4. PROGRESSIVE ROOTS
In 1900 nearly one in seven was foreign-born. In the next 14 years, 13 million more
migrants would carry their bundles down the gangplanks to the land of promise.

6. Hardly had the 20th century begun when a great reform movement, the like of which the
country had not seen since the 1840’s, swept the land. The new crusaders, who called
themselves “progressives,” waged war on many evils. What were the targets of the
progressives? And what was their battle cry? Explain the core belief of their
movement?
Explain the roots of this progressive movement at the turn of the 20th century.
Provide some examples of writers and their books that sparked reforms. What role
did women play in this crusade?

7. Progressive reformers, such as Jacob Riis, revealed to more affluent Americans the realities of the
“other America.” His pictures and public lectures led to reforms in urban America.

8. Many observers in the progressive era
saw poverty as proof of the moral
weakness of the poor.
For others, poverty and the glaring
inequalities of wealth in America were
evidence of the immorality of a society
based on capitalism.
What perspective does this famous
image, by William Balfour Ker, entitled
“From the Depths,” convey?
Why are the poor positioned under the
floor and in the dark? Are their hands
supporting the scene or seeking to
disrupt it?

9. RAKING MUCK with the MUCKRAKERS
Beginning about 1902 the exposing of evil became a
flourishing industry among American publishers.
Identify some of the periodicals that were
popular in that day. Were these publications
popular with the public?

10. Who coined the term, “muckraker?” What was his attitude towards these
journalists?
Were the muckrakers deterred? Why?

11. Identify the key muckraking journalists, their periodicals, and their targets for
reform.

12. Upton Sinclair Lincoln Steffens

14. POLITICAL PROGRESSIVISM
Progressive reformers were mainly middle-class men and women who felt themselves
squeezed from above and below. What were their two simultaneous goals? Were they
and their attitudes in the minority in America at the time?

15. One of the first objectives of progressives was to regain the power that had slipped
from the hands of the people into those of the “interests.” What specific reforms did
they pursue? Which one in particular met resistance? Why? What was the fate
of this reform?

16. How did woman suffrage fare during this period of reform?

19. Opponents of women’s suffrage long argued that a woman’s place was in the home, not in
politics. But suffragists like Carrie Chapman & Jane Addams began to turn that argument
on its head by stressing the roles that women already played outside the home.

20. They further argued that modern women
needed the vote in order to fulfill their
traditional duties as homemakers and
mothers.

21. PROGRESSIVISM in the CITIES and STATES
How did progressives fare at the state level
compared to the national level?
What were some of the progressive’s
targets?
* Muller v. Oregon (1908)
* Lochner v. New York (1905)
* Eighteenth Amendment (1919)

24. TR’s SQUARE DEAL for LABOR
TR, although something of an imperialistic busybody abroad, was touched by the
progressive wave at home. He feared that the “public interest” was being submerged in
the drifting seas of indifference. Why was his personality perfectly suited for this
crusade?
Identify the three C’s of TR’s Square Deal.
Explain the first “true test” of TR’s Square Deal. What was the outcome?
What was TR’s answer to the mounting antagonisms between labor & management?

26. TR CORRALS the CORPORATIONS
The sprawling railroad octopus sorely needed restraint. Describe the following
legislation to curb rail injustices:
* Elkins Act (1903)
* Hepburn Act (1906)
Was TR anti-trust? Describe his pragmatic approach? Do you agree with his
philosophy?

27. Is the legend of TR as a
“trustbuster” accurate? Explain.
What was his primary motivation
for assaulting some trusts?

29. CARING for the CONSUMER
Describe the Meat Inspection Act (1906). What factors prompted TR to push
Congress to pass this legislation?
Describe the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906).

30. EARTH CONTROL
Concerning America’s environment, what had been the traditional American attitude?
What impact was this attitude having? In the midst of this environmental
destruction, TR warned that Americans would have to change their destructive ways, or
America would sink from resource richness to despoiled dearth.

31. Conservationists like Gifford Pinchot, who advocated that national resources be utilized
efficiently, faced two enemies: on the one hand, commercial interests that exploited
natural resources, and on the other hand, preservationists like John Muir who celebrated
the beauty of nature and wanted to preserve it unspoiled for all time. Which of these
images would TR have endorsed? Why?

32. Pieces of legislation that were passed
to promote conservatism (pre-TR):
* Desert Land Act (1877)
* Forest Reserve Act (1891)
* Carey Act (1894)
Legislation that was passed to promote
conservatism under TR:
* Newlands Act (1902)
* Forest Service
* Bureau of Reclamation

33. Conservation, including reclamation, may have been TR’s most enduring tangible
achievement. In TR’s eyes, he had to battle on two fronts: against greedy commercial
interests who abused nature, as well as against romantic preservationists in thrall to
simple “woodman-spare-that-tree” sentimentality.
TR promoted a policy of “multiple-use resource management.” This sought to combine
recreation, sustained-yield logging, watershed protection, and summer grazing on the
same expanse of federal land.

