Role of Governement in politics in the US

• Progressive Movement: reformers wanted to correct injustices (i.e. bad working conditions, child labor, corruption)

• Florence Kelley helped to pass Illinois Factory Act, which banned child labor and limited women’s working hours.

• Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was a group that wanted to limit use of alcohol.

• 1890: Hazen Pingree is elected mayor of Detroit. He Focused on economics and wanted low fares and to abolish corruption. He also made work relief for unemployed citizens.

• 1901: Tom Johnson is elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. He wanted people to play a part in the city government. Also wanted to remove the corrupt from power.

• 1901: Labor leader Eugene Debs commented on unfair balance among large companies, government, and common people under the free market system of capitalism.

• 1904: Book “History of the Standard Oil Company” was published, and exposed bad conditions in the standard oil company which was run by Rockefeller.

• 1906: Robert M. La Follette was the governor of Wisonsin. He wanted to remove corporations from politics and give them the same treatment as other people.

• 1908: Muller v Oregon – case in which the main issue was if it was constitutional to set max workday for women.

• 1908: Louise Brandeis supported reforms that protected workers. He filed a legal argument and he provided evidence that showed a connection between hours of work and women’s health.

• 1911: Frederick Taylor’s book “The Principles of Scientific Management” was published. It was a theory of management that analyzed workflows w/ objective of improving labor productivity.

• 1916: Keating-Owen Act – banned sales in interstate commerce of goods by any facility that had children working.

• 1917: Bunting v Oregon – case in which the Supreme Court ruled a 10 hour work day for both men and women.

Teddy Rosevelt was trying to make

The jungle was a book written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 that described the terrible sickening conditions of the meat packing industry. President Rosevelt made sure that commen people recieved the square deal. Square deal is a term used to describe the progressive reforms sponsored by the Teddy Rosevelt administration.
THe northern securities company was a united states railroad trust created in 1901. IT was run by E H Harrien, James Jay Hill, J P morgan, J D ROckerfeller and assosciates. This company was sued in 1902 under the sherman antitrust act of 1890 by president Teddy Rosevelt.
Coal strike in 1902 was when 140 thousand coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike and demanded a 20% raise, 9 hour work day, and the right to organise a union. The mine opperators refused.
1903
THe conservation in Yosemite national park. Jonhn muir persuaded the president to set aside 148 million acres in forrest reserves
KEy people
Theodore rosevelt started the progressive movement and square deal due to senclair's book

Et un Seclair
A muckraking journalist that wrote about the human condition in the stockyards of Shicago and wrote the Jungle.

John Muir
A journalist and friend of rosevelt who helped preserve the Yosemite nationional park.

Progressivsm: a time reform. Reformers wanted more regulations for business and living conditions.

• 1901: Theodore Roosevelt is elected, and he started the Progressive Movement & Square Deal because of Sinclaire’s book.

• 1903: Elkins Act – a U.S. law that amended the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887.

• 1906: Upton Sinclaire wrote/published “The Jungle”, a book that described the bad conditions of the meat packing industry.

• 1906: Hepburn Act – U.S. Federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set maximum railroad rates and extend its jurisdiction.

• John Muir: journalist and friend of Roosevelt who’s activism helped preserve Yosemite National Park.

• Square Deal: what common people would receive from the Roosevelt Administration Sherman Antitrust Act of 1902 (Prohibits certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be anticompetitive, and requires the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of being in violation)

• Meat Inspection Act: dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers and created the program of federal meat inspection.

• Pure Food and Drug Act: halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling.

In 1901 Eugene Debs, a labor leader said commented on the unfair ballance among large companies. Government and the people under the free market system. 1904 The book HIstory of the standard oil company was published with the book being about a revelation of the standard oil company which wasat that time run by the oil tycoon John D Rockerferfeller.

