Ch. 29-30 Flashcards
Two root organizations of progressivism
Populists
Social gospel movement
Greenbacks
Progressive philosophies and goals
Government should advance public interest and be a force in peoples’ lives
David G. Phillips
Wrote an expose in Cosmopolitan that the trusts in the senate have shut out the peoples’ voice
20th century economic problems
Confronting poverty, taxation/redistribution of wealth, regulating big business, disputes between labor/capital, min wage/max hours, child/consumer protection
20th century social/political problems
Education, civil rights, morality, empowering citizens
Ida Tarbell
Muckraker who exposed Rockefeller’s oil trust and monopoly
Upton Sinclair
Wrote The Jungle and investigated unsafe factory conditions
Government response to Upton Sinclair
Meat Inspection Act and Food and Drug Administration
Lincoln Steffens
Unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal government (The Shame of the Cities)
Goals of muckrackers
Cleanse capitalism and strengthen democracy
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory incident
Violations of fire codes (from lack of enforcement) turned factory into a death trap, and 146 workers were incinerated. Public outcry and strikes caused the NY legislature to pass stronger laws regulating sweatshops. Other states followed.
Ways people were empowered
Initiative Referendum Secret Ballots Primary elections Direct election of senators (17th amendment)
TR’s 3 Cs
Conservation
Care for the consumer
Control of corporations
Square deal
Balance the public, labor, and business
1902 Penn Coal Strike
Coal workers demanded a pay increase and fewer hours, and were denied by mine owners. Coal supplies dangerously declined. Roosevelt threatened to seize the mines with federal troops, and forced the owners to compromise.
Department of Commerce and Labor
Roosevelt urged Congress to create it after the coal strike.
Bureau of Corporations
Cabinet body authorized to probe business engaged in interstate commerce. Used to destroy trusts.
Elkins Act of 1902
Heavy fines could be imposed on railroads that gave rebates and the shippers that accepted them.
Hepburn act of 1906
Free RR passes restricted
Expansion of ICC
Included express companies, sleeping car companies, and pipelines. Authorized to null existing rates and stipulate maximum rates.
First trust bust by TR
Busted the Northern Securities Company, run by Morgan and Hill. Trying to achieve a monopoly of northwest railroads. TR trying to send a message.
Desert Land Act of 1877
First feeble step towards conservation. Government sold arid land cheaply on the condition that the purchaser irrigate the soil within 3 years.
Forest Reserve Act of 1891
Authorized the president to set aside public forests as national parks and other reserves
Newlands Act of 1902
Authorized Washington to collect money from the sale of public lands in western states and use these funds for the development of irrigation projects
