Progressive Era Flashcards
(33 cards)
What is the Pendleton act or civil service act?
Government jobs filled by qualified applicants
What is boss Tweed?
- William Tweed, democratic political boss, who cheated New York City out of millions of dollars
- Exposed by cartoonist Thomas Nast
- Tweed and other city bosses were popular especially with poor immigrants
- Poor immigrants often voted for bosses and their political party in return for jobs, food, and loans
- Tammany Hall- corrupt political machine of the New York City, also a meeting place
What was the Clayton antitrust act?
Stronger antitrust legislation to limit power of big business
What was the federal reserve act?
Set up nationwide systems of federal banks; government could raise or lower interest rates and regulate the amount of money in circulation
What was the Federal Trade Commission?
Power to investigate companies and order them to stop using business practices that destroyed all competitors
Primary
Voters chose their party’s candidate instead of a party leaders as previously
Initiative
Voters gain the right to put a bill before state legislator
Referendum
Voters can vote on the bills directly; yes or no on a certain proposal
Recall
Voters can remove elected officials from office
Secret ballot
Voters choose candidates in private to eliminate bribing and other voter fraud
What was the 16th amendment
Gave Congress the power to raise income taxes; graduated or progressive income tax
What was the 17th amendment
Direct election of Senators instead of being chosen by state legislators
What was the 18th amendment
Prohibition of alcohol
What is school reform?
- laws requiring school attendance
- John Dewey-Progressive educator who encourage students to ask questions and work together
What is the temperance crusade
Movement against the use of alcoholic beverages that began in early 1800s and gain strength by 1900, eventually leading to the prohibition of alcohol
Theodore Roosevelt
Progressive Republican who believed federal government should take an active role in Reform; moved away from laissez-faire
Theodore Roosevelt
- conservation of natural resources
- National parks
- consumer protection-supported meat inspection act and pure food and drug act
- trustbuster-wanted to control trusts, not brush them; wanted to differentiate between good and bad trusts
- square deal- everyone should have an equal opportunity to succeed
- Labor- 1st President to side with labor instead of business owners
William Howard Taft- a progressive Republican
- broke up trusts
- supported graduated income tax
Woodrow Wilson – a progressive Democrat who took office in 1913
New freedom – program to restore competition; persuaded Congress to create the Federal Trade Commission
Gilded age
– Coined by Mark Twain
– Gilded – coated with a thin layer of gold paint
– Period between 1870s and 1890s when reformers tried to fight corruption
-rich getting richer and everything looked good on outside; wealth, but in reality many social, political and economic problems existed
– Public concern over power of “special interest “groups; bankers and industrialists, and political corruption
Progressives
– Reformers who wanted to improve American life and regulate business for the public good; many of these problems were a result of the industrial revolution
– Wanted to eliminate unfair business practices, political corruption, sweatshops, child labor, etc.
– Progressives were tied to the belief that problems of society could be solved
– Progressives were mostly urban dwellers as opposed to the populists who are mostly farmers; but both were opposed to the laissez-faire attitude of the federal government
Spoil system or patronage
Providing government jobs to political supporters who were usually not qualify for a position
– Solution to patronage – Pendleton act/civil service act created a civil service commission to give exams, civil service exam, for government jobs. This means getting a government job is now based on merit
Interstate commerce act
Wall that forbade pools and rebates and set up interstate commerce commission or the ICC to regulate railroads
Sherman antitrust act
Prohibited trusts from limiting competition