Muckrakers
Investigative journalists who exposed the underbelly of corruption rampant in American.
Direct election of senators
Gave citizens the right to vote for their senators. Progressives argued this helped take senators out of the pockets of millionaires and big business
Jacob Riis
President McKinley was assassinated and Teddy Roosevelt became president
Cash and Carry
Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass a looser version of the neutrality act that allowed anyone to purchase arms from the U.S. as long as they paid in cash and used their own ships to transport it
Prohibited anyone from making negative comments about the government
Zimmermann telegram
Germany solicited Mexico to become an ally of theirs, and in return they would help Mexico regain the land that they had lost in the Mexican-American war.
18th amendment passed
Banned the sale of alcohol. They thought it would right the moral wrongs of society, but it had the opposite effect
Progressive's concerns
Rising power of big businesses
Uncertainties in the economy
Violence between labor groups and employers
Influence of political machines
Jim Crow segregation
Rights of women
Believed in active government and he grew the government more than any president before him.
Teddy Roosevelt progressivism
The AG tasked FBI Director Hoover to gather information on suspected communists and led to mass arrests and deportations
Set standards of sanitation for meat packing plants
Published a devastating investigation of standard oil in 1902
Square deal
Ideas about expansion and manifest destiny were engrained into the American identity. America purchased Alaska in 1867.
Progressivism
The idea that the problems within American society could only be fixed through vigorous government intervention.
Scopes Monkey trial
In Tennessee it was illegal to teach Darwin's theory of evolution to children. A teacher was arrested for teaching it to his class. In the end, the conviction was thrown out on a technicality.
1920's economic boom
The standard of living for most Americans increased during the 1920s.
Spanish-American War
Pure food and drug act
Increased nativism
Increased immigration from eastern Europe after the war created another wave of nativism. Led to the passage of the immigration quotas
Flappers
Niagra movement
Led by W.E.B. Dubois who organized a group of black intellectuals who met and organized to secure rights for African americans
Public works administration: employed people to work on infrastructure projects
Tennessee Valley Authority: Hired people to control power plants and control flooding
Sought to abolish all forms of segregation and expand educational opportunities for black children (and others)
Crisis in American values
Upton Sinclair
Wrote the book 'The Jungle' to expose the dangerous conditions of factory workers and the unsanitary meat packers
1920's politics
A Republican president was elected. He promised to reduce the government's involvement in people's lives and return to normalcy.
Woodrow Wilson's Triple wall of privilege
On his first day in office, WW addressed Congress on the need to provide relief to Americans by lowering tariffs
