a sober and pure world" through abstaining from alcohol. Many crimes were related to alcohol and husbands who returned home drunk were viewed as violent towards their wives or children.
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A nurse, Margaret Sanger, sought new control for women over their bodies. She believed that the health of women would improve if women had greater control and fewer children. In 1916 she opened the country's first birth-control clinic, which was very controversial at the time and saw her jailed for being a public nuisance after distributing material about birth control. However, the courts ruled that doctors could provide information about family planning and Sanger went on to continue her work.
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Most learning in the earliest days of the United States took place in the home. Either mothers taught their own children or wealthier families hired someone to come to their house and educate their children. Many children took apprenticeship positions, worked in factories, mines, or farms, or ran through the towns while families and parents worked during the day. Because this created more crime and had many children in unsanitary conditions, as evidenced by many of Hine's photographs, there was a push to expand access to education to children. During the progressive era, more schools were opened and built than ever before. Near the end of the era, all American children were required to at least attend elementary school.
The Progressive Presidents
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt
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Never meant to be President, Roosevelt was probably one of the earliest to truly define what the office of the presidency was capable of. Using the power of the bully pulpit, Roosevelt called for every American to get a square deal - fair treatment from government, corporations, and society. His idea of the government was as strong federal government and he used that power to break up monopolies that hurt the public interest. By going after the railroads, he brought the concerns of the populists to the White House. And although Roosevelt honored black leaders like Booker T. Washington, he took no action to further causes of civil rights.
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In between Roosevelt and Wilson, William Howard Taft was elected. Although Taft was handpicked by Roosevelt to carry on his legacy, Taft did not meet Roosevelt's expectations, as he was not as progressive. In the 1912 election, Taft sought re-election but Roosevelt also ran for re-election, though this time under his own party, the Progressive Party (or the Bull Moose Party). The other major candidate running was socialist Eugene Debs. Since Debs took the far left vote and Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote, Wilson was able to capture the most votes and win the election.
Woodrow Wilson played a significant role in representing the progressive movement in early 20th-century America. His vision for a fairer society was encapsulated in his "New Freedoms" agenda, which aimed to break up corporate monopolies and empower small businesses. Moreover, Wilson's support for the 19th Amendment (which didn't come about initially), which granted women the right to vote, demonstrated his commitment to expanding democratic participation. However, Wilson's record also revealed notable shortcomings. He remained opposed to federal anti-lynching legislation, failing to address the racial violence and injustice plaguing the nation. Furthermore, his support for segregation, exemplified by his administration's segregationist policies within the federal government, marred his legacy as a champion of civil rights.
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Woodrow Wilson
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Though both presidents were progressive, they also were participants in imperialism during this era. Roosevelt added his Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which added the stipulation that beyond just keeping Europe out of the Western hemisphere, the United States reserved the right to interfere with other countries in the Americas to help sort out their economics and solve their debts. During this period, the United States acquired Hawaii, opened trade with China, as well as various other acquisitions in line with the Turner Thesis. For more details on this, go to unit 4.
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African American Responses
During the Progressive Era, black and minority groups in the United States encountered a multitude of challenges, including pervasive racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and limited economic opportunities. These hardships were exacerbated by President Woodrow Wilson's screening of D.W. Griffith's racially inflammatory film, "The Birth of a Nation," at the White House, which not only condoned racial stereotypes but also added to the societal tensions.
Booker T. Washington, a notable figure of the time, advocated for vocational education and economic self-reliance as a means for African Americans to uplift themselves, a philosophy known as the "Atlanta Compromise." On the other hand, W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent civil rights activist, co-founder of the NAACP, and proponent of immediate civil and political equality, vehemently opposed such racially prejudiced actions. Du Bois's stance aligned with his concept of the "Talented Tenth," emphasizing the importance of education and leadership among the black elite.
Women's Suffrage
The fight for women's voting rights in the United States took efforts from many different people, with significant contributions from Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Susan B. Anthony was a pioneering suffragist who tirelessly campaigned for women's rights, emphasizing the importance of the 19th Amendment. Her efforts laid the groundwork for future activists.
Alice Paul, a key figure in the suffrage movement, adopted more radical tactics, organizing massive suffrage parades, picketing the White House, and resorting to civil disobedience. She even went on hunger strikes in prison, bringing attention to the cause and pressuring the government to act. These actions pushed the suffrage movement to the forefront of national consciousness. Meanwhile, Carrie Chapman Catt advocated for a state-by-state approach, arguing that securing women's voting rights on a state level was a practical and effective strategy. Ultimately, a combination of state-level successes and the persistence of activists like Anthony, Paul, and Catt culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote across the United States.