American Imperialism and Early Progressives Essay

The issues America had with other countries all revolved around things like that. There was the Louisiana Purchase. There was the Mexican-American War. There was the â€Å"54-40 or Fight† crisis involving England and the Oregon Territory. Beginning with the Spanish-American War, the US turned towards expanding its power and having more of an impact on the international scene. The US then did things like taking and running the Philippines. It pushed for the â€Å"Open Door† in China. The war represented the first major military engagement for the United States borders since the Mexican-American War and led to a desire of United States interests throughout the Caribbean and into the western Pacific region . The war’s outcome led to dramatic increases in the United States navy budget and U. S military involvement in the Philippines, resulting in a three-year war. The Spanish-American War created policies promoting overseas investments and expansion, later referred to as â€Å"dollar diplomacy† under President Taft. Before that, this expanded policy could be seen in the Open Door policy regarding China. It could also be seen in President Theodore Roosevelt’s engineering a revolt in Panama against the Colombian government and then negotiating for the Panama Canal Zone and construction of the Panama Canal. 2) Explain how the following individuals responded to the economic and social problems created by the industrialization during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Jane Addams, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Gompers, Upton Sinclair Thesis: Industrialization may have created a dramatic increase in wealth but brought along social and economic problems, Andrew Carnegie responded to these problems with the gospel of wealth, Sinclair attacked corruption in industry’s, Jane Addams with Hull Houses and movements for women and Samuel Gompers with the AF of L. Addams focused on poverty, low wages, poor conditions and the need to assimilate immigrants. Her goal was to help with the poverty and bad lives of of urban life. She established a settlement house, Hull House, in Chicago in 1889. 00 settlement houses were established across America because of her. She advocated the regulatory movement for slums and factories that opposed child labor and sweatshops and advocated for the 8-hour working day for women. Carnegie did want to fix the issues of the emerging economy with his vertical integration of the steel industry. Carnegie built wealth around efficient monopolistic operations, vertical integration, lowest possi ble wages, exploitation of workers, and forbidding unions. He advocated the Gospel of Wealth, and economic survival of the fittest. Yet, Carnegie also held that excess wealth was a trust for communities, and he established the many Carnegie funded public libraries. Altogether he gave away over $150 million. Gompers organized unions into the American Federation of Labor; unions were independent but cooperated on bread and butter issues. He wanted higher wages, fewer working hours, business liability for injuries, mine safety laws, and leverage of skilled unions; the AFL coordinated strikes and boycotts. The AFL had 2 million members by 1904 but mostly omitted semi- and unskilled workers and women. Sinclair wrote the book The Jungle in 1906 and described meatpacking conditions, which made Theodore Roosevelt push for the 1906 Meat Inspection Act that established sanitary rules and inspections. Sinclair was an investigative muckraker focusing on abuse of workers. 3) How Successful were the progressive reforms during the period 1890 to 1915 with respect to the following: Industrial condition, Urban life, politics Progressive reform helped in seeing the creation of labor unions like The Knights of Labor and The American Federation of Labor. These unions pushed for higher pay and shorter work days for workers by attempting to organize the laborers. They achieved some of what they desired to but not all do to the advanced organization and quick methods of reacting of the companies. the reforms were successful in terms of industrial conditions. Examples of this: Creation of strong labor unions such as The Knights of Labor and the America along with Federation of Labor. These unions pushed for higher minimum wages and pay and shorter work days. Also, to rid of child labor. For Urban life improvements, i didnt develop an argument yet but i have these ideas that were successful: The Hull House, Public Education, Crime, Pollution and theres a whole lot more but im working on it now. Sorry but that’s all i have:( In addition, the Conserative reforms of Teddy Roosevelt and Taft. TR added the Yellow Stone National Park to a protective reserve. Taft built off of these ideas with more parks being made into reserves. How successful were progressive reforms during the period 1890-1915 with respect to TWO of the following? Industrial conditions; urban life; politics. The late 19th century and early 20th century were marked by a period of reforms known as Progressivism. During this time, leaders of Progressive reforms aimed to improve American lives by instigating changes that would influence politics and urban lifestyles. Progressivism generally helped improve the everyday life and reduced corruption within the nation’s legislations. During the Progressive Era, President Theodore Roosevelt adapted in 1904 what was known as the Square Deal program. This was the main program that outlined business relationships between the corporate leaders and the industrial workers and that fairness and equality would preside over the connection. However, in order to prevent a communistic society and maintain competition in the economy, Roosevelt did not eliminate all trusts. He declared that there were some â€Å"good† trusts, along with the bad ones. The â€Å"good† trusts were those that were free from corruption and would generally maintain a fair and just relationship between employer and employee. The program included the Sherman Antitrust Act, which demanded that the trusts be judged by the acts they have committed. This act successfully signaled the end of corrupt trusts, along with the passing of the Elkins Act. The Elkins Act prevented the rich and the well known to benefit and receive rebates on the railways. The Elkins Act forced the railroads to create an equal rate for people of all walks of life and it could not be subject to change. In the coal strike of 1902, hundreds of thousands of Americans refused to work in the mines without improvements to working conditions.