Progressive Era Vocabulary:

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Essential Questions:

1. What reforms had America experienced before the Progressive Era? The abolition of slavery after the Civil War in the Thirteenth Amendment and granted voting rights for African Americans in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment.

2. Which groups in America caused the Progressive Movement? Earlier reform groups included nativists, prohibitionists, purity crusaders, charity reformers, social gospel adherents, settlement house workers, and the Populists were the primary cause to the Progressive Era.

  3. Who were the muckrakers? Journalists and writers who searched for and exposed real or alleged corruption, scandal, and inequality in politics and big business.

  4. How did local governments reform during the Progressive Era? Progressive mayors gained office in a number of cities and worked to end corruption in law enforcement, public transportation, and other city services.

  5. How did Teddy Roosevelt ensure a "Square Deal" for the common man? The common man would receive fair treatment and equal rights in which each side wouldn't be influenced by corruption.

  6. Why was the Bull Moose political party formed? A pronounced split over the tariff questions from the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act and other issues in the Republican party. The conservatives and progressives divided into two separate entities including the progressive Bull Moose political party.

  7. How did Woodrow Wilson achieve his campaign promise of a "A New Freedom"? Wilson succeeded in carrying out notable revisions and reforms in the laws governing the Payne-Aldrich tariff, the banking system, trust, labor, and agriculture.

8. How did Amendments that were passed during this time embody Progressive ideals? Progressive ideals such as prohibition of liquor, women's suffrage, and equal voting rights, and popular election of Senators by the people were induced in the form of these Amendments.

  Vocabulary:

  1. Progressive Movement- A campaign for economic, political, and social reform in the United States from 1893 to 1917. Rapid industrialization caused problems such as business monopolies, dishonest and corrupt politics, crowded city slums, and poor working conditions in factories and mines. Reformers known as progressives helped bring about laws aimed at solving those problems.

  2. Muckrakers- Crusading journalists who helped bring about a number of reforms including antitrust legislation and the passage of pure food laws. Muckrakers investigated and exposed corruption and injustice through magazines and literary novels.

  3. Lincoln Steffens- American journalist, one of the founders of the muckraking movement of the early 20th century. Steffens, along with other muckraking crusaders aroused Americas social consciousness and created the necessary support for reform movements. Between 1902 and 1911, he wrote articles exposing corruption in business and city government for various magazines.

  4. Thomas Nast- American cartoonist and caricaturist whose last-known works are the powerful cartoons successfully attacking the corrupt Tammany or Tweed Ring of New York City during the years, 1869 to 1872. These cartoons introduced the now famous political symbols of the tiger for Tammany Hall, the donkey for the Democratic party, and the elephant for the Republican Party.

  5. Frank Norris- American novelist born in Chicago whose literary works are brutally realistic, described, and analyzed sordid human motives and conditions. Norris's most important works include McTeague (1899) and The Octopus (1901) that involved greed in the lives of ordinary people and railroad corruption.

  6. Jacob Riis- American social reformer, photographer, and journalist who actively sought reforms in the tenement housing and schools, and his How the Other Half Lives (1890) was one of the earliest popular social documentary books in the United States. The book evoked reform legislation in New York City by attracting the attention of Theodore Roosevelt, then police commissioner of NYC, who cooperated with Riis in social and economic reform programs.

  7. Ida M. Tarbell- An American author, led in the muckraking movement of the early 1900s which attacked dishonesty in politics and business corruption. Her history of the Standard Oil Company (1904) exposed the practices of of great corporations, and strengthened the movement for outlawing monopolies and increased US government regulation.

  8. Standard Oil of NJ vs. US (1911)- The first major court decision involving a trust after the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The US Supreme Court found that unlawful monopoly power existed in the Standard Oil Company therefore were then ordered to be dissolved into small, competing firms. In its decision, the Court established the "rule of reason" principle with respect to industrial combinations that gave flexibility and discretion in violation of antitrust statutes.

  9. Upton Sinclair- An American writer and reformer known as a muckraker who exposed various social and political evils. His best-known novel The Jungle exposes conditions in the meat-packing industry and led to the passage of the nations first pure food laws. Sinclair in his career also attacked capitalistic society, conditions in coal mines, the press, US higher education, and the oil industry.

  10. The Jungle- Novel wrote by Upton Sinclair in 1906, which exposed the unsanitary and miserable working conditions in the stockyards and packaging companies of Chicago, Illinois, and led to an investigation of these practices by the federal government and the subsequent passage of inspection and pure food laws.

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  11. Jane Addams- American social reformer who in 1889 with Ellen Stan, established the Hull House in Chicago, one of the first settlement houses in the US. Addams played a prominent role in the formation of the National Progressive Party in 1912, and of the Womens Peace Party. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her philanthropic efforts.

12. Temperance Movement- An organized campaign to eliminate alcohol consumption that was divided into three groups: the Prohibition party, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Anti-Saloon League. All of these groups were united in opposing drinking on grounds that it led to personal tragedies and supported prohibition, a ban on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

13. Socialist Party- Political parties formed in the unity of an international organization with a set beliefs inspired by the writings of Karl Marx. They desired economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of property and income. Their goal was to end the capitalist system, distribute wealth more equally, and nationalize American industries.

14. Commission form of government- Places responsibility for running aspects of city government in h ands of commissioners. Each commissioner is placed in charge of one aspect of the city government.

15. Council- Manager form of government- A professional manager is hired to run commissions and spend money on the various departments of the city.

16. Direct primary- Party members who want to run for office, file petitions to have their names placed on the ballot. Voters then vote directly for the candidates of their choice. By 1916, all but three states had implemented direct primaries.