The reformers wanted to correct the injustice of bad working conditions, and child labor, and coruption. Florence Kelley helped win the illinois factory act that banned child labor limited womens working hours. The women's Christian temperence union was for limiting alcohol consumption. Later mayor was elected in Detroit in 1890 Hazen Pingry focused on low taxes and tried to destroy corrupton. He created work relief for citizens of the US. 1901 Tom Johnson was elected as Mayor of Ohio, Clevelend. He wanted citizens to participate in the city government. Both Hazen and Johnson worked on removing corrupt private owners from power.

1906 Rebert M La Follete was the governor of Wisconsin. He was known as "Fighting Bob" Le Follete. He wanted to remove corporations out of politics and givet them the same treatment as other people.
1908 Muller vs. Oregon
case in which the main issue was if it was constitutional to set max workday time for girls.
1908 again Louise Brandeis supported reforms that protected workers. He was chosen to defend the law. He filed a legal argument and he provided eviddence that showed a connection bettween hours of work and womends health.
1911
Frederick Taylor's book "Principles of Scientific Management" was published. It was a theory of management that alalyzed workflows with the objective of improving labor productivity.
1916
joined by the union of lbor groups the wanted the governmetn to pass the keating owen act. THis act banned sales in interstate commerce of goods by the facility that had children working.
1917 Bunting vs Oregon case in which the sumpreme courd ruled a 10 hour work day not just for girls but for boys

1912: Woodrow Wilson is elected. He supported suffrage and wanted to give greater freedom to average citizens.

1913: Federal Reserve Act – created a National banking system that controlled U.S. money and the accessible credit in the country. Also managed the amount of currency in the economy.

1914: Clayton Antitrust Act – Prohibited the creations of monopolies and protected the rights of farm organizations and labor unions.

Mid 1800’s – 1920: Women’s Suffrage Movement – women started campaigning for more rights.

Susan B. Anthony was a part of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and pushed for an amendment that never passed.

Carrie Chapman Catt was also a part of NAWSA and helped to win women’s right to vote.

Federal Trade Commission – an organization that would help investigate any violations and to put an end on unfair practices.

16th Amendment – legalized an income tax that would come from peoples earnings and corporation profits.

19th Amendment – granted women the right to vote.

Progressivism had main goals when it started of having better working conditions, no child labor, better wages, social welfare protection, improving morals, reforming the economy, and making things more efficient.

William S. U'Ren got the state of Oregon to get the Australian ballot with an initiative, referendum, and recall. in 1920, 20 states had at least one of the three policies mentioned.

Associations like the YMCA assisted in helping the social welfare through creation of facilities, opening of libraries, assisting schools, etc. There were also groups that would instruct groups of people in social values. such as the slum brigades set up by the Salvation Army.

There were also groups trying to make it illegal to drink alcohol in an effort to lift the moral standards of the citizens.

A new procedure for management was created supposedly by Frederick Winslow Taylor called scientific management where people would take tasks and split them into a series of smaller tasks. This type of work with assembly lines lead people to quit there jobs on assembly lines. Rockerfeller employed this methodology, thinking he made up fo it by increasing the of earnings each person gets to $5. This temporarily increased the amount of workers that he had, but there was still a high turnover rate.

Robert M. LA Follete supposedly became a Senator in 1906 with him serving as a governor three times before that. His goal was supposedly to destroy the political power of big business. He taxed railroads the same ammount as other businesses, made a group to control price rates, and kept railroads from giving free tickets for officials.

There was a group of journalists called muckrakers based on the John Bunyan story "Pilgrim Progress" which had a character that was too busy using a rake to clean the dirt of the society that he didn't look up. One of the journalists was called Ida M. Tarbell and made a magazine entry that featured every month called "History of the Standard oil company" where she would talk about methods of destroying competition that John D. Rockefeller utilized.

The National Child Labor Committee was created in 1904 and obtained evidence of the working conditions children were in, considering them "harsh". They teamed up with labor union members that thought that child labor lowered their wages. In 1916 they got national politicians to pass the Keating-Owen act which made transportation of things across state lines with things made with child labor illegal.

This was a group in created in Cleveland that was prohibitionist, ended up getting 245,000 members by 1911, and would visit jails, asylums, open kindergartens for immigrants, etc.

