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Progressive-Era Politics


Characteristics of progressivism:

Attitude toward urban-industrial society

Belief in mankindís ability to improve environment & conditions of life

Belief in obligation to intervene in economic and social affairs

Belief in ability of experts and often government to intervene

 Who were the progressives & what were their motivations? Status anxiety of affluent & well-educated Anglo-Saxon men & women?                            Organizational urge of to businessmen, engineers, & social scientists?

                           Demand for social control?

                           Optimism & naivete?
 

Reform of big-city government

        Social reform vs. structural reform

        Social reformer:

Hazen S. Pingree, mayor of Detroit from 1890 to 1896         Structural reformer: James R. Couzens, Detroit police chief 1916-1918, mayor 1918-1920         Models of municipal reform:

                            Commission government

                            At-large city councils

                            City managers
 

Progressivism at the federal level addressed national issues

        President Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)

        "Trust-busting"

        Sherman Anti-Trust Act

        Northern Securities Company

        Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1905)

        Pure Food & Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act (1906)
 

1912 presidential election

        President William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)

        Eugene Debs (Socialist Party)

        Progressive Party (a.k.a., "Bull Moose Party)

        "New Nationalism"

        Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), President 1913-1921

        "New Freedom"
 

Federal Reserve Board, 1913;

Income Tax ó Sixteenth Amendment, 1913

Clayton Anti-Trust Act, 1914

Federal Trade Commission

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