17. Theodore Roosevelt "Trust Buster"- Believed that the president had the duty of initiating and leading Congress to implement a policy of social and economic benefits to the people at large. At his urging, Congress passed several measures designed to help enforce the antitrust laws including the Elkins Act and Hepburn Act. His Square Deal included expansion of forest reserves and national parks, Pure Food and Drug Acts, National Conservative Commission, and the Meat Inspection Act.

18. Anthracite Coal Strike- In 1902, when Pennsylvania coal mine owners refused to negotiate with striking workers, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to send the army to take over the mines. The mine owners then agreed to arbitration, and the United Mine Workers, under John Mitchell, won shorter hours and higher wages.

19. Conservation- Sustainable use and protection of natural resources for biological, economic, and recreational values. The administration of President Theodore Roosevelt  was noted for its conservation achievement including setting aside at total of 235 million acres of public lands to protect them for exploitation by private interests. Roosevelt also adopted the multiple use policy that advocated scientific management of public lands.

20. Square Deal- President Roosevelt's slogan of declaring that he would use his powers as President to safeguard the rights of both capital and labor. These progressive reforms at the federal level included the arbitration of the United Mine Workers strike and reached a "square deal" for both sides, the phrase became a slogan of his presidency.

21. Hepburn Act (1906)- Authorized the Interstate Commer Commission to determine and prescribe maximum rates and to order the railroads to comply to them within 30 days. It also extended the regulatory powers of the commission to sleep car, pipeline, and express companies. President Theodore Roosevelt had extended the jurisdiction of the federal government over interstate commerce.

22. Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)- General designation for laws to ensure the safety, proper labeling, and purity of food, drugs, vaccines, and other medical paraphernalia. The first pure food and drug law was enacted in 1906 through the efforts of Harvey Washington Wiley and other crusaders who brought to public attention many abuses in the form of poor health practices and excessive prices that give consumers the greatest protection ever from dangerous drugs and foods.

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23. Meat Inspection Act (1906)- After the exposure of the meat-packing industries corrupt practices through the novel The Jungle, legislation and federal inspection was desired. By the act of 1906, all cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs become subject to ante mortem and postmortem examination when the meat was to be used in interstate and foreign commerce.

24. William Howard Taft- President Taft made important contributions to reform including actively prosecuting monopolies and trusts. During Tafts administration, Congress passed the 16th Amendment for the collection of income taxes and the 17th Amendment, which provided for the direct election of US Senators. Taft expanded US influence abroad by a policy of dollar diplomacy in which the US bankers and industrialists invested into foreign nations.

25. Bull Moose party- Defeated in their efforts to seat their delegates, the progressives, led by Theodore Roosevelt, bolted the convention and in August, organized the Progressive Party popularly known as the Bull Moose Party. The progressives nominated Roosevelt for presidency and in the election, Woodrow Wilson prevailed decisively.

26. Woodrow Wilson- President of the United States who criticized both big business and government therefore promised to enforce antitrust laws without threatening free economic competition. Wilson's term included the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission to set up fair trade laws and to enforce antitrust laws.

27. Underwood Tariff (1913)- Under President Wilson's guidance and urging, Congress in 1913 provided for a general decrease in the Payne-Aldrich tariff schedules and for an income tax to bring in sufficient revenue to compensate for any loss in national revenue occasioned by lower tariff duties.

28. Federal Reserve System- Central banking system of the United States that serves as the banker to both the banking community and the government. It also issues the national currency, conducts monetary policy, and plays a vital role in the supervision and regulation of banks and bank holding companies.

29. Federal Farm Loan Act (1916)- Federal government provides low interest loans to farmers. (Examples: Buy new innovative machines and to survive a bad crop year)

30. Federal Trade Act (1914)- Created an independent agency of the US government called the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The basic objective of the FTC is to promote free and fair trade competition in the American economy. The commission does so by investigating price-fixing agreements and other unfair methods of competition.

31. Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)- Legislation passed by the US Congress to prohibit certain monopolistic practices that were then common in finance, industry, and trade. Sponsored by the Alabama congressman Henry Clayton, the act contained three distinct types of provisions covering corporate activities, remedies for reform, and labor disputes. Declared illegal was practices as local price-cutting to freeze out competitors, exclusive selling or leasing, and all forms of price discrimination.

32. 17th Amendment (1913)- Proved the basis that state senators would be directly elected by the people of each state versus the previous system of state legislatures choosing the senators. Other alterations included the vacancy spot to be ordered by the state governor and senators already elected would not be affected.

33. 18th Amendment (1919)- This amendment placed the country on prohibition of intoxicating alcohol and therefore, banned the producing, selling, and transferring, of alcoholic beverages in the United States. This amendment had to be ratified within seven years or would become imperative.

34. 19th Amendment (1920)- This amendment finally granted suffrage to women to be able to vote freely in elections. The federal and state governments must both abide by this new law and Congress shall have the power to pass laws to carry out this amendments success.

35. Secret Ballot- Voters didn't always have the privilege of a secret ballot, and coercion and bribery were common. In  the secret ballot system, each voter receives a printed ballot at the polling place, and then marks it in secret in a curtained booth.

36. Initiative- Procedure for the introduction of proposed legislation by means of public petition, and for the enactment of the proposal into law by popular vote. The two types of initiative are direct and indirect.

37. Referendum- Practice of submitting an issue to the popular vote which originates with the voters and provides that a proposed law be put to this popular vote before it can go into effect. The signatures of 5 to 10 percent of the registered voters are required to validate such a petition and assure that the referendum will be put on an early ballot.

38. Recall- Method of removing elected officials from office before the end of the their terms.

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