05-18-2010+HIST2020

 Raymond Flanagan, David Hazlett, Kassie Miller HIST 2020 May 18, 2010

** Were the Progressives defined as liberals, conservatives, or a combination of both? **

**Thesis: ** In the early years of the era, the Progressives wavered between both liberal and conservative principles during a period of economic depression. · The Rise of Big Business and the Decline of Agriculture · The Depression of 1893 · The Battle for a Gold Standard  (Introduction by Kassie Miller) In the early years of the era, the Progressives wavered between both liberal and conservative principles during a period of economic depression. Wary of both big business and the corruptibility of government, the Progressives sought to improve the lives of the American People (592). After periods of excess growth became detrimental to the economy, resulting in a depression, the mindset of the average American towards success and failure began to change. The Progressive Era marked a thin line between the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and overreaching its boundaries. (The Rise of Big Business/Decline of Farming by David Hazlett) The Republicans and Democrats joined together in passing the Sherman Antitrust Act(538). The act was designed to reign in and regulate big business. The terms of the act were vague and the precise interpretation was left for later experience and the courts. Manufacturers were not subject to the law. The United States was the only industrial nation to regulate business combinations. The Sherman Antitrust Act declared illegal “every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.” Farmers were discontent with declining prices for their products. They also complained about rising railroad rates for shipping the products to market. Many farmers mortgaged their property to expand and purchase new farm machinery. These problems angered many farmers. Everyone in the 1870’s and 1880’s was excited about factories, not farms. The discontentment and disillusionment that emerged caused farmers to feel the drabness of farm life. Out of all this discontentment, they formed the National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union(540). At first the Alliance mainly sponsored social and economic programs, but it soon turned to politics. They formed their own party called The Peoples Party. The party didn’t last long because Southern Democrats used intimidation, fraud, and manipulation to hold down Populist votes. Their candidate, Weaver, held less than a quarter of the vote in every southern state except Alabama. After the election, the Farmers Alliance lost many members. At its height, the Alliance was one of the most powerful protest movements in American History. (Panic and Depression-Changing Attitudes by Raymond Flanagan) The panic and depression of the 1890’s affected rich and poor alike. It led to changes in politics and labor. People began to reconsider what the roles of government should be. They also were forced to rethink their views on the causes of economic and social failures. The general consensus was that people lost their jobs because of their own failings; now they knew that economic forces were at fault. Prominent people were also failing. Responding to industrialization in the 1870’s and 1880’s, the economy expanded too rapidly. The railroads overbuilt due to the rapid growth, and businesses and farmers alike borrowed beyond their means for expansion. In February 1893, panic hit the stock market. Investors dumped a million shares of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and it went bankrupt. Investments dropped sharply in the railroad and construction industries. People quickly sold stocks and other assets to buy gold, which depleted the gold reserve of the U.S. Treasury. People lined up at the banks to withdraw their savings, but many banks had loaned out most of their deposits and couldn’t meet the demands; therefore, they were forced to close their doors (544). Due to a lack of funds, banks had to cut back on loans, and businesses failed at an average rate of two dozen per day during the month of May. August 1893 was the worst month to date, with factories and mines shutting down across the country. The Erie Railroad failed at the end of July; and in August, the Northern Pacific Railroad went bankrupt, with the Union Pacific and the Santa Fe soon to follow. Unemployment was estimated at two million, or almost fifteen percent of the workforce (545). The year 1884 was even worse. Unemployment rose to three million by midyear. One out of five workers was out of work. In the summer, a heat wave and drought struck and had a drastic effect on farmers (545). With men as the principal breadwinners losing their jobs, women and children were entering into the workforce to help support the family because they could be paid less money. Women took on jobs such as telegraph and telephone operators, department store clerks, nurses and teachers. Some took on boarders and cleaned house for the wealthy to supplement what little money their husbands were making. Children would work on farms, peddle newspapers in the streets, and shine shoes (548). It was the year of the great Pullman strike, the largest in the country’s history. Employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company protested wage cuts, layoffs, and high rents for company housing. It paralyzed the western half of the nation. Grain and livestock couldn’t reach the markets, and factories shut down because they couldn’t get coal. The strike tied up the economy and extended into twenty-seven states and territories (545). On a personal note, with so many people out of work, why would those who do still have a job protest a small wage cut? At least they still have a job! (The Big Three Automakers, making ninety dollars an hour crying over a cut in wages, while foreign automakers in the U.S. were making less than half that amount). President Grover Cleveland decided to break the strike because it obstructed delivery of the mail. Cleveland ordered military troops to Chicago, and had the army occupy railroad yards across the country. The Supreme Court endorsed the use of the injunction in labor disputes, giving business and government a weapon to slow union growth (545). The people resented Cleveland’s actions in the strike, and the government’s involvement. In the elections of 1894, the Democrats suffered a great defeat. People began looking toward the Republican Party (546). The Republican doctrines of activism and national authority became more attractive. Americans became more accepting of government power to regulate the economy and safeguard individual welfare, which opened the way to the reforms of the Progressive Era (547). New local institutions were formed. Discussion clubs, women’s clubs, reform societies, farmer’s societies, and church groups gave people a place to discuss alternatives to the existing orders. Pressures for reform increased, and the people wanted government intervention to help the poor and unemployed. The depression was cause for reality to set in. Even in literature, there was a movement toward realism and naturalism. After the Civil War, literature reflected romanticism, but the panic and depression of the 1890’s, led to authors turning to realism. They wanted to portray life as it actually was. Some examples of this literature are Stephen Crane’s “An Experiment in Misery”, which captured the smells and sounds of the poor, and //The Red Badge of Courage// (1895), which depicted the carnage of war. Also, Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote a number of important works that came from his own personal experiences. Also known as Mark Twain, his works included //The Adventures of Tom Sawyer// (1876) and //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// (1884)//.// Instead of literary language, he used dialect and common speech in these books, sparking a major change in American prose style (549-550). (Gold vs. Silver Standard by Kassie Miller) The effects of the depression further divided the nation over the issue of silver versus gold. After years of financial turmoil, the American people wanted swift governmental action in order to turn around the economy. The Democratic Party supported the adoption of a silver standard, or system for backing a nation’s currency. At the time, most countries had adopted the Gold Standard. Support for silver coinage was widespread from 1894 and 1896, becoming a symbol of American independence from the rest of the world (551). The debate over adopting the silver standard became a central point in the 1896 Presidential election, which was won by Republican William McKinley (554). The Gold Standard Act was passed in 1900, declaring gold as the nation’s standard and effectively ending the debate over the backing of currency. The economy began to improve shortly after President McKinley’s inauguration, marking the Republicans as the party of prosperity. Shying away from the methodology of previous Republican administrations, McKinley focused on economic regulation instead of promotion. (Conclusion by Kassie Miller) Progressivism aimed to protect the average American from having to withstand another period of economic depression at the hands of big business. The American people turned to a period of realism, which changed how they looked at economic growth, the workforce, and the responsibility of their government.

**Material List ** Progressivism – p 592 Sherman Antitrust Act – p. 538 National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union – p. 540 People’s (Populist) Party – p. 543 Pullman Strike – p. 545 Gold Standard Act – p. 555