1. Why did immigrants come to the
US?
• Famine
• Land shortages
• Religious or political persecution
• More opportunities-$$
• Reunite with family
2. Why did immigrants come to the
US?
• Famine
• Land shortages
• Religious or political persecution
• More opportunities-$$
• Reunite with family
• Push-Pull Factors
3. Immigration
• Between 1870 and 1920, 20 million Europeans
came to US
• Discuss “old immigrants” vs “new immigrants”
• Half a million Chinese and Japanese people
came to west coast during this time
• Led to much anti-Asian feeling in this country-
Chinese Exclusion Act
• A million immigrants from Latin America came
as well
• Page 255-Chart
9. Why did Cities Grow so Fast?
• Immigrants
• Farmers moved to the city
• African-Americans moved to the cities
• Cities offered more fun and jobs
10. Problems in the City
• Cramped, old, dirty housing
• Lack of good transportation
• Lack of safe drinking water
• Disease was common
• Streets were filthy
• Crime
• Fires
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19. Gilded Age 1870-1890’s
• There was a lot of
corruption in gov’t
– Kickback system
– Granting favors to big
business
– Spoils system
– Political boss
hires/fired police
– Boss William Marcy
Tweed
20.
21.
22.
23. Reforming Government
• The Spoils System caused a lot of the
problems
• Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Arthur
tried to reform government
24. Reform
• Pendleton Civil Service Act
– Required most government jobs to be given
through a merit system based on test scores
30. Four Goals of Progressivism
1. Protecting social welfare
2. Promoting moral improvement
3. Creating economic reform
4. Fostering efficiency
31. Protecting Social Welfare
• Set up settlement houses for poor
• Opened libraries
• Sponsored education classes
• Opened swimming pools
• Set up soup kitchens
• Slum brigades—teach immigrants
35. WCTU
• What does this stand for?
– Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
• Spearheaded the crusade for prohibition
• What did these women do?
– Entered saloons and protested
– Would sing and pray in the saloons
– Urged bartenders to quit selling liquor
• The WCTU grew from a small, Midwestern
group to a national organization consisting
of 245,000 members by 1911
36.
37.
38.
39. Creating Economic Reform
• There was a major unbalance in income
and how people lived
• Many turned to “socialism”.
• Regulation of railroads
• Child labor laws
• Women and men working hours reduced
• Workmen’s compensation
40. Capitalism
• Economic System
• The means of production
are privately owned
• $$ is invested in the
production & distribution
for a profit
• “Free Market” What is
this?
• Chance to go from poor to
rich
• Laissez-Faire
– Hands Off
41. Socialism
• Social or Economic system
• Property and distribution of
wealth are determined by
the Government
• State or Government
ownership of everything
• Elimination of private
property, everyone is
equal
• Karl Marx
– Leading figure
– Father of Communism
42. American Socialist Party
• Founded in 1901
• Its prominent leader
was Eugene V. Debs
• In the early 1900’s,
the party had
numerous elected
officials in office
• Debs ran for
president 5 times
unsuccessfully
43. • “Competition is natural enough at one time, but do
you think you are competing today? Many of you
think you are competing. Against whom? Against
oil magnate John D. Rockefeller? About as I
would if I had a wheelbarrow and competed with
the Santa Fe Railroad from here to Kansas City!”
44.
45. Muckrakers
• Muckrakers played a big role in bringing
reform
• Investigative journalists
• Exposed the problems of society
• Upton Sinclair—The Jungle-meatpacking
• Ida Tarbell—Exposed the ruthless
methods of the Standard Oil Company
• Lincoln Steffens-exposed corruption in
gov’t
47. Fostering Efficiency
• Scientific management to increase
efficiency was used in factories
• Frederick Taylor—Time Management
studies
• Assembly line
• Henry Ford paid workers $5 a day!!
• Progressives also worked for better
efficiency in all levels of government
48.
49.
50.
51.
52. Limiting Working Hours
• Many states enforced
a 10 hour work day
for both men and
women
• Progressives also
succeeded in winning
workers’
compensation for
family members of
hurt or killed workers
– What is worker’s
comp.?
– Is it still around today?
53. Reforming Elections
• States adopt secret ballot
• Direct Primary
• Initiative-a bill originated by the people
rather than lawmakers
• Referendum- when voters accept or reject
the initiative (bill)
• Recall- enabled voters to remove public
officials from elected positions
• 17th and 19th Amendments
– What did these seven aim at doing????
54. Direct Election of Senators
• 17th Amendment
• 1913
• Direct election of U.S. Senators
• What does this mean?
• Who are our Senators????
57. Women’s Role
• Many more women were getting an
education
• Many became teachers
• Help push for the passing of the 18th and
19th Amendments to the US Constitution
-Prohibition
-Women’s Suffrage
58. Teddy Roosevelt-TR
• Born into a wealthy
family-1858
• Had asthma as a child-sickly
• As a teen became a
marksmen and learned
to ride horses
• Went to Harvard
• Boxed and wrestled at
Harvard
• Served in the New York
State Assembly from
1882-1884
59. • Served as US Civil
Service Commissioner
from 1889-1895
• Commissioner of the New
York City Police from
1895-1897
• Assistant Secretary of the
Navy from 1897-1898
• Fought in the Spanish-
American War in 1898 as
leader of the “Rough
Riders”
60.
