Progressive Era through the Great Depression

History 105

The Progressive Era

Around the 1910’s, most Americans were anxious about the rapid economic and social changes that confronted the United States, including industrialization, the rise of powerful corporations, the growth of cities and the mass arrivals of immigrants. This period was known as the Progressive Era. Two major historical turning points that took place during this time were (1) Women earned the right to vote and (2) Education.

Women Suffrage
The early 1900s saw a successful push for the vote through a coalition of suffragists, temperance groups, reform-minded politicians, and women's social-welfare organizations. Although Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton devoted 50 years to the woman's suffrage movement, neither lived to see women gain the right to vote. But their work and that of many other suffragists contributed to the ultimate passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. Two groups that contributed to the passage of the 19th amendment the women organizations the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), founded in 1890, and the National Women’s Party (NWP), founded in 1913 and led by Alice Paul. Alice Paul and other women of the National Women's Party picketed the White House. They wanted then President Woodrow Wilson to support a Constitutional amendment giving all American women suffrage, or the right to vote. Women gained voting right in the west before the east and south and many wonder why. I believe it was because of money and development the powers that be were interested in getting the women votes to help them control development by supporting their agenda in congress, in other words the more votes they had to help their party win the election the more powerful they would become and the more money they would make. The eastern states considered themselves already powerful without the help of women and some of the women were either afraid to stand up or just content with living in the world as it was and they did not believe things would change. The southern states who remained without a powerful political party for a long time and who were set in their old fashioned ways considered women voters as a threat to their way of life.
Education
The goal of the Progressive for education during the Progressive Era was to help improve individuals so they could become better in their jobs and participate in politics, but some individuals argued differenty. Throughout time the question of skill versus education has always been an issue in society. During the 19th century Booker T. Washington encouraged blacks to learn a trade or skill where they could obtain work with their hands that would help their family prosper. Washington’s philosophies were that if you obtain an education that would give you a specific skill it would help establish blacks. The skills he promoted were those that would turn sharecroppers into farmers or cotton pickers into seamstress. During this time which was not long after emancipation this was a good idea for blacks. However, some blacks were still afraid of change but the majority of blacks embraced his ideas. Washington later gave one of the most influential speeches addressing both whites and blacks at an agricultural convention in Atlanta, Georgia. This speech would be known as the Atlanta Exposition. In this speech he writes “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem”. Meaning obtaining the skills to work with your hands is just as important as obtaining skills to write. In short, Washington believed that by obtaining skills of a physical nature would be more feasible for blacks and would allow them to lift themselves in society. {Atlanta Exposition, The African American Odyssey-5th edition}
In contrast to his ideas and philosophies there was a man by the name of
W. E. B. Du Bois. (Du Bois) Du Bois believed that if blacks obtained an education in the liberal arts such as college degrees to become, teachers, lawyers, and writers that they would then be accepted by whites and allowed to participate in political decisions. Du Bois formed groups such as the Talented Ten (10) who believed that they should lift up the other 90% of black people. This was a pretty big goal to accomplish if you ask me but his intentions were in the right place. Du Bois also formed the NAACP to help black people seek solutions to their problems, but at the time the organization was made up of Du Bois, a few blacks and white liberals, which is probably why a southern black person would be hesitant to join. The Niagara Movement also a movement headed by Du Bois had goals that called for opposition to racial segregation, and they demanded equal rights and the right to vote. Du Bois however, may have been ahead of his time in thinking that obtaining an education for blacks that didn’t teach them a skill that required them how to use their hands was beneficial. While Du Bois himself and others had managed to obtained this type of education, not every black could afford this type of education and no amount of education in the world would allow them to use their degrees to obtain a job or support their families in most places because most blacks were not being hired as lawyers, doctors or teachers in most locations. In fact, even Du Bois his self had to move down south to obtain a teaching job to support his family.

Roosevelt- Taft-Wilson
The 19th amendment giving women the right to vote was approved under Woodrow Wilson. Wilson also assisted in passing the Antitrust Act, which outlawed unfair practices among businesses. Theodore Roosevelt developed and used the Hepburn Act, which limited prices that railroads could charge and allowed federal government to monitor the finanicial books. Roosevelt also prosecuted companies under the Sherman Act which would allow the federal government to break up companies trying to forma monopolies. William H Taft, one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed by Congress during Taft's presidency was the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend railroad rate hikes and to set rates. Among his most controversial actions, Taft promoted an administrative innovation whereby the President, rather than the disparate agencies of government, would submit a budget to Congress. Congress prohibited that action, but Taft's effort foreshadowed the creation of the executive budget in the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which gave the President new capacities for efficiency and control in the executive branch.
Spanish American War
America went to war against Spain to free Cuba from Spanish domination. But the war provided the United States an opportunity to seize overseas possessions and begin building an American empire by building up it’s military, especially the Navy.. After ousting Spain from Cuba, the United States seized Puerto Rico. And subsequently it annexed the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, and Wake Island, followed by Hawaii.
The Roaring 20’s and The Great Depression
The Roaring 20’s brought about new ideas and good times. African Americans were attempting to refashion mainstream perceptions of their group. (Schultz, Second Edition) One of the well known movements for this perception was the Harlem Renaissance which is considered a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. During the Harlem Renaissance, artists and writers wanted to use their craft to record the history of their struggles and establish an identity. Movies, Music and Professional spots all played a significant roll in the Roaring 20’s, however the economy during the Roaring 20’s was uneven and not everyone benefited the rising economy many workers suffered with bad working conditions. Following the Roaring 20’s was the Great Depression and just 8 months after Herbert Hover took office the stock market crashed leaving people without work and families homeless and hungry. One of Herbert Hover’s first act to help American business was to signed the Hawley-Smooth Tariff, this bill raised American tariffs on foreign agricultural and manufactured goods but Hoover didn’t believe that the federal government should aid it citizens. It wasn’t until it was time for his reelection that he established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) which was a federally funded agency that loaned money to businesses with the hope that they would hire more workers. Hoover loss the election in 1932 to Franklin Roosevelt who believed that the government should help its citizens. One of Roosevelt’s most important legislation was the National Industrial Recovery Act, which established programs to regulate industry establish labor rights and improve working conditions. It may be safe to say that Roosevelt help bring the country out of depression and help reform a nation.

Shultz, 2nd Edition 2012

Hine, Hine and Harrold, Fifth Edition

www.amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=7

www.theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/

www.rochester.edu/sba/suffragehistory.html

www.pbskids.org/wayback/civilrights/features_suffrage.html

www.millercenter.org/president/taft/essays/biography/4