34. Despite consistent resistance from the special interest groups, TR’s efforts and policies
made a positive difference. To the end of his life, he considered his environmental
efforts to be amongst his most important legacies to the country.

36. THE “ROOSEVELT PANIC” of 1907
TR was handily elected president “in his own right”
in 1904 and entered his new term buoyed by his
enormous personal popularity.
Yet the conservative Republican bosses considered
him as dangerous and unpredictable as a
rattlesnake. They were concerned as TR called for
more regulation, taxing incomes, and protecting
workers.
What political blunder did TR commit that would
come back to haunt him?
TR suffered a sharp setback in 1907, when a short
but punishing panic descended on Wall Street. The
financial world blamed TR; TR blamed wealthy
conservatives for engineering the downturn.
Fortunately the panic of 1907 paved the way for
long-overdue fiscal reforms – explain. What was
the Aldrich-Vreeland Act.

37. THE ROUGH RIDER THUNDERS OUT
Still popular in 1908, TR could easily have
won a second presidential nomination and
almost certainly the election. But he felt
bound by his impulsive promise after his
victory in 1904.
TR sought a successor who would carry out
“my policies”. The man of his choice was
amiable, ample-girthed, and huge-framed
William Howard Taft, a mild progressive.
As an heir apparent, he had been called upon
in TR’s absence to “sit on the lid”
At the Republican convention of 1908 in
Chicago, TR used his control of the party
machinery to push through Taft’s nomination
on the first ballot.
The Democrats in Denver nominated twice-
beaten William Jennings Bryan.

38. The dull campaign of 1908 featured the
rotund Taft and the now-balding “Boy
Orator” both trying to don the
progressive Roosevelt mantle.
Taft read cut-and-dried
speeches, while Bryan griped that TR
had stolen his policies.
A majority of voters chose stability
with Roosevelt-endorsed Taft.
The election’s only surprise came from
the Socialists, who polled 420,793
votes for Eugene V. Debs, the hero of
the Pullman strike of 1894.

39. TR, ever in the limelight, left soon after the election for a lion hunt in Africa. How was
TR branded by his adversaries? Were these labels accurate? What credit does TR
deserve?
TR’s enthusiasm & perpetual youthfulness appealed to the young of all ages – some of his
colleagues believed that he had the maturity of a child. Identify the contributions of
the Roosevelt Administration.

41. TAFT: A ROUND PEG in a SQUARE HOLE
Taft at first inspired widespread confidence.
Identify the lethal political handicaps that
plagued “good old Will.”
Taft was no doubt a mild progressive, but at
heart he was more wedded to the status quo
than to change. And significantly, his cabinet
did not contain a single representative of the
party’s “insurgent” wing, which was on fire for
reform.

44. THE DOLLAR GOES ABROAD as a DIPLOMAT
The brand of “dollar diplomacy” was stamped, somewhat unfairly, on the foreign policy of
the Taft Administration.
This concept had two components: using foreign policy to protect Wall Street dollars
invested abroad and using Wall Street dollars to uphold foreign policy. The first aspect
was grossly overplayed by Taft’s critics; the second aspect was widely misunderstood.
Describe “dollar diplomacy” in action in China and Latin America.

45. TAFT the TRUSTBUSTER
Taft managed to gain some fame as a smasher of monopolies. The ironic truth is that the
colorless Taft brought 90 suits against the trusts during his 4 year term as compared
with some 44 for TR’s 7 ½ years.
The Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the mighty Standard Oil Company, while
handing down its famous “rule of reason.” Which anti-trust suit infuriated Roosevelt?
Why? To TR, Taft was increasingly taking on the role of antagonist – the stage was set
for a bruising confrontation.

46. TAFT SPLITS the REPUBLICAN PARTY
How did the Payne-Aldrich Bill contribute
to the splitting of the Republican party?
In conservation, Taft claimed some
noteworthy accomplishments, including the
establishment of the Bureau of Mines and a
variety of regulation. But how did the
Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel negate his many
accomplishments and further divide his
party?
The reformist wing of the Republican party
was up in arms, while Taft was being pushed
increasingly into the stand-pat Old Guard.
TR added fuel to the fire by giving a fiery
speech promoting the doctrine known as the
“New Nationalism” – urging the national govt.
to increase its power to remedy economic &
social abuses.
Weakened by the split, the Republicans lost
badly in the congressional elections of 1910.

47. THE TAFT-ROOSEVELT RUPTURE
The insurgent uprising in Republican ranks blossomed into a full-fledged revolt. Early in
1911 the National Progressive Republican League was formed, with Sen. La Follette of
Wisconsin as its leading presidential candidate. TR was supposedly not interested in
candidacy.
But the restless TR changed his views as he saw Taft, hand-in-glove with the hated Old
Guard. In Feb. 1912 he formally indicated that he was willing to accept the Republican
nomination – what his rationale about violating the third-term tradition? Thus, TR
seized the progressive banner from La Follete.
In the split Republican convention at Chicago in 1912, Taft won the nomination over TR.
TR, the good sportsman, proved to be a poor loser. Having tasted bitter defeat, he was
now on fire to lead a third-party crusade.