Rebecca Dunn

History Notes

Reforms and Changes in America

Election of 1900
-McKinley, and Vice Presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt, easily defeated William J.
Bryan. New York political bosses have Theodore Roosevelt nominated for V.P (felt as if that was
a powerless position).
-Assassination of president McKinley (September 6, 1901). He was shot but essentially dies
from infection resulted from surgery.
-Roosevelt becomes the youngest to serve at age 42.

W.E.B Dubois
-Black leader in the early 1900s who fought for civil rights.
-Founder of the Niagara movement
Niagara Movement- demanded for African Americans to receive all their civil right at once.
Helped create NAACP. (National association for the advancement of colored people).

Booker T. Washington
-founder of the Tuskegee Institute.
-trained African Americans to be better farmers and mechanics.
-self-respect, self-education, and self-help would give Blacks the opportunities they desired.

Muckrakers -journalist and novelist who invested and exposed corruption and illegal activity.

Upton Sinclair
-Wrote The Jungle described as the miseries of workers in the stock yard and
rotten meat packed for sale
-Meat Inspection Act
-Pure Food and Drug Act
-Pure Food Legislation (All passed in 1906)

Consumer Protection
-Meat Inspection Act 1906. Allowed Federal Officers to inspect meat in Interstate
Commerce. Check to see if meat came from sanitary conditions and healthy animals
-Pure Food and Drug Act. The manufacturing and sale of impure food, drugs, and
liquors was forbidden. Labels on patent medicine had to list the contents

Reforms
Political and Social Reforms
Amendments
-16th Amendment-Made the Federal Income Tax Legal
-17th Amendment- Allowed for the direct election of senators by voters (In the past, senators have
been elected by State Legislatures

Voting Changes
Initiative- Voters can propose a law by petition and have it voted on by the people
Direct Primary- Enabled voters to nominate their partys candidates for the general election
Recall - By petition, voters can force an official to stand for reelection at any time
Referendum- The initiative is put on the ballot for voters to pass of defeat

Womens Suffrage
-Progressives were fighting for a womans right to vote (suffrage)
-First state was Wyoming

Political Reform
-Roosevelt favored more reforms:
1. Income and Inheritance taxes
2. Federal rules for the stock market
3. More effective control of business
-The trend was for government to become more involved

Municipal Reform
-City manager: A trained manager hired to run the city (not a politician) (could be fired)
-The city manager replaced the mayor

State Reform
-Robert Battling Bob Lafollette- Elected governor of Wisconsin in 1900
-Enacted progressive measures:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Direct Primary
Railroad commission
Civil service
Restriction on Lobbying

Trust Busting
-Northern Securities Case
-A holding company that dominated the railroads of the Northwest
-Roosevelt sued under Anti-Trust Act
-The supreme court ordered the company dissolved
-This is the beginning of the Trust Busting era

Roosevelts Trust Busting Philosophy

-Moved against other unpopular trusts: beef, oil, tobacco
-Felt the government should break up large corporations only when they hurt the public

Conservation
-Roosevelt increased National Forests by almost 150 million acres
-Created U.S forest service, headed by Gifford Pinchot
-Pinchot planned reforesting- The planting of trees along with the cutting of trees.
-Roosevelt fired Pinchot

Roosevelts Domestic Program Square Deal

-Anthracite Coal Strike, 1902

-Workers didnt receive a pay raise in 20 years
-Roosevelt brought the striking workers and the owners together
-Roosevelt showed how the federal government could help
-Government action was considered to be fair to both labor and management
-Coal miners- 9 hour days and a 10% raise

Taft Administration at Home

Election of 1908
-William Howard Taft, the secretary of war was Roosevelts hand-picked successor.
-Taft wanted to be in Supreme Court, but his wife pushed him towards presidency
-Taft easily defeats William Jennings Bryan

Taft as a Progressive
-Most thought Taft would follow Roosevelt in fighting for reform
-Many progressives felt he did not fight for reform and were disappointed

Taft and Trust Busting

-Did not make the distinction between good and bad trusts like Roosevelt
-Taft- Indict (bring criminal charges against) all trusts, and allow courts to decide which trusts
were good and bad

Payne-Aldrich Tariff
-High tariffs were becoming a problem
-Tariff= taxes on goods coming in and out of the country
-Consumer prices were rising; Taft promised to lower tariffs
-The Payne-Aldrich Tariff actually raised the tariff on many items
-This upset progressives
Election of 1912 (the primaries)

-The Republican party was badly split

-The issue of conservation of natural resources caused a split between Roosevelt and Taft
-Democratic nominee: Woodrow Wilson- Governor of New Jersey
-Republican nominee: William Howard Taft
-Progressive Republicans were very upset Taft won the nomination
-Progressive Republicans persuade Roosevelt to run on a third party ticket (Bull Moose party)

The Results
-Wilson won fairly easy
-Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote, giving Wilson the Victory

Wilsons Domestic Program: New Freedom

-Underwood tariff
-The Underwood-Simmons tariff reduced taxes about 11% from the Payne-Aldrich tariff
-The public supported the cut in tariffs

Federal Reserve Act

-12 Districts
-Created a more flexible currency Federal Reserve Note
-Also, helped prevent a run on the banks
-People would literally run to the bank to get their money out

Federal Reserve System

-All national banks had to become a member of the federal reserve system
-Federal Reserve Banks held member banks reserves, and lent money to member banks when
needed
-Each was supervised by a Federal Reserve Board- Appointed by the President
-Divided the country is 12 districts, each with a federal reserve bank
Clayton Anti-Trust Act

-Gave unions the right to exist

-Manufacturers could not charge different customers different prices

Federal Trade Commission

-Created to monitor business
-Could issue cease and desist orders against companies engaged in unfair trade practices