The Progressive Movement in the early 20th century aimed to return control of the government to the people and correct injustices. Progressives sought to (1) protect social welfare through reforms like prohibition, (2) promote moral improvement, (3) create economic reforms addressing issues like monopolies and wealth inequality, and (4) foster government efficiency. Notable Progressive era presidents included Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the early presidency of Woodrow Wilson, though World War I brought Progressivism's heyday to a close.

1. The Origins of Progressivism
Section 1

2. What was the Progressive
Movement?
• An early 20th Century reform movement
• Aimed at:
– Returning the control of the government to the
people
– Restoring economic opportunities
– Correcting injustices in American life

3. Four Goals of Progressivism
1. Protecting social welfare
2. Promoting moral improvement
3. Creating economic reform
4. Fostering efficiency

4. Protecting Social Welfare
• Review: What is Social Welfare?
• Social Gospel/ Settlement House Movement
continued through Progressive Era
• What is the YMCA??
– Young Men’s Christian Association
– Opened Libraries
– Sponsored classes
– Built Swimming Pools & Handball Courts
• Salvation Army
– Fed poor people in soup kitchens
• Many women followed the lead of Jane Addams
and started taking action
• Slum brigades—teach immigrants

5. Early YMCA Ballers

7. Promoting Moral Improvement
• Some reformers felt that morality, not the
workplace, held the key to improving the
lives of poor people
• Thought people could better themselves
by improving their behavior
• One of the strongest goals of reformers
was to stop the production, sale, and
consumption of alcoholic beverages
– What was this known as?????

8. Prohibition
• Banning of alcoholic
beverages
• Prohibitionists believed
that alcohol was
undermining American
morals
– What are
morals?...examples of
good morals?

9. Prohibition
• Alcoholic beverages had
been around for
thousands of years
• Certain immigrant groups
used these beverages
more than others
• Hard to break old habits
• Many individuals and
groups of people were
very upset by this
movement

11. 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

13. Carry Nation
• Most famous member
of the temperance
movement
• Member of the WCTU
• 6 ft., 175lbs
• “Bulldog running along
the feet of Jesus”
• Nation was known for
attacking saloons with
a hatchet
• Arrested 30 times in a
10 year span

14. Creating Economic Reform
• Panic of 1893 caused many Americans to worry
– What was the Panic of 1893?
– Serious decline in the American economy due to lack of
gold supply
• Many Americans questioned the Capitalist
economic system due to poverty
• Some Americans, especially workers, embraced
Socialism
• What is:
– Capitalism?
– Socialism?

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. • “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!”

20. 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

21. 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

26. 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?

27. 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
– What did these five aim at doing????

28. A “Total” Recall?

30. Direct Election of Senators
• 17th Amendment
• 1913
• Direct election of U.S. Senators
• What does this mean?
• Who are our Senators????

31. Charles Grassley

32. Tom Harkin

33. Women’s Role
• Many more women were getting an
education
• Many became teachers
• Help push for the passing of the 18 th and
19th Amendments to the US Constitution
-Prohibition
-Women’s Suffrage

34. 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

35. • 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”

37. • 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

41. Teddy Bear

44. 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

45. • 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

47. 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

49. Theodore Roosevelt National Park—Badlands, N.D.

51. Willam Jennings Bryan vs William
Howard Taft-1908 Election

52. 1908 Election Taft v. Bryan

53. 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

55. • “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

56. Why was Taft Not 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

57. 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

58. “Uncle” Joe Cannon

59. 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?

62. Teddy Roosevelt-Progressive

63. 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

64. William Howard Taft-Republicans

65. Woodrow Wilson-Democrats

66. Eugene V. Debs-Socialist

67. 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”

70. 1912 Election

72. 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

73. Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom

74. 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.

75. 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

76. • Underwood Tariff(1913) drastically cut
tariff rates for the first time since the Civil
War

77. 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

79. 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

80. • 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.

82. 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