10 25 12 Upton Sinclair The Jungle Achievements Political democracy extended Initiative the popular introduction of laws voters can bring an issue to vote Referendum the popular vote on laws Recall the popular removal of officials 17th amendment passed 1913 direct election of U S senators Direct primary allowed people to select their representation instead of the party 19th amendment passed 1920 women s suffrage City management commissioner type positions were adopted to reduce corruption in city government Legislation passed to control businesses 1909 The profits from corporations taxed Department of Commerce and Labor established Laws safeguarding labor in public factory and building inspection codes etc Minimum wage and workman s compensation established 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act Meat Inspection Act Legislation passed to preserve the nation s natural resources Social reforms esp settlement houses growing Public playgrounds parks Boy Scouts Girl Scouts safe places for kids Child Labor Law passed Not all the legislation passed around this time was good Jim Crow Laws Plessy v Ferguson 1896 A New Ku Klux Klan founded 1915 by William J Simmons a Baptist preacher in Stone Mountain Georgia Lynching continued to increase with no public outcry Immigration laws The Progressives Election of 1904 Republicans nominated TR with running mate Charles W Fairbanks Democrats nominated Alton B Parks with running mate Henry G Davis Republicans won by a huge margin of electoral votes TR chose Secretary of War William Howard Taft to be his successor Election of 1908 Taft campaigned on TR s record had support of Progressive Republicans Defeated Democratic nomination William Jennings Bryan Taft Administration Mann Elkins Act 1910 Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission Gave ICC power to suspend rate increases Created a commerce court to help speed up litigation Extended responsibility for communication Nelson Aldrich Payne Aldrich Tariff Reduction from 48 to 40 but it wasn t really on items that made a difference this made Progressive Republicans furious at Taft Secretary of Interior Richard A Ballinger disliked federal controls and believed in private development of natural resources Reopened a million acres for public sale Included water power sites in the West and coal sites in Alaska Chief of Forestry Service Gifford Pinchot protested what Ballinger was doing Taft decided Ballinger had done nothing wrong and Pinchot had to be removed Pinchot had broken a rule forbidding a subordinate from direct communication with a senator by writing a letter to complain about Ballinger Republican Progressives Revolt against Conservative Republicans Old Guard leadership Discovered that if they cooperated with the Democrats they could control the House Determined to use this power against the autocratic sway of Speaker of the House Joseph G Cannon an ultra conservative from Illinois who consistently and affectively stood in the way of progressive legislation Removed Speaker from the Rules committee because he had too much power For the first time in 16 years the Democrats controlled the House Taft was caught in the crossfire of the Progressives and the Republicans and was losing popularity Taft defended TR s beliefs very well but got very little credit for his reforms Brought suits against twice as many trusts as Roosevelt did in his years not necessarily bad trusts though Prosecuted trusts Mann Elkins Act Conservation Progressive Republicans met in January 1911 Wisconsin senator Robert La Follette s house forming the National Progressive Republican League 1912 Election TR s participation ruined any chances of Follette getting a nomination Taft had control of party regulars Republicans nominated Taft New Progressive Party nominated Roosevelt with running mate Hiram Johnson Bull Moose was the party s symbol New nationalism Most radical party Religious fervor Democrats nominated Thomas Woodrow Wilson a scholar politician Assassination of TR finished speech with bullet in his lung Wilson won 435 electoral votes but not the majority of the popular vote Roosevelt won 88 electoral votes Taft won 8 electoral votes 1921 Taft appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court until 1930 Woodrow Wilson Administration 1902 became President of Princeton 1910 elected governor of New Jersey He had a learning disability probably dyslexia but had a near photographic memory Accepted the necessity of racial separation First President since John Adams to address Congress First President to call a conference Cold and standoffish in public arrogant and austere condescending Despite criticism he was extremely effective in putting across his program called New Freedom Underwood Simmons Tariff 1913 First significant reduction of duties since before the Civil War Revised rates down 25 Federal Reserve Act 1913 Considered the most important piece of economic legislation passed between the Civil War and the New Deal Most lasting piece of legislation passed during the Wilson administration Provided for a Federal Reserve Board established to oversee the nation s banking system Federal Reserve Bank Federal Reserve Notes Advantages of the Federal Reserve System More elastic credit system and greater safeguards against speculation Decentralization of capital and wider distribution of banking facilities More flexible currency Central banking system Clayton Anti Trust Act 1914 Stronger version of Sherman Anti Trust Act Federal Trade Commission Act 1914 Formed new government board of five members to investigate the origin and management of corporations Stopping monopoly power and unfair methods of competition Watch Dog Agency Wilson appointed the first Jew to the Supreme Court in 1915 Louis D Brandeis Progressivism reached its peak during the Wilson administration but soon the population s attention turned from internal to foreign affairs
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