The 1893 economic panic supposedly led to Citizens going against capitalism Eugene V. Debs, who was a labor union leader and assisted in creating the American Socialist Party in 1901 commented on competition not being real anymore since the government favored big business. Progressives agreed even though they tried to stay away from socialism. During this time there were journalists called muckrakers that got their names from the book "Pilgrim's Progress" with a character that is too occupied with his job of using a rake to clean up the muck from the ground that he never notices the heaven above.

Florence Kelly helped to get the act into place which allowed child labor to be illegal and made working hours of girls restricted. Florence Kelly also was the chief inspector of Illinois factories after that.

The anti saloon league was part of a the effort to increase moral standards supposedly and ended up getting into arguments with immigrants because the immigrants depended on the saloons supposedly for the alcohol, food, and money exchange they utilized.

A hurricane and tidal wave almost demolished Galveston, Texas. The city council politicians didn't do a good job of planning the rebuilding of the city so a five member commission was sent in, rebuilding the city. By the time of 1917 five hundred cities used similar methods of utilizing a five member commission of experts.

This was were Louis D. Brandeis was helped by Florence Kelly and Josephine Goldmark to get the court to think taht poor working girls were less economically secure than large corporations so an Oregon law limiting the work day of girls (over the age of kids) to 10 hours should be utilized. Later In Bunting vs. Oregon in 1917 the Court made a 10 hour workday for boys (over the age of kids).

During 1920’s, there was supposedly:
- Uneven distribution of income: more than 70% of the nations families earned less than $2,500 per year. Basically rich got richer and poor got poorer.
- Slowdown in consumer spending: Americans weren’t buying as many products because of high prices, stagnant wages, unbalanced income and overbuying on credit.
- Overproduction of goods: Capitalism had been expanding by increasing productivity but at the same time decreasing wages. Then there were excess goods that could not find a market.
- Stock Market speculation: people bought stocks and bonds for quick profits while ignoring the risks.
- “Buying on Margin”: paying for the down payment and borrowing the balance from the bank.

1929: Black Tuesday – Stock market crashed and the price of stocks broke down. People who borrowed money to buy high priced stocks went bankrupt. This marked the start of the Great Depression.

1929-1940: GREAT DEPRESSION – economy went down and unemployment went up.

Herbert Hoover: President during the Great Depression. He refused to involve the government in anything that has to do with fixed prices, businesses and manipulating the value of the currency.

Joseph P. Kennedy: father of John F. Kennedy, and a speculator who sold off his stocks and made fortune during the crash.

L’assiez-Faire: policy of minimum governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society.

McNary-Haugen Bill: a farm relief bill passed to control farm prices.

1930: Hawley-Smooth Tariff Act – an act passed to protect American farmers from foreign competition. But this made unemployment worse, especially on industries that couldn’t export any goods to Europe.

Herbert Hoover told the US that the citizens should be confident in the economy of the US, since most people at the time thought that the best thing to do was to wait out the depression. He thought that there was a natural business cycle of rapid economic growth with depression afterwords. He decided that Charities, citizens, local organizations, etc, should work together to help people that were doing worse. He supposedly thought that government handouts would destroy the moral fiber of Americans.

Hoover made a meeting of leaders in business, banking, and labor. He then asked them to cooperate with each other. This hardly helped the depression, and shantytowns appeared in every city. Earlier Hoover was a secretary of commerce and proposed the creation of a Colorado River dam. He also suggested using profit from the sales of the electric energy the dam would create in the future to fund it. In 1929 Hoover allowed the construction of Boulder Dam which would later be called Hoover Dam, which was the world's tallest and second largest dam. It gave electricity, flood control, a water supply, and allowed California to have a great agricultural economy. When suggesting the creation of the dam he also helped make an agreement of water rights between seven states near the Colorado river basin.

1930- Congressional elections
The democrats won the 1930 congressional elections using statements against Hoover to gain more members in Congress. The Republicans lost control of the house of representatives, having only one vote there.

