progressive era Flashcards
(38 cards)
Jacob Riis
- Godfather of Muckraking
- Published How the Other Half Lives (1890)
- Purpose: for prosperous New Yorkers to see immigrant poverty in the NYC tenements
- Effect: new regulations went into effect to improve the conditions
Ida Tarbell
- muckraker
- Published The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)
- Purpose: Portrayed Rockefeller and his company as corrupt and working against public interest
- Effect: Outcry for antitrust prosecution, which occurred during the Taft Administration and SO was broken up by SCOTUS
Upton Sinclair
- muckraker
- Published The Jungle (1904)
- Purpose: Show people the awful living conditions that immigrant workers faced in Chicago & hoped to advance socialism in US
- Effect: popular outcry for regulation of the meat industry (Meat Inspection Act was a result)
Teddy Roosevelt
- 1901-1909
- Republican
- “Trust Buster”
- Northern Securities Case
- Meat Inspection Act/Pure Food & Drug act
- Conservation efforts
- Square Deal
William H. Taft
- 1909 - 1913
- Republican
- Believed that a monopoly was acceptable as long as it didn’t unreasonably squeeze out smaller companies
- Lost the 1912 election because TR challenged him with a third party run
Woodrow Wilson
- 1913 - 1921
- Democrat
- Clayton Antitrust Act
- Progressive Amendments 16-19
- Keating-Owen act (child labor)
- Segregated the Federal Workforce
4 goals of the progressives
- Social Welfare
- Moral Improvement
- Economic Reform
- Efficiency
Square deal
- Created by President Roosevelt
- Goal - keep the wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor
Elkins Act (1903)
Allowed the government to fine railroads that gave special rates to favored shippers, a practice that hurt farmers
Hepburn Act (1906)
Empowered the ICC to enforce limits on the prices charged by railroad companies for shipping, tolls, ferries, and oil pipelines
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
an agency that sets the laws for all the companies that do business across state lines
Department of Commerce and Labor
established by Roosevelt to prevent capitalists from abusing their power
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Provided inspections and monitoring of meat plants
Pure Food and Drug Act
Banned the interstate shipments of impure or mislabeled food or medicine
National Reclamation Act of 1902
- Gave the federal government power to distribute water in the arid west
- Effectively giving government the power to decide where and how water would be dispensed
New Freedom Plan
Wilson’s plan that called for strict government controls over corporations
“Triple wall of privilege”
Tariffs, banks, and trusts
Underwood Tariff Act (1913)
- Cut tariffs leading to lower consumer prices
- Created graduated income tax
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
- Established a system of regional banks to hold reserve funds for the nation’s commercial banks
- Protects against any one person, bank, or region from controlling interest rates
Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)
- monitor businesses to prevent monopolies, false advertising, and dishonest labeling
Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
- Defined specific activities in which businesses could not engage
- Opposed trusts that engaged in unfair practices
- Protected unions from being defined as trusts, allowing them more freedom to organize
Sixteenth Amendment (1913)
Gave Congress the power to collect an income tax
Seventeenth Amendment (1913)
Provided for the direct election of Senators by the voters of each State
Eighteenth Amendment (1919)
Banned the making, selling, or transporting of alcoholic beverages
