Era: |Progressive Era, 1900-1919



Era: |Progressive Era, 1900-1919

Context: In response to the excesses of the Gilded Age, reformers in America moved into the Progressive Era. Focused on social/poverty, government and business, the key to the Progressive Era is reform. Teddy Roosevelt, though quite different in character and composition, can be labeled as Progressive presidents. Keep in mind that while they are called Progressives, social and political leaders, ranging from Jane Addams to Robert LaFollette held much more radical beliefs and are more closely identified as “trust” Progressives.

Major philosophical questions of the era:

It is only as America entered the 20th Century that a notion of a true welfare state came on to the horizon. What was the American social, political and economic response to the throngs of “tired and weary” who poured into the nation? What should it have been?

You should also consider the profile and point of view of these upstart Progressives. Were they right or just jealous of those who had found fortune in America? What are the long-term implications of the government assuming a role in protecting citizens and to do so policing industry?

And don’t forget the election reforms of this era. At the time, the Progressives were accused of creating a public interest democracy, designed to put other interest groups on a playing field with the traditional business brokers. Is this what de Tocqueville praised when he imagined how the great democratic experiment would play out?

The Progressives

Believed an efficient gov’t could protect the public interest and restore order to society. And government is an agency of human welfare

Specific issues for reform:

The break-up or regulation of trusts

Killing political machines

Reduce the threat of socialism (by improving workers’ lives)

Improve squalid conditions in the cities

Improve working conditions for female labor and end child labor

Consumer protection

Voting reform

Conservation

Banking reform

Labor reform (working conditions and unionization)

Prohibition of alcohol

Female suffrage

Progressive crusaders created a reform movement not seen since the 2nd Great Awakening

|Presidents |Supremes |

|26.  Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1908 | |

|Republican |Lochner vs. New York, 1905, no government had |

|VP - Fairbanks |power to deprive workers of the right to |

|Secretary of State - John Hay, Elihu Root |negotiate labor contracts |

|Major Items: |Muller vs. Oregon, 1908, Oregon law limiting |

|Panama Canal, 1903-1914 |women laundry workers to ten hours a day was |

|"Square Deal" (for Capital, labor, and the public at large) was his 1906 campaign slogan TR’s program embraced |challenged |

|three C’s: Control of the corporations Consumer protection Conservation of natural resources |Hammer vs. Dagenhart, 1918, declared federal |

|Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904 |child labor law (1916) unconstitutional |

|Portsmouth Treaty, 1905 |Schenck vs. United States, 1918, upheld the |

|Gentleman's Agreement with Japan, 1904 |constitutionality of the Espionage Acts; man |

|Hague Conferences, 1899 and 1907 |sent bribes to draftees encouraging them to |

|Hepburn Act, 1906 |refuse to report for induction into the army |

|Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, and "muckrakers", 1906 |United States v. American Tobacco Company , |

|Political reforms of the Roosevelt Era |1911 ordered the company to reorganize on the |

|Trust-busting |basis of the "rule of reason" did not order its|

|Coal Strike |dissolution. "Rule of reason" meant only |

|Conservation |reasonable restraints of trade were authorized.|

|Venezuelan Debt Controversy, 1902 |Severely impaired government's anti-trust |

|Dominican Republic Crisis, 1902 |activities. |

|Algerian Conference over Morocco, 1906 | |

|27.  William Howard Taft, 1909-1913 |1911, Court ordered dissolution of Standard Oil|

|Republican |Company Judged to be a combination in restraint|

|VP - Sherman |of trade in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust|

|Major Items: |Act of 1890. |

|Paine-Aldrich Tariff, 1909 | |

|Pinchot-Ballinger controversy, 1909 (conservation v. reclamation) | |

|"Dollar Diplomacy" | |

|28.  Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921 | |

|Democrat | |

|VP - Marshall | |

|Major Items: | |

|Underwood Tariff, 1913 | |

|16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments | |

|Federal Reserve System, 1913 | |

|Glassower Act, 1913 | |

|Federal trade Commission, 1914 | |

|Clayton Anti-trust Act, 1914 | |

|Troops to Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Virgin Islands, Mexico | |

|The Lusitania, May 1915 | |

|"Fourteen Points," January 1917 | |

|Treaty of Versailles, 1919-1920 | |

|"New Freedom" | |

|Laws & Acts |Political Parties |

|16th Amendment – federal income tax |Democratic Party: |

|17th Amendment – direct election of senators. |One of the two main political parties of the United States. |

|18th Amendment – prohibition |Its origins can be traced to the coalition formed  behind |

|19th Amendment – women’s suffrage.(introduced by Jeannette Rankin, the 1st women in |Thomas Jefferson  in the 1790s to resist the policies of |

|Congress and the sole vote against entry into WWI) |George Washington's administration. This coalition, |

|Department of Commerce & Labor created to settle disputes between capital and labor in |originally called the Republican, and later the Democratic |

|1903 |Republican Party, split into two factions during the |

|Elkins Act, 1903 Aimed primarily at reducing abuse of rebates used by railroads |presidential campaign of 1828. One, the National-Republican |

|Hepburn Act (1906) (More effective than Elkins Act) Expanded the power of the Interstate|Party, was absorbed into the Whig  Party in 1934; the other |

|Commerce Commission (created in 1887) |became the Democratic Party. |

|Mann-Elkins Act 1910 strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission by putting telegraph,|Republican Party: |

|cables and telephones under ICC jurisdiction. |One of the two major United States political parties, founded|

|Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906 placed regulations on the manufacturing of prepared foods |by a coalition in 1854. The coalition was  composed of  |

|and some medicines.  The law, along with the Meat Inspection Act, was passed as writers |former members of the Whig, Free-Soil, and |

