Chapter 21 Flashcards
Lincoln Steffens
Newspaper and magazine publishers found that middle-class readers loved reading underhanded schemes in politics. Publications then featured in depth, investigative stories. Writers specializing in such stories were referred to as “muckrakers” by President Theodore Roosevelt. Tweed Days in St. Louis, 1902 he Shame of the Cities (1904) also caused a sensation by describing in detail the corrupt deals that characterized big-city politics from Philadelphia to Minneapolis.
Henry Demarest Lloyd
One of the earliest muckrakers was Chicago reporter Henry
Demarest Lloyd, who in 1881 wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly attacking the practices of the Standard Oil Company and the railroads. Published in book form in 1894, Lloyd’s Wealth Against Commonwealth fully exposed the corruption and greed of the oil monopoly but failed to suggest how to control it.
Ida Tarbell
another series by Ida Tarbell (The History of the Standard Oil Company, also in 1902). Combining careful research with sensationalism, these articles set a standard for the deluge of muckraking that followed.
Jacob Riis
The most popular series of muckraking articles were usually collected and published as best-selling books. Articles on tenement life by Jacob Riis, one of the first photojournalists, were published as How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Robert La Follett
In the late 19th century, it was the common practice
of Republicans and Democrats to nominate candidates for state and federal offices in state conventions dominated by party bosses. In 1903, the Progressive governor of Wisconsin, Robert La Follette, introduced his state to a new system for bypassing politicians and placing the nominating process directly in the hands of the voters. This method for nominating party candidates by majority vote was known as the direct primary. By 1915, some form of the direct primary was used in every state. The system’s effectiveness in overthrowing boss rule was limited, as politicians devised ways of confusing the voters and splitting the antimachine vote. Some southern states even used the primary system to
exclude African Americans from voting.
Upton Sinclair
The Jungle, a muckraking book by Upton Sinclair, described in horrifying detail the conditions in the Chicago stockyards and
meatpacking industry. The public outcry following the publication of Sinclair’s novel caused Congress to enact two regulatory laws in 1906:
1. The Pure Food and Drug Act forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs.
2. The Meat Inspection Act provided that federal inspectors visit meatpacking plants to ensure that they met minimum standards of
sanitation.
Gifford Pinchot
In 1908, the president publicized the need for conservation by hosting
a White House conference on the subject. Following this conference, a National Conservation Commission was established under Gifford
Pinchot of Pennsylvania, whom Roosevelt had earlier appointed to be the first director of the U.S. Forest Service.
Alice Paul
A more militant approach to gaining the vote was adopted by some women, who took to the streets with mass pickets, parades, and hunger strikes. Their leader, Alice Paul of New Jersey, broke from NAWSA
in 1916 to form the National Woman’s party. From the beginning, Paul focused on winning the support of Congress and the president for an amendment to the Constitution.
Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Chapman Catt, an energetic reformer from Iowa became the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
in 1900. Catt argued for the vote as a broadening of democracy which would
empower women, thus enabling them to more actively care for their families
in an industrial society. At first, Catt continued NAWSA’s drive to win votes for women at the state level before changing strategies and seeking a suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Margaret Sanger
The use of contraceptives for birth control was still against the law in almost every state. Even so, the work of Margaret
Sanger and other advocates of birth control achieved growing acceptance in the twenties.
National Child Labor Committee
proposed child labor law that were adopted by 2/3 of the states, state compulsory school attendance laws had the most effect on taking kids out of factories
Lochner v. New York
Muller v. Oregon
A setback from labor reformers, this 1905 Supreme Court decision invalidated a state law establishing a ten-hour day for bakers. It held that the “right to free contract” was implicit in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
A landmark Supreme Court case in which crusading attorney (and future Supreme Court justice) Louis D. Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of limiting the hours of women workers. Coming on the heels of Lochner v. New York, it established a different standard for male and female workers.
Anthracite Coal Miners Strike
in the first economic crisis of roosevelts presidency, demonstrated that he favored
neither business nor labor but insisted on a Square Deal for both. The crisis involved a strike of anthracite coal miners through much of 1902. If the strike continued, many Americans feared that—without coal—they would freeze to death when winter came. Roosevelt took the unusual step of trying to mediate the labor dispute by calling a union leader and coal mine owners to the White
House. The mine owners’ stubborn refusal to compromise angered the president. To ensure the delivery of coal to consumers, he threatened to take over the
mines with federal troops. The owners finally agreed to accept the findings of a special commission, which granted a 10 percent wage increase and a nine hour day to the miners (but did not grant union recognition).
NAACP
National Urban league
On Lincoln’s birthday in 1908, Du Bois, other members of the Niagara Movement, and a group of white progressives founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Their mission was no less than to abolish all forms of segregation and to
increase educational opportunities for African-American children. By 1920, the NAACP was the nation’s largest civil rights organization, with over 100,000 members. Another organization, the National Urban League, was formed in 1911 to help those migrating from the South to northern cities. The league’s motto, “Not Alms But Opportunity,” reflected its emphasis on self reliance and economic advancement.
National Woman’s party
NAWSA
League of Women Voters
19th Amendment
Carrie Chapman Catt, an energetic reformer from Iowa became the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
in 1900. Catt argued for the vote as a broadening of democracy which would empower women, thus enabling them to more actively care for their families in an industrial society. At first, Catt continued NAWSA’s drive to win votes for women at the state level before changing strategies and seeking a suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A more militant approach to gaining the vote was adopted by some women, who took to the streets with mass pickets, parades, and hunger strikes. Their leader, Alice Paul of New Jersey, broke from NAWSA
in 1916 to form the National Woman’s party. From the beginning, Paul focused
on winning the support of Congress and the president for an amendment to
the Constitution. Carrie Chapman Catt, an energetic reformer from Iowa became the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
in 1900. Catt argued for the vote as a broadening of democracy which would
empower women, thus enabling them to more actively care for their families
in an industrial society. At first, Catt continued NAWSA’s drive to win votes for women at the state level before changing strategies and seeking a suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution
