Lesson 14: The Progressive Era and New Technologies

Objectives learn about the goals of reform during the Progressive Era understand the roles that President Roosevelt played during the Progressive Era analyze how new inventions changed American industry learn how workers and farmers were affected by industry and technology

As the 20th century dawned, America experienced numerous changes in its political, economic, and social life. Many Americans, frustrated with the excesses of the Gilded Age, worked for reform in a number of areas. This reform movement, which flourished during the first twenty years of the century, was called "progressivism." Making Progress Several political leaders, including Robert La Follette, Hiram Johnson, and Charles Evans Hughes, spearheaded the drive for reforms on the political level. Progressive reformers often dedicated themselves to a variety of causes, and reformers working for a particular cause often found allies among reformers in other areas. Florence Kelley, for instance, organized the National Consumer’s League and advocated multiple reforms to help women and children. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a progressive organization founded by Frances Willard, included woman reformers for several causes other than the prohibition of alcohol. While some progressives used political reform groups to get their messages across, others used alternative forms of communication. Journalists known as “muckrakers” wrote newspapers and books to expose corruption and promote reform. Two famous muckrakers were Ida Tarbell, who targeted the Standard Oil Trust, and Ray Stannard Baker, who explored the effects of racial discrimination in Following the Color Line. The progressives sought a number of specific political reforms. The direct election of senators (they were previously elected by state legislatures) and the federal income tax (which had been declared unconstitutional earlier) were both achieved in 1913, by means of the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution. A few years later, the 18th Amendment instituted a prohibition on alcoholic beverages, and the 19th Amendment ensured women's right to vote on a national level in 1920. Progressives favored several "good government" initiatives that aimed to reduce corruption. In 1910, Representative George W. Norris led a group of Democrats and progressive Republicans to successfully break the power of Speaker of the House "Uncle Joe" Cannon, who had dictatorially ruled the House of Representatives for eight years. State governments began to adopt another progressive idea, the direct primary, which allowed party members rather than political conventions to choose candidates for office. At the same time, progressives pushed for changes in city governments in order to fight the old "machine" politics of the Gilded Age. Some cities adopted the commission form of government and others adopted the city manager form of government. The commission form of city government was introduced in Galveston, Texas in 1900. Certain politicians were very important to local and state governments at this time. Governor Robert La Follette of Wisconsin came up with ways to improve his state with reforms of public utilities, national forests, and industries. These reforms came to be known as the “Wisconsin Idea.” On the whole, progressives were not particularly interested in improving the civil rights of racial minorities, but a little progress was made during this period. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in 1908 in response to the lynching of two blacks in Springfield, IL. In 1911, the Society of American Indians was formed. Active members of the group included Henry Standing Bear (Sioux), attorney Thomas M. Sloan (Omaha), and Charles E. Dagenett (Peoria). The group disbanded in 1922, but it was the first united native group advocating reform.

Setting the Precedent for Progressive Presidents Teddy Roosevelt was the first President associated with the progressive movement and held the office from 1901 to 1909. He had been elected vice president in 1900 on a ticket with William McKinley, and succeeded to the presidency when McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in 1901. Roosevelt had a reputation for being a “trust buster,” meaning he tried to help break down big business monopolies. Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt captured the public's attention with his forceful, dynamic manner. He has been called the first modern president because he was the first to come to grips with the problems of an industrial America. He believed in vigorous presidential leadership. He was sympathetic to the goals of the progressives and helped bring about numerous reforms, particularly in governmental regulation of big business. Roosevelt also created the first national parks and national forests to conserve our nation's natural resources. However, in doing so, he took over 2.5 million acres from reservation land that technically belonged to Native Americans. Theodore Roosevelt was a president of "firsts." He became the first president to leave the U.S. while in office when he visited Panama to see the progress of construction on the Panama Canal. He was the first Republican president from the East, and the first vice president to become president in his own right. He was the first president to invite a black man--Booker T. Washington--to dine at the White House. He was also a great hunter, sportsman, and conservationist. His refusal to shoot a small bear while hunting inspired a cherished American toy--the Teddy bear. Roosevelt was so popular that he handpicked his successor, William Howard Taft, who was elected president in 1909. Taft followed in Roosevelt's path by passing many reforms, but he was fundamentally more cautious and conservative than his bold predecessor. Progressive Republicans disappointed by Taft's uninspired leadership formed the Progressive Party and nominated Roosevelt to challenge Taft in 1912. The progressive movement also contributed to the creation of another political party, the Socialist Party. Socialism emerged in response to the growth of industrial capitalism and was for a time quite influential, especially among the labor movement. The Socialist candidate in the 1912 election, Eugene Debs, garnered 6% of the vote in the four-way presidential election. Debs finished fourth behind incumbent Republican William Howard Taft, Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who ultimately emerged victorious over a split Republican ticket. Woodrow Wilson, who served from 1913 to 1921, was a forceful president who supported numerous reforms. Like Roosevelt, he was influenced by progressivism and believed that the President should exert vigorous leadership. Wilson, trained in law and education, had been president of Princeton University before becoming governor of New Jersey and then president. Under his tenure, four amendments to the Constitution were approved, and progressive reform continued to advance on every level--local, state, and national. One area of reform that continued to languish under Wilson was advancement of civil rights for racial minorities.