|and scientists exposed shocking facts about the way food and drugs were prepared and |Know-Nothing(American) Parties, along with  Northern |

|sold.  It ranks among the most important of the laws associated with the Progressive |Democrats who were dissatisfied with their party's |

|movement.  It has been greatly strengthened in the decades since. |conciliatory attitude on the slavery issue. The early |

|Meat Inspection Act, 1906 Preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject |Republicans were united in their opposition to extending |

|to federal inspection throughout the meat making process. |slavery into the western territories. In 1856   the nominated|

|Payne-Aldrich Tariff, 1909 –tariff reduction and key to keeping Republicans in support |John Charles Frémont for the presidency. he won about a third|

|for increasingly liberal Progressive reforms. |of the popular vote, but alienated many potential supporters |

|Underwood Tariff Bill -- 1913. Wilson’s direct appeal to Substantially reduced tariff to|by his failure to oppose immigration. |

|about 29% from 37-40% under Payne- Aldrich Tariff. And Enacted a graduated income tax, |People's Party or Populist Party: |

|under authority granted by recently 16thAmendment. |Political party active in the United States between 1891 and |

|Mann Act, 1910 adopted by Congress to stop the transportation of women across state |1908, supported mainly by farmers in the South and West. A |

|lines for "immoral purposes" and to stem the importation of European women to work in |product of the Populist movement, the people's party was the |

|American brothels. This law becomes known as the "white slave traffic act," and in the |successor of the Greenback-labor party of the 1880s. One of |

|next few years, alarm about the "white slave trade" grows rapidly. |its chief organizers, the journalist and reformer Ignatius |

|Federal Reserve Act, 1913, gave country first central bank and the federals the power to|Donnelly was a leader of the Populist-oriented Farmers' |

|regulate economy. |Alliance. |

|Volstead Act, implemented prohibition. |Bull Moose Party: |

|Clayton Antitrust Act, 1914 Clayton Anti-trust Act exempts organized labor from |The first Progressive party, know colloquially as the Bull |

|anti-trust restrictions, which had been used against labor by companies in the past. |Moose Party, was founded after a bitter fight for the |

|(Gompers called it the Magna Carta of labor)  |Republican presidential nomination among the incumbent |

|Federal Trade Commission 1914 has the power to investigate and stop unfair business |president William H. Taft, the Wisconsin Senator Robert M. |

|practices.  The law is a good example of the Progressive movement’s efforts to expand |LaFollette (leader of the Republican Party's progressive |

|the power of the federal government to regulate private business.  The commission did |"insurgents"), and the former president Theodore Roosevelt. |

|not take very strong action at the time against business problems, however, in part |Most Progressives soon rejoined the Republican Party, and the|

|because people appointed to the commission often shared the views of big business |Progressive Party died out in 1917. |

|themselves.  The commission still exists today, and deals with various business and |Progressive Party: |

|consumer issues |In 1924 a liberal coalition, frustrated by conservative |

|Selective Service Act, 1917- created the draft of young men into armed services. |domination of both major parties, formed the League of |

|Espionage Act/Sedition Acts (1917, 1918) - two laws passed by Congress during World War |Progressive Political Action, popularly called the |

|One that were used to intimidate or jail critics of American involvement in the war. |Progressive Party. Nominating Senator Robert M. LaFollette |

|Socialists and radical labor leaders were especially singled out for prosecution, and |for president and Montana Democratic Senator Burton K. |

|hundreds were given jail terms. Newspapers and magazines critical of the war effort were|Wheeler for vice-president, the party, which also drew |

|denied the use of the postal service. The two laws are often cited as examples of the |support from the Socialists, advocated government ownership |

|way the emotions of wartime can lead otherwise decent citizens and officials to support |of public utilities and labor reforms such as the right to |

|measures that violate citizens’ rights. (John Adams passed the first such acts as second|collective bargaining. Although he was overwhelmingly |

|president called the Alien & Sedition Act) |defeated by the Republican candidate, the incumbent president|

|Newlands Reclamation Act authorizes the building of irrigation dams across the West.1902|Calvin Coolidge, La Follette polled more than 4.8 million |

|Workman's Compensation act enacted by Congress.1916 |votes, about 16.5% of the total ballots cast, and 13 |

|Webb Alien Land Holding Bill, California Governor Hiram Johnson signs the Webb Alien |electoral votes. |

|Land-Holding Bill into law; it excludes the Japanese from holding land.  The Japanese |Socialist Party: |

|government and Wilson protest.  |Political party of the United States, founded in |

|Immigration Act requiring a literacy test for immigrants and excluding Asiatic workers |Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1901. The first political party in |

|other than Japanese is passed over Wilson's veto.1917 |the U.S. dedicated to the promotion of socialism was the |

|Child Labor Act of 1916 restricted child labor on products in interstate commerce. |Socialist Labor party, founded in 1877. In 1890 leadership of|

|1sttime Congress regulated labor with a state using interstate commerce power |this party was assumed by Daniel De Leon, an authoritarian |

|Invalidated by Court in 1918 on grounds that it interfered with states’ powers. |follower of Karl Marx's revolutionary policies. |

|Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hr day for all employees on trains in interstate |Communist Parties: |

|commerce, with extra pay for overtime, & maximum 16-hr shifts. Minimum wages. Prisons |Political organizations designed to establish and maintain a |

|and "reform" schools forced to change goal from punishment to rehabilitation. |Communist system, theoretically dominated by the working |

|Warehouse Act of 1916: authorized loans on the security of staple crops. (Populist |class and generally patterned on the party established in |

|subtreasury plan idea)) |Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Most Communist|

