Progressive Era Review

The Imperial Republic: 1865-1914

· In his book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (1890), Alfred T. Mahan argued that land forces are more important than naval forces

· The Platt Amendment of 1901 provided for the United States' right to intervene in Cuba to maintain peace and law and order

· Open Door Policy: all nations should be granted equal trading rights in China

· President Taft called for "Dollar Diplomacy," he advocated that American businessmen should invest in underdeveloped countries rather than lend those countries U. S. dollars

· During the first quarter of the 20c, a major concern that influenced our foreign policy was defending the approaches to the Panama Canal

· The use of African-American troops in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War had the effect of arousing racial tensions among troops and with communities around posts, especially in several southern states

· The opening of Japan by the United States in the mid-19c was followed by a period of major change known as the Meiji Restoration: the creation of a modern political state which paved the way for ''industrialization ''

· To justify their policies, the new American expansionists of the 19c offered the following reasons:

1.      Strong nations were destined by natural law to dominate weak ones

2.      A  strong navy was the key to becoming a great nation, and colonies would serve as bases for such a navy

3.      the U. S. had a duty to spread its superior institutions to less civilized peoples

The US did NOT want to try to create a community of nations to guarantee world peace

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·       President Grover Cleveland rejected the effort to annex Hawaii because a majority of native Hawaiian opposed annexation to the United States (against the big pineapple, etc. plantations)

·       American went to war against Spain in 1898 because:

1.      the buildup of public pressure for war

2.      alleged Spanish mistreatment of Cuban civilians

3.      Americans tended to compare the Cuban insurrection with their own American Revolution

''Spain WAS willing to discuss terms of peace, but Americans were already roused and ready for war ''

·       By the end of the 19c, jingoism in the United States was encouraged by:

1.      European imperialism

2.      yellow journalism

3.      international Darwinism

4.      naval views of Alfred Thayer Mahan (need of strong navy with colonies as bases)

''It was NOT encouraged by new immigrants (who wanted to go to America) ''

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·       Grover Cleveland: favored economic expansion but NOT annexation of overseas territory. During the 1890s

·       Venezuelan crisis of 1895 and America's "jingoistic" behavior revived the Monroe Doctrine and strengthened U. S. power in Latin America

·       The Spanish-American War did NOT result in American colonization of Cuba or independence of Puerto Rico; it DID result in guerilla war between Americans and Filipinos

·       Portsmouth Peace Conference: ended the Russo-Japanese War, established new balance of power between the Russians and the Japanese

·       McKinley officially urged the Senate to accept acquisition of the Philippines because:

1.      US couldn't give them back to Spain

2.      someone else (such as Germany) may take the Philippines if we don't

3.      Filipinos were unfit for self-government

4.      were obligated to Christianize and civilize the Filipinos

He did NOT argue that the Philippines were a potential source for corporate business profits

·       The policy of imperialism in the U. S. from 1890-1910 was largely the result of demands for commercial expansion

·       The anti-imperialists in the 1890s opposed U. S. acquisition of an empire because:

1.      acquiring Pacific territories would bring "inferior" Asian races into the nation as ''potential citizens ''

2.      an empire would require a large standing army and entangling foreign alliances

3.      imperialism was simply immoral, a repudiation of America's commitment to human freedom

''However, a large number of Americans DID support empire-building ''

·       Dollar Diplomacy: U. S. policy of promoting and safeguarding American business investments and bank loans in Latin America by using U. S. troops, if necessary

·       Platt Amendment: 1901 law that limited Cuba's power to conduct its own foreign policy''' '''

·       Yellow Peril: view that Asian immigrants in the late 1800s threatened U. S. society because of their cultural differences from the white majority''' '''

·       Root-Takahira Agreement: an understanding between Japan and the United States in which both nations pledged to respect the Open Door Policy and each other's island possessions''' '''