Cultivating Political Interests Farm production increased in the late 1800's because of power-driven machinery, scientific farming methods, and federal aid to farmers. By the early 1900's, farming was becoming big business. Population increases, especially in cities, created demand for more and more food. The Smith-Lever Act, the Smith-Hughes Act, and the Hatch Act all intended to help farmers. The government began giving out grants to experiment with new crops. With federal aid, scientific ways of farming became more and more popular. Although the Women's Suffrage Movement had been active since about 1850, and women had been voting in many states for half a century, women did not finally gain the right to vote on a national level until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Alice Paul, who had formed a National Women's Party, organized a women’s suffrage demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Wilson’s inauguration. She and other supporters of women’s rights demanded that Wilson address the issue of suffrage for women. The First World War intensified these demands, especially as many women were drawn into the workforce while men were in the army. Suffragettes demonstrating in New York City, 1912 Women's rights progressed in other areas as well. In 1916, a woman named Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization now called Planned Parenthood, established a clinic in Brooklyn to advise women on birth control, a subject that was, at the time, very taboo. She wanted to test New York's anti-contraception law. In 1918, in New York v. Sanger, she won a case before the Supreme Court allowing doctors to advise married patients about birth control for health purposes. The Supreme Court, which had struck down numerous reform proposals in the past, leaned more favorably toward reform over this period. Despite its conservatism, the Court could not help but be influenced by the changing political opinions of the times. Nevertheless, the Court continued to limit the progress of reform. In the 1923 case Adkins v. Children's Hospital, for instance, the Court declared unconstitutional a law requiring a minimum wage.

New Inventions Rapid changes took place in the United States in the first decades of the twentieth century due in large part to the new inventions and ideas that revolutionized American industry. As a result, by 1920 the United States had become the most productive industrial nation on the face of the globe. The most important of these new inventions was the automobile, or "horseless carriage" as it was first called. The invention of the automobile fundamentally changed American life. It started as a rich man's toy but quickly became a swift method of transportation available to all people with modest incomes. The automobile led to the development of roads and highways that served to link the nation together and brought the cities and rural areas closer. The automobile industry encouraged the growth of other related industries, such as petroleum refining and rubber (In 1844, Charles Goodyear had patented a process for vulcanizing rubber, which permitted the use of rubber on tires). Another invention that changed America was the radio, invented by Guglielmo Marconi. Before, no one had access to baseball games, live shows, or presidential speeches unless they attended them. The radio allowed people in every region of the country to listen to national events. It also made the country more unified. The motion picture was born at the very beginning of the twentieth century. D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation is famous for being the first feature-length film. This controversial movie used innovative camera work and technology to tell the story of the Ku Klux Klan. During this period, Americans also began to experiment with powered flight. The pioneers in this new form of transportation were Samuel P. Langley and Orville and Wilbur Wright. Langley was a scientist and headed the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. When people learned that he was spending thousands of dollars of government money on his experiments, many newspapermen and politicians were outraged. And when his experiments were not successful, he was ridiculed. The Wright brothers were the first to prove that man could fly in 1903. Other ideas that affected industrialization were efficiency engineering and the assembly line. Frederick Taylor, for example, came up with the concept of efficiency engineering, which aided and increased the productivity of factories. Its methods attempted to get the most out of the worker and his machine in the least possible time. The assembly line was developed by Henry Ford, who was the first to build a mass-produced automobile affordable to the masses. He also developed the “Ford idea,” which was to increase the wages of his workers on a continual basis. This gave Ford's workers increased purchasing power, which Ford hoped they would use to buy more of his cars. Economic conditions also improved for the American farmer during this period. An increased demand for food led to better prices for produce, and the development of labor-saving machinery allowed more crops to be grown. In addition, the working conditions for America's wage earners began to improve at the turn of the century, as the federal government and the states saw that legislation was needed to protect workers from the industrial hazards that were so noticeable.