|Federal Highway Act of 1916 provided highway construction in rural areas |parties have been totalitarian and monolithic in both spirit |

|Jones Act in 1916 Granted Philippines territorial status and promised independence as |and practice. |

|soon as a "stable gov’t" could be established. 30 years later on July 4, 1946, | |

|Philippines received their independence. | |

|Jones Act, 1917 -- gave Puerto Ricans status of citizens | |

|Wars |Rebellions |Battles |Crisis |

|World War I: | |Chateau Thierry was the World War I |Lusitania - the famous British ship sunk |

|1914-1918; never known as World War I until after| |battle where the German advance were |by a German U-Boat (submarine) in 1915.  |

|the second world war occurred. Fought between | |turned back at the Marne River – 1918|Almost 1,200 lives were lost,  including |

|Germany, Britain, United States, and France. | |Verdun was where the Germans |128 Americans.  The outcry helped shift |

|Germany wanted to achieve world power, | |surrendered to the Allied Forces in |public opinion in America against Germany|

|essentially by taking over the world. American | |WORLD WAR I - 1918 |and toward involvement in World War One. |

|initially declared neutrality but by 1917 they | | |Germany defended its action with the |

|declared war. The Treaty of Versailles, which was| | |claim that the ship was carrying arms as |

|rewritten several times before being passed by | | |well as passengers. |

|the Senate, ended the war forcing the Germans to | | |Panic of 1907 Wall Street suffered a |

|pay reparations to the all the countries | | |short but brutal panic in 1907. TR blamed|

|affected. | | |for anti-business stance. |

|Land |

|Panama Canal Zone: |

|1904-1979; former territory in Central Panama governed by the United States for the operation of the Panama Canal. The Canal Zone was created under the |

|Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, signed in 903 by the newly independent nation of Panama and the United States. The treaty gave the United States the right to |

|build and operate the Panama Canal, to control the Canal Zone as is it were U.S. Territory, and to annex more land if necessary for canal operations and|

|defense. |

|Virgin Islands: |

|During the American Civil War (1861-65), the Union began to negotiate with Denmark for the purchase of the Virgin Islands in order to establish naval |

|bases in the Caribbean. Nothing came of the negotiations, however, until World War I (1914-1918). In 1917 the United States bought the Virgin Islands |

|from Denmark for $25 million and built a naval base in order to protect the Panama Canal and to prevent Germany's seizure of the islands. |

|Foreign Policy |Miscellaneous |

|Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 1901, United States and Britain would jointly build an isthmian canal. |Muckrakers: |

|United States was free to construct, maintain, an fortify a canal that could be open to all ships.|Applied to a group of writers who stirred public |

|Platt Amendment, 1901, Cuba would become a protectorate of the United States. Cuba could not make |opinion to the point of action by exposing abuses and |

|a treaty with a foreign nation hurting its independence. Cuba was to allow the United States to |corruption in business and politics. Key figures: Frank|

|issue orders and lease a base at Guantanamo Bay for 99 years. |Norris, Ida Tarbell; Upton Sinclair. |

|Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904, United States reserved rights to intervene in |Progressives: |

|Latin America to keep European Powers from collecting debts using force. |Progressive party, name of three distinct political |

|Big Stick Diplomacy, 1905, American involvement in affairs of Venezuela, Haiti, Dominican |party in the United States history. Created by the |

|Republic, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Brandished "big stick" like a policeman to beat Europeans out of |split in the Republican party where Roosevelt was |

|Latin America. |outraged at the nomination of Taft over him and thus he|

|Dollar Diplomacy, 1914, Economic penetration would bring stability to lower areas and profit and |created the Progressive Party. The Progressives |

|power to the United States without having to use the troops or special funds. |advocated primary elections, prohibition of child |

|Fourteen Points, 1918 |labor, woman suffrage, national social insurance, and |

|Given by Woodrow Wilson about ending of World War I. First 5 points called for open peace |restrictions on the use of injunctions in labor |

|treaties, freedom of seas, free trade. The Next 8 points were the aspirations of the European |disputes. Soon after their loss in the election of |

|people (boundaries etc.). The 14th point called for a "general association of nations to preserve |1916, many Progressives returned the Republican party |

|peace". One can see the last point was alluding to the League of Nation which became the United |and the Progressive Party dissipated in 1917. |

|Nations. |Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led by |

|Balfour Declaration (1917) The British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, wrote to Jewish |Francis Willard in late 19th c. One of nation’s most |

|leader Lord Rothschild, to assure him that his government supported the ideal of providing a |powerful interest groups after Civil War; urged women’s|

|homeland for the Jews. The British hoped thereby to win more Jewish support for the Allies in the |suffrage. |

|First World War. The "Balfour Declaration" became the basis for international support for the |Wisconsin Idea, “Fighting” Bob LaFollette’s platform |

|founding of the modern state of Israel |for Progressive Party emphasized election and |

|Mexican Revolution began in 1910. Porfirio Diaz had been dictator since 1876 but now opposed by |government reforms. Wisconsin was the most progressive |

|Indian masses and frustrated middle-class. Diaz had hoped to modernize Mexico through foreign |state in the union at the time. |

|investment. Dominance of foreigners stimulated nationalism (like Boxers in China in 1900) By 1910 |Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911, Fire breaks out at the |

|Americans owned 43% of property in Mexico; other foreigners owned nearly 25%!; 50,000 Americans |Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, killing 146 workers, |

|lived in Mexico |mostly women and girls; some jump to their deaths when |

|Francisco Madero, revolutionary, replaced Diaz as president of Mexico in 1911. Foreign investors |inadequate equipment makes rescue impossible. |

|feared Madero would yield to radicals who vowed to confiscate property owned by foreigners. |First Woman in Congress, 1916, Jeannette Rankin of |