American Farmers with low cop prices burned their crops and dumped their milk on highways. There were also farmers that blocked roads to keep crops from being sold in hopes that the price of crops would raise. Farmers had "farm holidays" where they decided not to work in the fields. People also called the shantytowns Hoovervilles. Things that homeless people used were called Hoover followed by the name the item was supposed to be in place of for a person with more money. Farmers even tried to use violence to keep their farm from undergoing foreclosure.

Hoover later helped in creation of the National Credit Corporation which was made out of a cooperation of the biggest banks in the U.S. which would loan money to other banks to keep them from having bankruptcy.

In 1932 Hoover signed the Federal Home Loan Bank Act which lowered mortgage rates for citizens and made it so farmers could refinance farm loans to not go into foreclosure. He passed a series of reforms to banking and this was when the election was going to be soon, prompting him to do this.
After Hoover left office the Glass-Steagall Banking act was created b congress to separate investments and commercial banking to prevent another economic crash.

In 1932 Hoover got the Reconstruction Finance Corporation allowed by Congress and it allowed 2$ billion of emergency money for life insurance companies, banks, railroads, etc. He thought that this would help the citizens through a "trickle down effect" where the money would get to the citizens through increase in pay and job increase.

In 1932 a group of World War 1 veterans and families called the bonus army was lead by Walter Waters to Washington D.C. to get the Patman Bill accepted which would allow for the government to pay money to world war 1 veterans that were not payed enough. Being payed extra was already approved by Congress in 1924, but the money was supposed to be payed back in 1945 with a life insurance policy. The bonus Marchers wanted the money immediately though. On June 17th the senate voted against the Patman Bill and the bonus army was told to leave. Some stayed, so on July 28th, he sent in 1,000 soldiers that gassed more than 1,000 people and injured some people. They also shot two people in the crowd.

Growing unemployments – unemployment rate went up as soon as the stock market crashed. A lot of people lost their homes, they went through hardships and this caused hunger for a lot of citizens.

Foreclosure: the mortgage foreclosure increased. Low incomes and the collapse of price levels caused distress to housing markets.

Shantytowns – squatter areas where citizens stayed illegally. They had a poor environment but provided shelter.

Soup Kitchens – they offered low cost (or free) food, since a lot of unemployed couldn’t afford their own food. Soup Kitchens were usually run by churches or other private properties.

Competition for jobs – when companies began to go down, they started laying off African Americans first. The white people began competing with the jobs that African American’s did.

Dust Bowl – dust storms that caused damage in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

In 1932 during the presidential election the republicans nominated president Hoover again but most American disliked Hoover for not fixing the depression and for also gassing and attacking the bonus army. The one running against him on the Democrat side was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who at the time already served two terms as a governor of New York. Roosevelt won the election.

Because the 20th amendment wasn't ratified until February 1933, Roosevelt had to wait four months before becoming the president. While he was waiting he got a group of advisers which included professors, lawyers, journalists, etc called the brain trust. He also created an administration which would get rid of Great Depression problems, called the New Deal.

From March 9th to June 16th in 1933 the hundred days occurred. This is an event where congress passed over 15 new Deal Legislation pieces. These supposedly increased the involvement between government and the economy. The hundred days happened on the first hundred days of presidency. On March 5th in the hundred days he declared a banking holiday to close all banks. Then he allowed the treasury department to inspect banks, with only the safe ones being open. This led people to bring their money back into banks that they thought were safe.

There were also Fireside chats which were frequently held over the radio to give people the impression that the president was talking to them. The first fireside chat was on March 12th which was the day before the first series of banks would reopen. Roosevelt told the citizens that if too many people asked for their savings money, the bank would collapse. This prompted most US citizens to bring their money back to the banks. HE also told the citizens that they have to support their banks so they do not collapse.

In 1933 the glass-Steagall act was created and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which gave federal insurance to individual bank accounts of $5,000 or less.

The Federal Securities Act was created in May 1933 and made it necessary for corporations to give complete information on all stock offerings and they would be liable if there were misrepresentations.