·       Pancho Villa: Mexican who was Mexican was angry after the U. S. government recognized Carranza as the leader of Mexico instead of him. He led a band of outlaws and invaded New Mexico, killing 17 Americans''' '''

·       Foraker Act: legislation that established a civil government in Puerto Rico, organizing the island as a U. S. territory in 1900

·       Walter Reed: army doctor who successfully conducted experiments in 1900 that showed yellow fever came from the bite of a species of mosquito''' '''

·       Josiah Strong: Congregationalist minister who argued in his book,  Our Country , that Americans were members of a God-favored race destined to lead the world''' '''

·       Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty: document that granted American control over the Panama Canal Zone in return for a U. S. guarantee of Panamanian independence''' '''

·       George Dewey: On May 1, 1898, he easily crushed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay''' '''

·       De Lome Letter: the view of the Spanish minister in Washington and his negative assessment of 'President McKinley that was leaked to the U. S. press and made many Americans feel that their ''national honor had been insulted '''

·       Emilio Aguinaldo: leader of the Filipino insurrection against American rule''' '''

·       Teller Amendment: (added on to the Platt Amendment): document which pledged that the US had no intention of annexing Cuba''' '''

·       Extraterritoriality: privilege that enabled certain foreigners to have the right to remain subject to their own country's laws . The U. S. had this privilege in China''' '''

·       Treaty of Portsmouth: treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War; was arbitrated by Theodore Roosevelt, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize (first American to be so honored)''' '''

Progressivism

·       Progressives supported greater participation in the political process through:

1.      primary elections

2.      recall

3.      initiative & referendum

4.      direct election of senators

They did NOT call for a city manager government

·       John Dewey's theories on "progressive education" advocated that:

1.      rote memorization was an INEFFECTIVE way of earning

2.      schools should develop a student's social outlook

3.      children best learn by doing

4.      students should be encouraged to work on group projects

·       Federal government's attitude toward trusts during most of the Progressive period: good trusts should be allowed to exist subject to  proper governmental regulations 

·       Hepburn Act: strengthened the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission by giving it the power to set max rates that railroads could charge

·       1912 Presidential election: weakened the ''progressive wing of the Republican party for many years ''

·       Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" and Theodore Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" were similar in that both EXPANDED government's role in regulating businesses and business monopolies

·       The women's club movement played an important role in winning passage of state laws regulating conditions of housing and the workplace 

·       The anti-immigration movement emerged during the progressive period because:

1.      immigrants were creating unmanageable urban problems

2.      unrestricted immigration was a threat to the nation's “racial purity”

3.      the new immigrants were much harder to assimilate than were earlier immigrants

·       When Woodrow Wilson became president in 1912, the most serious shortcoming in the country's financial structure was that the currency was inelastic

·       Ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment is considered a progressive victory because it provided for the direct election of United States senators, taking their election ''out of the hands of state legislatures ''

·       The Federal Reserve System has improved on the earlier national banking system by providing for greater elasticity of credit and currency

·       Theodore Roosevelt's chief criticism of the muckrakers was that they were '' more adept at exposing abuses than at constructive efforts ''

·       The Progressive movement's attitude toward monopoly was one of  advocating the end of corporate privileges in government   and the 'regulation or destruction of trusts'' '''

·       Clayton Anti-Trust Act: explicitly ' legalized strikes and peaceful picketing'' '''

·       Nineteenth Amendment: granted women the right to vote ; was embraced by many Progressives because “the higher moral character of women would help clean up politics”''' '''

·       According to John Dewey, schools should become the instruments of reform by embracing the new ethic of  social interdependence 

·       1906 passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act was brought about by:

1.      the revelation that Colden's Liquid Beef Tonic contained 26.5% alcohol

2.      disgusting descriptions found in  The Jungle 

3.      pro-regulation pressure from the larger food-processing, meatpacking, and medicinal companies

·       Niagara Movement: founded in 1905 by W. E. B. Du Bois, fought for  universal suffrage  and civil rights for African Americans