|Foreign diplomats (including U.S.) and business people plotted with discontented elements of |Montana is the first woman elected to the House of |

|Mexican army to replace Madero with General Huerta.reality, Madero was moderate and preferred by |Representatives.(Rankin goes on to be the sole vote |

|Wilson. Poor Mexicans waged a revolution and in Feb. 1913 overthrew Madero. General Huerta, a |against entry into WWI.) |

|full-blooded Indian, installed as president Massive migration of Mexicans to U.S. ensued American | |

|interests in Mexico cried for U.S. intervention for protection. Wilson initially stood firm | |

|against intervention; though he did not recognize Huerta Later, Wilson massed U.S. troops on the | |

|border and sent warships to Mexico warning Huerta that unless he abdicated, the U.S. would | |

|overthrow him. 1914, he allowed U.S. arms to flow to Venustiano Carranza and Francisco "Pancho" | |

|Villa who were Huerta’s principal rivals. Tampico Incident: April 1914, small party of U.S. | |

|sailors arrested at Atlantic seaport of Tampico for being in a war zone without a permit. Mexico | |

|promptly released sailors and apologized but refused the U.S.admiral's demand for 21-gun salute | |

|unless the U.S. likewise saluted the Mexican flag. (Huerta knew that saluting the Mexican flag | |

|meant U.S. recognition of Huerta as Mexico’s legitimate leader.)Wilson, furious at Huerta’s ploy | |

|at recognition. | |

|asked Congress for authority to use force against Mexico. | |

|Wilson ordered the navy (before Congress could act), which was seeking to intercept a German ship | |

|with arms for Huerta, to seize Vera Cruz. Congress and much of the American public outraged. | |

|126 Mexican casualties, 19 American | |

|Pancho" Villa emerged as Carranza’s chief rival Carranza was reluctantly supported by U.S. with | |

|arms and diplomatic recognition. Villa retaliated by killing 18 Americans at Santa Ysabel, Mexico | |

|in Jan. 1916. March 1916, Villa’s army shot up Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17 Americans. | |

| | |

|Culture: |

|Great Migration - the movement of thousands of African-Americans from the South to northern cities that started during World War One.  As the armaments |

|(weapons) factories expanded to meet the needs of the war, job shortages developed.  Blacks frustrated by race relations in the South were especially eager|

|to take these jobs.  The migration continued into the 1920s and even beyond. The migration brought many new opportunities for African-Americans.  But it |

|also brought cultural conflict with blacks already established in northern cities.  The Urban League was started as an organization to help the new |

|arrivals adjust to the ways of big city life and also to deal with the problems caused by discrimination by whites. |

|Harlem Renaissance - a flowering of art, music, dance, and writing by African-Americans in New York City that began in the 1920s.  Harlem had become a |

|large black neighborhood, and the excitement of the years after World War One helped spark the movement.  Poet Langston Hughes and the singer-actor Paul |

|Robeson (of “Old Man River” fame) are among the names associated with the Harlem Renaissance. |

|The Great Train Robbery, 1901, An eleven-minute Edison film, shown in theaters |

|Muckrakers: Roosevelt lambastes the press for its lurid exposure of social evils, calling journalists such as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Ida |

|Tarbell, David Graham Phillips, and Ray Stannard Baker "muckrakers" after the man in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress who could see nothing but filth.  |

|San Francisco Earthquake of 1906: April. San Francisco earthquake kills an estimated 500 people, and fire destroys much of the city. PromptsTR to create |

|government-supported aid, working through Red Cross. |

|Conservation - the effort to preserve and protect wildlife and natural resources from destruction or erosion.  The movement dates back at least to 1872, |

|when the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone, was created.  Theodore Roosevelt is famous for promoting public interest in conservation, and tripled |

|the number of acres of land set aside for national forests.  In modern times, the term “environmental” has almost replaced “conservation” in the language. |

|A Brand New Car, 1908, Henry Ford introduces the Model T. It sells for about  $850 and can, says Ford, be purchased in any color the buyer wishes, as long |

|as the buyer wants black. Colors were added the next year.  By 1926 the price drops to $310. |

|Titanic, 1912, The Titanic strikes an iceberg, and 1502 lives are lost because the ship did not carry enough lifeboats |

|Beard, Charles and Mary: |

|Charles Beard (1874-1948) was an educator and historian, born in Knightstown, Indiana, and educated at DePauw and Columbia universities. He was a professor|

|of political science at Columbia University from 1907 to 1917, when he resigned to protest the dismissal, during World War I, of several professors at |

|Columbia who held pacifist views. In 1918 Beard helped found the New School for Social Research, an institution for adult education in New York City. His |

|wife Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958) was a historian and feminist, born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and educated at DePauw University. Until the ratification |

|in 1920 of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, she was prominent in the woman suffrage movement. |

|Cassatt, Mary: |

|American artist Mary Cassatt left school in Pennsylvania to paint in France. She was recognized by French painter Edgar Degas who invited her to exhibit |

|with his impressionist colleagues. Cassatt’s mature work focused on line and naturalistic portraiture. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1904. |

|Chaplin, Charles: |

|Charlie Chaplin was an English actor, director, producer, and composer. He is best remembered as "the Tramp," a character he immortalized in more than 70 |

|motion pictures beginning in 1914. Chaplin’s gift was his ability to touch his audience deeply while playing the childlike clown. |

|Dewey, John: |

|John Dewey emphasized practical ideas in both his philosophical and educational theories, always striving to show how abstract concepts could work in |

|everyday life. He emphasized "hands-on" learning, and opposed authoritarian methods in teaching. His ideas prompted a drastic change in United States |