61. • Governor of New York
1898-1900
• Vice-President of the US
in 1901
• Served as President
from 1901-1909
• Wrote many history
books
• Owned and ran a ranch
in the Dakota Territory
• Avid hunter-African
Safaris
68. Accomplishments as President
• Used his personality, popularity and power
of persuasion to get what he wanted
• Believed that the federal government was
there to help common people
• Wanted to give everyone a “Square Deal”
• Used the “bully pulpit” to influence media
and help pass laws
69. • TR was the “trustbuster”
• “good trusts” vs “bad trusts”
• Helped settle the 1902 Coal strike in which
miners got better pay and a nine hour
workday
• Passed the Elkins Act(1903-no rebates) and
Hepburn Act(1906-ICC set max RR rates)
which required railroads to be fair and just in
their prices and practices
• Passed the Meat Inspection Act-1906
• Passed the Pure Food and Drug Act-1906
• Newlands Act-1902-sold western land and
made dams which allowed for irrigation
• Conservation-map p. 323
• Did not do much for African-Americans
70.
71.
72. Conservation Measures
• Roosevelt condemned view that our “resources
were endless”
• T.R. set aside 148 million acres of forest
reserves
• 1.5 million acres of water-power sites
• Established 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several
national parks
• Conservation- planned management of natural
resources, involving the protection of some
wilderness areas and the development of others
78. William Howard Taft
• Born September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, OH
• Attended Yale College: New Haven, CT
• Lawyer then Secretary of War
• Never aimed at being president
• After his presidency he was a Professor at Yale
Law School
• 1921, became Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, which was his career goal
• Only president to ever serve as Chief Justice
• Only president to hold public office after leaving
the White House
79.
80. • “When I am
addressed as ‘Mr.
President,’ I turn to
see whether you are
not at my elbow.” –
W.H. Taft
• Taft never really felt
like he was the
president; always in
Roosevelt’s shadow
81. Taft’s Accomplishments
• Passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff which
reduced tariffs
• Used Dollar Diplomacy when dealing with
other countries-US would use the military
and diplomacy to help promote U.S.
business interests overseas.
• Broke up many trusts including the
Standard Oil Company in 1911
• 16th Amendment Passed
82. Federal Income Tax
• 16th Amendment
passed 2-3-13
• Legalized a graduated
federal income tax
• Provided $$ to the
GOV’T by taxing
individual earnings and
corporate profits
83. Why was Taft Not Well-Liked?
• Not as energetic and well liked as Roosevelt
• Not good at using the “Bully Pulpit”
• Promised to lower tariffs but actually increased
many with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff upsetting
progressives
• Appointed wealthy lawyer Richard Ballinger to
Secretary of the Interior who removed land TR
set aside for conservation
• Supported Speaker of the House Joe Cannon
who was anti-progressive
85. Republican Party Split
• Due to these problems with Taft, the
Republicans split into old-guard
republicans and progressive republicans
• TR did not get the Republican nomination
so he decided to run as a third party
candidate in the Progressive Party(Bull
Moose Party)
• Why would this split guarantee a democrat
win?
89. Bull-Moose Platform
• Direct Election of
Senators
• Initiative, Referendum,
Recall in all states
• Woman Suffrage
• Worker’s Compensation
• 8 hour workday
• Minimum wage for
women
• Federal Law against child
labor
93. It Gets Nasty!!
• During the campaign before the election,
both Roosevelt & Taft take shots at each
other
• Taft called T.R. a “dangerous egotist”
• Roosevelt branded Taft as “Fat Head with
the brain of a guinea pig”
• Wilson’s quote: “Don’t interfere when your
enemy is destroying himself”
98. Election of 1912
• Election offered several choices:
– Wilson’s New Freedom
– Taft’s Conservatism
– Roosevelt’s Progressivism
– Debs’ Socialism
• Republican Split gives Wilson the presidency
• Republican voters split between Taft &
Roosevelt
• Democrats voted for Wilson
• Wilson only received 42% of the popular vote,
but won 435 electoral votes
• Roosevelt finished 2nd with 4.1 million votes
100. Wilson’s Background
• Grew up in the South
after the Civil War &
Reconstruction
• Son, Grandson, and
Nephew of Presbyterian
Ministers—strict
upbringing
• Before entering politics,
Wilson worked as:
– Lawyer
– History Professor
– President of Princeton
University
– Governor of N.J.
101. Wilson’s Accomplishments
• Passed Clayton Anti-Trust Act(1914)
– Could break up monopolies
-Labor Unions were given the right to exist
-Strikes, boycotts, picketing etc became
legal
• Federal Trade Commission was
established in 1914
– Investigated companies for monopolistic
practices
102. Federal Reserve System
• America needed stronger banks
• Federal Reserve Act of 1913
• Divided the nation into 12 districts regional
central bank in each district
• “Bankers Bank”
• Federal Reserve banks could issue new paper
money in emergency situations
• Also, helped with giving out loan $$
• Banks within the system helped others from
closing due to lack of money
103.
104. Federal Reserve System
• Controls the U.S. money supply and the
availability of credit in the country
• One of President Wilson’s most enduring
achievements
• We use this same system today as the basis of
the nation’s banking system
105. • 17th, 18th and 19th Amendments were passed
during his term
– Direct election of senators(1913)
– Prohibition(1919)
– Women’s Vote(1920)
*Led US during Mexican Crisis and WWI
**Developed Missionary Diplomacy
*African-Americans were for the most part ignored by
Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson and the Progressive Movement
*Wilson reinstated segregation in Washington D.C. and
also started segregation in the US military.
106.
107. The Twilight of Progressivism
• Roosevelt, Taft, and the early part of
Wilson’s presidencies marked the golden
age of Progressivism within the United
States
• Question: Do you think the progressives
accomplished very much?
• World War I would dominate Wilson’s 2nd
term and brought Progressivism to an end