·       As a result of the increasing demands for reform in medicine by the progressives, the medical profession established the American Medical Association, to represent the field as a whole

·       Populist supporters were largely Southern or Western agrarians , Progressive supporters were largely  middle class urban professionals 

·       Most urban working people OPPOSED the actions of the progressives against the party machines because the machines were a source of jobs and services

·       The income tax amendment to the Constitution adopted in 1913 ''recovered revenue lost by reducing the tariff (the Underwood Tariff) ''

·       The Progressives did NOT represent the farmers and working class

·       Jacob Coxey's 1894 march on Washington, D. C. called for ''an increase in the supply of paper money (NOT better conditions for Civil War veterans) ''

·       The advocates of women's suffrage significantly increased their general public support during the Progressive Era when they put increased emphasis on the argument that women's suffrage would enhance the likelihood of the successful enactment of other progressive reform causes 

·       With respect to government-controlled public lands, Roosevelt generally favored conservation with carefully managed development

·       "Square Deal" and the "New Freedom": legislative programs of reforming presidents

·       Square Deal: Roosevelt declares that he would use his powers as president ''to safeguard the rights of the workers ''

·       New Freedom: Wilson’s economic plan; believed in competition and that  monopolies had to be broken up  and that the  government must regulate business 

·       Theodore Roosevelt's position on trusts: good trusts should be tolerated  while bad trusts are prevented from manipulating markets 

·       The progressive-inspired city-manager system of government: was designed to ''remove politics from municipal administration ''

·       Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom favored small enterprise and entrepreneurship

·       Progressivism generally mixed a liberal concern for the poor with a ''conservative wish to control social disorder ''

·       ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission): established by Congress in 1887 to regulate railroad rates and prevent abuses by the railroads '' ''

·       ''Referendum: proposal submitted to a popular vote before putting it into effect ''

·       ''Initiative: By gathering enough signatures on a petition, a group can force a legislature to consider a proposal or require it to be placed on the ballot for public vote ''

·       ''Niagara Movement: Founded by W. E. B. Du Bois to promote the civil rights of African Americans ''

·       ''Payne-Aldrich Act: conservative  tariff law, discredited President Taft and  split the Republican party in 1912  ''

·       Louis Brandeis: Progressive judge, the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, appointed by Wilson'' ''

·       ''IWW: militant labor union, attracted the support of immigrant factory workers, migrant farm laborers, loggers, and miners ''

·       Federal Reserve System: Established in 1913 so that the U. S. government could regulate the interest rates of private banks and influence the nation's money supply'' ''

·       Bob Lafollette: reform governor of Wisconsin, campaigned for federal control of the railroads'' ''

·       Alice Paul: ''broke away from the NAWSA in 1916 to form the National Woman's party. By using more militant tactics, she took to the streets with mass pickets, parades, and hunger strikes to pressure Congress '''and Pres. Wilson for a constitutional amendment granting women the vote  '

·       Mann-Elkins Act: placed telephone and telegraph companies under I. C. C. supervision' '

·       Newlands Act: first legislation to set up large-scale irrigation projects in semi-arid states' '

·       Muller vs. Oregon: 1908 Supreme Court decision accepted environmental data rather than strictly legal precedent in upholding a state law limiting working hours for women ' '

·       Elkins Act:  outlawed discriminatory rebates to big corporations' '

·       Frederick W. Taylor: In his 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, he explained his ideas for increasing efficiency by standardizing job routines and rewarding factory workers' '

·       Wisconsin Idea: Proposed by a leading progressive governor of the times, it stated that a 'government had the responsibility for its citizens' welfare '

·       Carrie Chapman Catt: ''energetic reformer from Iowa became the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900. She argued for the vote as a broadening of democracy which would empower women, to '''more actively care for their families in an industrial society '

·       Joe Cannon: conservative Speaker of the House tried to block many Progressive Republican efforts for reforming government and society' '