|education beginning in the 20th century. He published Democracy and Education in 1916. |

|DuBois, WEB: |

|Writer of The Souls of Black Folks and organizer of the Niagara Movement that led to creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored |

|People. |

|Eliot, Charles: |

|(1834-1926), American educator born in Boston on March 20, 1834, and educated at Harvard University. Eliot was assistant professor of mathematics and |

|chemistry at Harvard from 1858 to 1863. He spent the next few years in Europe studying chemistry and foreign educational methods. He returned to the U.S. |

|in 1865 to become professor of analytical chemistry at the newly formed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, remaining there until 1869, when he became |

|the 22nd president of Harvard University. Influenced by what he had seen abroad, Eliot remodeled the university curriculum on a liberal basis. Although he |

|did not originate the elective system, he established it so thoroughly that it spread to other colleges. By raising the requirements for university |

|admission, he raised the standards of secondary schools. In 1894 he suggested cooperation among the colleges to establish a common entrance test and |

|equalize standards, preparing the way for the College Entrance Examinations Board. Gladden, Washington: |

|(1836-1918), American Congregationalist minister and journalist, known for his pragmatic social theology. Gladden linked theological liberalism with strong|

|social concern. His attempts to apply biblical teachings to the problems of industrialization made him a leader in the Social Gospel movement |

|Lewis, Sinclair: |

|(1885-1951), American novelist, whose naturalistic style and choice of subject matter was much imitated by later writers. He replaced the traditionally |

|romantic and complacent conception of American life with one that was realistic and even bitter. In Main Street (1920) Lewis first developed the theme that|

|was to run through his most important work: the monotony, emotional frustration, and lack of spiritual and intellectual values in American middle-class |

|life. His novel Babbitt (1922) mercilessly characterizes the small-town American businessman who conforms blindly to the materialistic social and ethical |

|standards of his environment; the word "Babbitt," designating a man of this type, has become part of the language. Although he generally scoffed at prizes |

|and refused the Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for Arrowsmith, Lewis accepted the 1930 Nobel Prize in literature. He was the first American ever to receive this |

|award. |

|Lynd, Robert and Helen: |

|(1892-1970), American sociologist, co-author (with his wife) of Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture (1929) and Middletown in Transition |

|(1937), two works that rank among the classics of American sociology. |

|Norris, Frank: |

|(1870-1902), American novelist, born in Chicago, and educated at the University of California and Harvard University. He was a newspaper correspondent |

|during the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Boer War (1899-1902). Norris's novels, influenced by the French naturalistic novelist Émile Zola, are |

|brutally realistic, describing and analyzing sordid human motives and environments. Norris's most important works are McTeague (1899), a powerful story of |

|the tragedy caused by greed in the lives of ordinary people. |

|Sinclair, Upton: |

|American writer Upton Sinclair gained fame after the publication of his 1906 novel The Jungle, which exposed unsanitary conditions in slaughterhouses and |

|prompted stricter laws governing the meat industry. In 1943 Sinclair won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Dragon’s Teeth. |

|Sandburg, Carl: |

|(1878-1967), American poet and biographer, whose six-volume biography of President Abraham Lincoln is considered a masterful interpretation of all the |

|available material on the subject. Sandburg first gained recognition when the poem "Chicago," which appeared in the magazine Poetry in 1914, was awarded |

|the magazine's Levinson Prize that same year. Chicago Poems (1916), in which Sandburg used unrhymed free verse and the techniques of imagism, established |

|his reputation as a realist who was concerned with the energy and brutality of urban industrial life. |

|People |

|Anthony, Susan Brownell: |

|(1820-1906), outstanding American reformer, who led the struggle to gain the vote for women. She devoted 50 years to overcoming the nation's |

|resistance to woman suffrage, but died before the 19th Amendment was finally ratified (August 18, 1920). |

|Brandeis, Louis: |

|As a litigator and later as a member of the United States Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis was a champion of economic, social, and political justice. |

|In support of his arguments for reform, Brandeis used statistical data concerning social conditions. The "Brandeis brief," a legal document full of |

|citations regarding social data as opposed to the traditional theoretical format, was named for his style of argumentation. |

|Bryan, William Jennings: |

|(1860-1925), American political leader, editor, and lecturer, known for his spellbinding oratory.At the Democratic National Convention of 1896, |

|Bryan, who had become celebrated as an orator, delivered his most famous talk, generally known as the "cross of gold" speech, in behalf of the |

|bimetallic theory, and received the presidential nomination; he was defeated in the election of that year by the Republican governor of Ohio, |

|William McKinley.Bryan's last years were devoted largely to activities in behalf of the American religious movement known as fundamentalism. In |

|1925, at Dayton, Tennessee, he acted as an associate prosecutor in the trial of a schoolteacher, John Thomas Scopes, who had taught the biological |

|theory of evolution to his pupils in defiance of a state law prohibiting the teaching of doctrines contrary to the Bible. The chief defense attorney|

|was the famous American lawyer Clarence Darrow, who also had strong personal convictions about the principles involved. The case attracted |

|considerable attention throughout the U.S. Bryan won the case, and Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but the humiliating cross-examination to |

|which Bryan was subjected by Darrow, revealing his ignorance of scientific discoveries, probably hurt the fundamentalist cause and may have been a |

|contributing factor in Bryan's sudden death on July 26, only five days after the conclusion of the trial. |

|Cannon, Joseph: |

|Joseph Cannon served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911. Some of his colleagues called him "Czar" Cannon |

|because of his blustery but effective leadership style. |

|Carranza, Venustiano: |

|Mexican revolutionary and statesman Venustiano Carranza served as president of Mexico from 1914 to 1920, during some of the most turbulent years in |

