Period two
During this time period, America was going through the Progressive Era. During the Progressive Era, America was being "rebuilt", by addressing the problems that plagued the Gilded Age. The American presidents had much involvement with the reconstructing of American policy. Beginning with William McKinley in 1898 through Herbert Hoover in 1923, the presidents sought after what they believed would better America, and they did. While William McKinley lead America to victory in the Spanish-American War, which helped America with their goal of imperialism throughout North America and beyond, Roosevelt began controlling big businesses, busting trusts and eliminating corruption. Each of the Progressive Era presidents brought something to the table to help fix the United States. By 1930, America was thriving, and had a lot of potential to get even better.
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Woodrow Wilson
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As America's businesses boomed, people began questioning the conditions in which American workers were exposed. Not only the conditions, but the people who were working too. People such as Florence Kelly and Lewis Hines fought for child labor laws in America. This became a huge controversy in the Progressive Era, which first became outlawed, then deemed unconstitutional.
Florence Kelly and Lewis Hines helped to surface this problem to American government. Hines took photographs of children in factories and other work sites that were dangerous. Some examples included kids climbing upon factory equipment to fix a problem with the machine, others included children covered in coal and soot from being in the coal mines all day. Kelly fought for shorter work days and better pay wages for the laborers. As the issue rose in the United States, the federal government soon became involved. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Keating-Owen Act in the year 1916. With this document in play, companies are no longer able to sell goods that were manufactured by children under the age of fourteen. Also, coal mines couldn't operate with children under the age of sixteen. The hours also shortened that kids had to work, children under sixteen couldn't work at night and more than eight hours a day. Two years after the signing of the Keating-Owen Act, it was found unconstitutional due to the fact that the federal government was regulating interstate commerce. Even though this act was put down, it was still a big step to the future of American labor. States began making laws themselves to keep children from being overworked. The booklet to the left is a guide made by the North Carolina Department of Labor, stating rules and guidelines as to how to govern child labor laws in North Carolina. "...that no producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce any article or commodity the product of any mine or quarry, situated in the United Sates, in which within thirty days prior to the time of the removal of such product therefrom children under the age of sixteen years have been employed or permitted to work, or any article or commodity the product of any mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment..." |
William McKinley
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The photograph to the right displays the assassination of president William McKinley. When McKinley was shot, during the first September in his second term. He lead America through the Spanish-American War, raised protective tariffs, and kept the gold standards by rejecting inflationary proposals.
McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo, New York in the Temple of Music. The president was there to meet with the public, which was something he enjoyed doing. His secretary cancelled this event twice, but McKinley kept adding it back to the schedule. The reason it was cancelled, was because the secretary was afraid an assassination would happen. Unfortunately, he was right. On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in the Temple of Music. Leon had a concealed revolver hidden up his sleeve, walked straight to William McKinley and shot him in the stomach. Initially, the president looked as if he were to heal and become healthy, but tragically took on gangrene. He died early the next morning due to gangrene. Although America lost a great president, we inherited Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt helped America grow even stronger during the Progressive era. He became a trust buster and broke up many monopolies, began to regulate railroads and meat, and conserved natural resources. |
Theodore Roosevelt
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After the assassination of America's president, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt becomes president of the United States. Roosevelt had many plans in store for America, including trust busting, reserving the environment, and took responsibility of America's welfare.
Another big plan he brought to the table was "Big Stick" Diplomacy. This meant to speak small, act big. He used this when he had interest in Latin America. He talked with many countries in Latin America to get them to agree with him and his proposals. After a country turned his methods down, he attacked them and forced them to join. That was an example of the "Big Stick" diplomacy. He spoke to reason with them, and when they didn't, he forced them to do so. Theodore Roosevelt also helped to conserve the environment so the future would be able to enjoy it and use the resources. He saved 195 million acres of land in America. This also helped to keep big businesses from growing stronger and spreading. Roosevelt also trust busted. He broke up many monopolies and made them smaller. This was to give smaller businesses a chance to gain economy again. Now there are smaller targets for rivals instead of many multimillion dollar businesses. |
William Taft
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After Theodore Roosevelt resigns as president, William Taft takes office in 1908. Taft went on to finish much of what Roosevelt had started while he was in office. Taft trust busted 4X as many monopolies than Roosevelt. He also pushed for child labor laws, and created the Children's Bureau. He angered many progressives when he raised tariffs, which helped big monopolies. He sold 1 million acres of the protected land to big businesses, which angered the progressives as well.
With William Taft going around America and breaking up big monopolies, it greatly helped the smaller businesses that were family owned or just small businesses. Roosevelt had already started, so it was easier for Taft to go around and break up the larger businesses. This political cartoon depicts Taft as a supporter to small businessmen. The smaller people in the picture are business owners who are new to the business world. Taft is warning them not to go through the same process that the big monopolists did, otherwise, it would cause big problems. |