Also the 21st amendment was created at the end of 1933, getting rid of prohibition of alcohol so tax on the alcohol could be used for revenue.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act was created to increase the prices of crops by using government money to pay farmers to leave certain parts of their field unplanted of unharvested.

Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corporation which allowed people between the age of 18 and 25 to work and get paid for it with a salary of $30 a month. They would plant trees, pave roads, build parks, help in flood control and soil erosion projects, etc. They also planted over 200 million trees to prevent another dust bowl.

President Hoover aggreed to deficit spending which was a policy involving the government using more money than it earned in revenue. Roosevelt did not see this as a good thing though, but a neccesity demanded by the bad economic situation. Liberals used the argument that the New Deal didn't help the poor and reform the nation's economic system enough. Conservatives thought the New Deal policies were used by Roosevelt to socialize the economy and controll business. Most people thought that the New Deal blocked the flow of a free-market economy. The conservatives didn't like the Agricultural Adjustment Act and National Industrial act because they thought it gave too much controll over industry and the farm business.

The National Industial Recovery Act was considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935. It was considered that the law gave legislative powers to the executive branch (The branch of the government that excecutes the laws. The legislative branch creates the laws.). It also used government power that was not granted to the government to have so much controll over the interstate commerce. They then said that the AAA was unconstitutional as agriculture was a state matter and not a government one.

Roosevelt proposed a "Court-packing Bill" in response on February 1937 with reorganization of the federal judiciary banch allowing him to appoint six new supreme Court justices. In 1937 a member of the court justice retired, allowing Roosevelt to appoint a new member that was in favor of the new deal. Late he was able to appoint 7 new justices because of people retiring.

The American Liberty League was created in 1934 and were agaisnt the New Deal as conservatives. They thought the NEw Deal went against property rights. Three of them were Charles, Coughline, D. Francis Townsend, and Huey Long. Dr. Francis thought that Roosevelt wasn't doing enough to help the poor and old people, so created a pension plan to give monthly benefits to old people.This took some supporters of Roosevelt. Charles Coughlin was a Catholic priest who originally supported the New Deal but then went against it, broadcasting opinions on his radio sermon show. HE lost his support though because he had anti-semitic ideas. Huey Long used to be for the New Deal but he turned agaisnt it later. He supposedly wanted to be the president. HE proposed a US. social program called Share-Our-Wealth. He got millions of members, but was kille dby a gunman at the hight of his popularity.

The Tennessee valley authority was created in May 1933. It repaird five dams and created 20 dams creating, flood controll, jobs, electricity, etc.

In 1937 There was a court calse of NLRB vs JOnes and Laughlin Seel Corporation. NLRB was the National Labor Relations Board. NLRB said the company used unfair labor practices and wanted it to rehire the workers with pay. Congress allowed this since the Steel Corporation is part of the interstate commerce flow.

2nd hundred days : The Roosevelt administration provided more extensive relief for both farmers and workers.

Relief to farmers and workers: The Works Progress Administration provided jobs to 8 million unemployed citizens. Like building airports, public buildings and fixing roads. Congress also passed laws to help thousands of farmers who lost their farms.

Labor relations: National labor relations act which was known as the Wagner Act, this act protected workers right to join unions and engage in collective bargaining with employers and it prohibited unfair labor practices like interfering with union organizing.

1935 – Economic security for retired workers: The Social Security Act which included Old age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses, its basically a retirement plan. The Act also included Unemployment compensation system and Aid to Families with dependent children and the disabled.

Key Persons:

Eleanor Roosevelt: a social reformer. She traveled the country to see the conditions of people and helped them.

John Steinback: novelist who described the life and experience of one tenant farmer and his family.

Dorothea Lange: a very influential american photographer. Dorothea’s work showed people the hardships of the people during the great depression.

Policies:

Collective Bargaining: negotiations between employers and a group of employees reaching agreements that regulate working conditions.

Fair labor standards Act: it established a minimum hourly wage and maximum number of hours in the workweek for the entire country.

Social Security Administrations: provided pensions for retired workers and their spouses and aided people with any kind of disabilities.