|Mexican history. As leader of the more conservative wing of revolutionaries, Carranza was unable to balance the competing interests in Mexican |

|politics. He was overthrown by an army revolt and killed. |

|Croly, Herbert: |

|Roosevelt was much impressed by Herbert Croly’s The Promise of American Life (1909), a book that denounced the individualism of Thomas Jefferson and|

|called for unity behind a national program of improvement and control. This among other influences was the basis for what became Roosevelt’s New |

|Nationalism program. |

|Debs, Eugene: |

|Eugene Debs began working on the railroads at age 14, and in 1893, at age 38, he founded the American Railway Union. The union dissolved after a |

|violent strike in 1894. Debs served a six-month jail sentence for his participation in the strike and turned to radical politics soon after being |

|released. Despite persecution for his political beliefs, Debs ran as the Socialist candidate for president five times. He collected 6 percent of the|

|vote in 1912. |

|Dewey, John: |

|John Dewey emphasized practical ideas in both his philosophical and educational theories, always striving to show how abstract concepts could work |

|in everyday life. He emphasized "hands-on" learning, and opposed authoritarian methods in teaching. His ideas prompted a drastic change in United |

|States education beginning in the 20th century. He published Democracy and Education in 1916. |

|Du Bois, W.E.B.: |

|In 1895 American writer W. E. B. Du Bois became the first black to be awarded a doctoral degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.|

|Du Bois came to prominence as an advocate of racial equality. He argued against famed black educator Booker T. Washington’s theory that blacks |

|should accept their inferior social status and work to improve their lives through economic means. |

|Eliot, Charles: |

|(1834-1926), American educator born in Boston on March 20, 1834, and educated at Harvard University. Eliot was assistant professor of mathematics |

|and chemistry at Harvard from 1858 to 1863. He spent the next few years in Europe studying chemistry and foreign educational methods. He returned to|

|the U.S. in 1865 to become professor of analytical chemistry at the newly formed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, remaining there until 1869, |

|when he became the 22nd president of Harvard University. Influenced by what he had seen abroad, Eliot remodeled the university curriculum on a |

|liberal basis. Although he did not originate the elective system, he established it so thoroughly that it spread to other colleges. By raising the |

|requirements for university admission, he raised the standards of secondary schools. In 1894 he suggested cooperation among the colleges to |

|establish a common entrance test and equalize standards, preparing the way for the College Entrance Examinations Board. |

|Foch, Ferdinand: |

|(1851-1929); French General Ferdinand Foch commanded the Allied armies on the Western Front during the latter part of World War I. Foch was chosen |

|by the Allies as supreme allied commander after the 1918 German offensive. He launched a series of counteroffensives that shaped a final victory. |

|Holmes Jr., Oliver Wendell: |

|After 20 years on the Massachusetts Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1902. |

|Despite serving on a U.S. Supreme Court characterized by its political conservativism and activism, Holmes usually supported liberal laws and |

|advocated "judicial restraint" in the review of legislative decisions. His tendency to compose eloquent opinions counter to the majority during his |

|30 years on the U.S. Supreme Court earned him the nickname "the Great Dissenter." |

|Huerta, Victoriano: |

|Victoriano Huerta seized Mexico’s presidency in February 1913, during the Mexican Revolution. He resigned in July 1914 after his actions angered the|

|United States government and prompted U.S. intervention in the war. |

|Hughes, Charles Evans: |

|(1862-1948), American jurist and statesman, thought by many to have been the greatest chief justice of the United States since John Marshall. In |

|1910 he resigned as governor to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, serving until 1916, when he became the Republican |

|presidential candidate running against the incumbent Woodrow Wilson. Hughes lost the election by 594,188 popular votes and the narrow margin of 23 |

|electoral votes. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Hughes secretary of state. During his 4-year term of office, Hughes convened a naval|

|disarmament conference and negotiated an agreement with 15 Latin American countries to form a commission to arbitrate disputes that could not be |

|settled by ordinary diplomatic means. Hughes presided over the Supreme Court during the critical depression years of the 1930s. Although considered |

|a conservative in politics, as chief justice he supported many New Deal measures proposed by the liberal administration of President Franklin D. |

|Roosevelt. For instance, Hughes wrote two 5-4 decisions of the Court, one upholding Roosevelt's refusal to pay government obligations in gold and |

|the other approving the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act. |

|Ickes, Harold: |

|(1874-1952), American jurist, who long served as U.S. secretary of the interior (1933-1946). He soon became active in municipal reform politics and |

|civil liberties causes and in 1912 he helped form the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. In 1916 he managed the presidential campaign of Republican |

|candidate Charles Evans Hughes and in 1920, as delegate at large to the Republican convention, opposed the nomination of Warren G. Harding. In 1932 |

|he led liberal Republican support for the Democratic candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who subsequently appointed him secretary of the interior; he |

|resigned this post in 1946 after a dispute with President Harry S. Truman. Ickes headed the Public Works Administration (1933-1939), and during |

|World War II he was administrator of petroleum and solid fuels. He was known for his trenchant opinions, his commitment to social reform and |

|conservation of natural resources, and his unimpeachable honesty. |

|James, William: |

|American psychologist and philosopher William James helped to popularize the philosophy of pragmatism with his book Pragmatism: A New Name for Old |

|Ways of Thinking (1907). Influenced by a theory of meaning and verification developed for scientific hypotheses by American philosopher C. S. |

|Peirce, James held that truth is what works, or has good experimental results. In a related theory, James argued the existence of God is partly |

|verifiable because many people derive benefits from believing. |

|Jay, John: |

|American psychologist and philosopher William James helped to popularize the philosophy of pragmatism with his book Pragmatism: A New Name for Old |

|Ways of Thinking (1907). Influenced by a theory of meaning and verification developed for scientific hypotheses by American philosopher C. S. |

|Peirce, James held that truth is what works, or has good experimental results. In a related theory, James argued the existence of God is partly |

|verifiable because many people derive benefits from believing. |

|La Follette, Robert: Progressive party candidate for the 1924 election for the Presidency |

|Lewis, Sinclair: |

|(1885-1951), American novelist, whose naturalistic style and choice of subject matter was much imitated by later writers. He replaced the |

|traditionally romantic and complacent conception of American life with one that was realistic and even bitter. In Main Street (1920) Lewis first |

|developed the theme that was to run through his most important work: the monotony, emotional frustration, and lack of spiritual and intellectual |

|values in American middle-class life. His novel Babbitt (1922) mercilessly characterizes the small-town American businessman who conforms blindly to|

|the materialistic social and ethical standards of his environment; the word "Babbitt," designating a man of this type, has become part of the |

|language. Although he generally scoffed at prizes and refused the Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for Arrowsmith, Lewis accepted the 1930 Nobel Prize in |

|literature. He was the first American ever to receive this award |

|Lynd, Robert and Helen: |

|(1892-1970), American sociologist, co-author (with his wife) of Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture (1929) and Middletown in |

|Transition (1937), two works that rank among the classics of American sociology. |

|Mahan, Alfred: |

|(1840-1914),A Union naval officer during the American Civil War (1861-1865), Mahan served in the navy for nearly 40 years. Mahan stressed the |

|important role of sea power in the world, and this idea had a profound influence on the policies of many nations, including the United States and |

|Germany. |

|Mencken, H.L.: |

|American journalist, critic, and writer H. L. Mencken cofounded the literary magazine American Mercury in 1924. He was critical of the shortcomings |

|of American democracy and the middle class and called the American public the "booboisie." |

|Norris, Frank: |

|(1870-1902), American novelist, born in Chicago, and educated at the University of California and Harvard University. He was a newspaper |

|correspondent during the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Boer War (1899-1902). Norris's novels, influenced by the French naturalistic novelist |

|Émile Zola, are brutally realistic, describing and analyzing sordid human motives and environments. Norris's most important works are McTeague |

|(1899), a powerful story of the tragedy caused by greed in the lives of ordinary people |

|Pershing, John: |

|U.S. General John Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. The force grew to nearly 2 million men. Pershing|

|believed that the fast, driving warfare the American forces had been trained for would be more successful than the slow trench warfare favored by |

|the Allied armies. American victories confirmed his beliefs. After the war, Pershing received the highest rank ever given to an American officer. |

|Pinchot, Gifford: |

|(1865-1946), noted American forestry expert, conservationist, and public official. Pinchot believed that forests and other natural resources should |

|be protected from depletion through government regulation of commercial land use. Under Roosevelt, who was also a conservationist, Pinchot's |

|strategy for protecting natural resources became national policy. During Taft's presidency, however, Pinchot felt that the government was moving |

|away from the conservation strategies that he and Roosevelt had established. Pinchot filed charges against Richard Achilles Ballinger, Taft's |

|secretary of the interior, accusing him of abandoning the nation's conservation policies. Ballinger was upheld by President Taft, who in 1910 |

|dismissed Pinchot for insubordination. |

|Roosevelt, Theodore: |

|(1858-1919), 26th president of the United States (1901-1909), one of the strongest and most vigorous presidents in United States history. In battles|

|between business and labor, Roosevelt extended the power both of the presidency and of the federal government to protect what he saw as the public |

|interest. He enjoyed the responsibilities of world power and greatly expanded United States involvement in world affairs. His domestic social and |

|economic reforms were the first federal attempts to deal with the problems created by a modern industrial society.Roosevelt became the youngest man |

|ever to be president when he succeeded the assassinated William McKinley in 1901 at the age of 42. However, he was older than John F. Kennedy when |

|he was elected in his own right. Roosevelt was adored by the majority of Americans. The reason, he thought, was that he "put into words what is in |

|their hearts and minds but not their mouths." |

|Sanger, Margaret: |

|American nurse Margaret Sanger’s lifelong campaign for birth control made it possible for women to obtain information on contraception and |

|reproduction. In 1916 she opened the first American birth-control clinic, and later founded the organization that became the Planned Parenthood |

|Federation of America. |

|Stanton, Elizabeth Cady: |

|Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with Lucretia C. Mott and Susan B. Anthony, was an early leader of the women’s rights movement. She and Anthony |

|founded the National Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton served as its president until 1890. She persuaded Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California to|

|sponsor a woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1878. The amendment was reintroduced every year until Congress finally approved it in|

|1919, allowing women the right to vote. |

|Steffens, Lincoln: |

|American journalist Lincoln Steffens initiated the journalistic tradition of muckraking as a means to raise public consciousness and motivate |

|reform. His writings, which exposed business and government corruption, were published in The Shame of the Cities in 1904 and The Struggle for |

|Self-Government in 1906. |

|Sumner, William Graham: |

|(1840-1910), American sociologist and teacher, born in Paterson, New Jersey. Like British philosopher Herbert Spencer, a proponent of social |

|Darwinism, Sumner opposed any governmental interference in the free-market economy, whether in the form of tariffs to help businesses or antitrust |

|laws to restrain them. Sumner was an influential writer and professor at Yale University from 1872 to 1909. Among his major works are Folkways |

|(1906) and Science and Society (1927-1928), which was published after his death. |

|Taft, William: |

|(1857-1930), 27th president of the United States (1909-1913) and tenth chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1921-1930). Taft was|

|the only person in U.S. history to hold those two offices. He succeeded President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), who expected Taft to continue his |

|crusade for reform. Instead Taft was more conservative, and the domestic reforms of the early 20th century slowed. Taft also replaced Roosevelt's |

|aggressive foreign policy with one that was more measured. Taft's conservatism irritated Roosevelt, split the Republican Party, and ensured a |

|Democratic victory for Woodrow Wilson in the presidential election of 1912. |

|Tarbell, Ida: |

|(1857-1944), American writer, leader of the so-called muckraking movement in journalism. Tarbell was associate editor (1894-1906) of McClure's |

|Magazine and editor (1906-15) of the American Magazine. Her best-known work is the History of the Standard Oil Company (2 volumes, 1904), a detailed|

|examination of the workings of a monopolistic trust. |

|Villa, Pancho: |

|Born Doroteo Arango, Francisco Villa, known as Pancho Villa, became one of the great revolutionary heroes of Mexico during the early 20th century. A|

|rebel leader, Villa aided Francisco I. Madero and then Venustiano Carranza to win control of the country, but each time he broke ranks with them. |

|Villa ran raids against his enemies primarily from northern Mexico and entered the United States several times |

|Wilson, Woodrow: |

|(1856-1924), 28th president of the United States (1913-1921), enacted significant reform legislation and led the United States during World War I |

|(1914-1918). His dream of humanizing "every process of our common life" was shattered in his lifetime by the arrival of the war, but the programs he|

|so earnestly advocated inspired the next generation of political leaders and were reflected in the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. |

|Wilson's belief in international cooperation through an association of nations led to the creation of the League of Nations and ultimately to the |

|United Nations. For his efforts in this direction, he was awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize for peace. More than any president before him, Wilson was |

|responsible for increasing United States participation in world affairs. A political novice who had held only one public office before becoming |

|president, Wilson possessed considerable political skill. He was a brilliant and effective public speaker, but he found it difficult to work well |

|with other government officials, from whom he tolerated no disagreement. He was, in private, a warm, fun-loving man who energetically pursued his |

|ideals. But the strain of years in office, a tragic illness, and the public's disillusionment following World War I transformed Wilson's image to |

|that of a humorless crusader for a feeble League of Nations. |

|Wright, Wilbur and Orville - the two brothers from Ohio who developed the first successful airplane in 1903. The brothers were bicycle mechanics and|

|had built up a successful business.  They also spent years working with kites and wing shapes to understand the physics of flight.  Their first |

|powered airplane flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and now hangs in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C |

1. "Many of those who became Progressives were expansionists who supported a strong navy and an aggressive foreign policy. To redeem 'the waste places of the world' and the slums of American cities were expressions of the same missionary impulse; and both Progressivism and imperialism recognized the need to impose order and stability on societies threatened with social upheaval."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT BY EMPHASIZING ONE AREA BUT NOT DISREGARDING THE OTHER.

 

2. "A presidential election that results in the defeat of the party in power usually indicates the failure of the party in power to have dealt effectively with the nation's problems, rather than indicating the positive appeal of the winning candidate and his party's platform."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS GENERALIZATION IN RELATION TO THE ELECTION OF 1912.

 

3. Evaluate the positive and negative aspects of the foreign policy of the United States in the years 1895-1917 in any THREE of the following areas: Central America, China, the Caribbean, or South America. Make certain to emphasize causes and consequences.

 

4. "Despite its democratic rhetoric, progressivism was paternalistic, moderate, and somewhat soft headed."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT by explaining the movement's major leaders and describing some of the progressive responses on the local, state, and national levels to social and economic problems. How was Social Darwinism used to provide a justification for both social conservatism and social reform?

 

5. "Although the United States has often sought to 'export democracy', the support of popular movements and democratic government in foreign countries has been a means to encourage stability abroad rather than an end in itself. Where democracy and order have seemed incompatible, we have chosen order."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT with reference to the policies of theUnited States in China, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean during the   period 1895-1917.

 

6. "A decade after Appomattox national power shifted from politicians in Washington to a new generation of industrial empire builders. It was not until TR assumed the presidency that Washington once again became the center of the nation."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT IN RELATION TO DOMESTIC POLICY (also including an evaluation of the presidency of Woodrow Wilson: 1913-1917)

 

7. What economic interpretations could be offered for TWO of the following: The Kansas- Nebraska Act, The Compromise of 1877, The emergence of the United States as a world power, 1898-1900?

 

8. Analyze and evaluate Booker T. Washington's program for black Americans and W.E.B. DuBois' challenge to that program.

 

9. "Paradoxically, Social Darwinism provided a justification for both social conservatism and social reform in the period from 1870 to 1915."

 ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT.

 

10. Compare the goals and strategies of black reform movements in the period 1890-1910 to the goals and strategies of black reform movements in the period 1950-1970.

 

11. Most major religious movements reflect significant shifts in religious beliefs and produce important social changes. Apply this generalization to TWO of the following: 17th century Puritanism, The First Great Awakening, The Second Great Awakening, The Social Gospel Movement.

 

12. George Kennan in his book American Diplomacy states that American foreign policy has been unduly influenced by sentimental, moral, and ideological considerations. Analyze this interpretation with reference to our decision to go to war in any TWO of the following years: 1812, 1898, 1917, 1941.

 13. For the period 1890-1910 identify the forces which created conflicts among Americans and show how they manifested themselves.

 

14. "Imperialism in the 1890's and early 1900's was a revival of the Manifest Destiny of the 1840's and 1850's."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT.

 

15. "The path of labor organization was marked by false starts and wrong turns."

  ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS STATEMENT for the period 1865-1914.

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