Foundations of Progressivism
Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the Progressive Era?
A. The Progressive Era saw the dramatic rise of revolutionaries who believed that governments should play a far smaller role in the lives of individuals and leave concerns regarding the welfare of the people to the people themselves.
B. The Progressive Era was defined by the impulse to destroy capitalism rather than to regulate it, as the United States was on the verge of becoming a socialist nation dominated by the ideas of only one of the two major political parties.
C. The Progressive Era saw a lack of action on the part of reformers, as the Gilded Age had successfully brought about the separation between politics and Big Business as well as the thorough regulation of industrialization.
D. The Progressive Era first began with the onset of the Great War, as the rush to prepare to meet wartime industrial levels and embark on military projects forced politicians to engage in regulation and reform on an unprecedented scale.
E. The Progressive Era saw remarkable social activism and political innovation, in part due to the belief that America was experiencing a crisis of democracy because of the urban industrial revolution and the evidence of fraud by elected officials.
E. The Progressive Era saw remarkable social activism and political innovation, in part due to the belief that America was experiencing a crisis of democracy because of the urban industrial revolution and the evidence of fraud by elected officials.
Which of the following figures was considered the greatest champion of the social gospel movement and worked in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York?
A. Ida T arbell
B. Walter Rauschenbusch
C. Washington Gladden
D. Jacob Riis
E. Upton Sinclair
B. Walter Rauschenbusch
What did the Seventeenth Amendment do?
A. It authorized the popular election of U.S. senators.
B. It gave women the right to vote.
C. It called for direct primaries.
D. It authorized the federal income tax.
E. It made the production and distribution of alcohol illegal.
A. It authorized the popular election of U.S. senators.
What role did Roosevelt play in the presidential election of 1912?
A. Running against T aft of the Republican party and Woodrow Wilson of the Democratic party, Roosevelt created the Progressive party with a platform that revealed his liberalism.
B. Roosevelt was so desperate after it became clear that he would likely lose the Republican nomination that he rejected many of his earlier ideas such as a minimum “living wage.”
C. Roosevelt decided to run as T aft’s vice president because he had enough of the limelight but felt pressure to use the office to promote certain business interests.
D. Although he had lost most of his popularity and suffered for it during the party primaries, Roosevelt managed to win the nomination by appealing to party bosses as party leader.
E. Roosevelt proved victorious mostly due to the fact that the Democratic party had split in two due to the controversial platform of the southerner Woodrow Wilson.
A. Running against T aft of the Republican party and Woodrow Wilson of the Democratic party, Roosevelt created the Progressive party with a platform that revealed his liberalism.
Which of the following statements characterizes Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom platform?
A. It proposed vigorous anti-trust action to break up corporate concentration.
B. It favored big government and severely limiting states’ rights.
C. It sought to do away with the tradition of presidents speaking of their religious faith.
D. It accepted gigantic corporations as a fact of modern economic life.
E. It was also known as a New Nationalism platform.
A. It proposed vigorous anti-trust action to break up corporate concentration.
What assumption did progressives share?
A. Governments must become more active to address the problems created by rapid industrial and urban growth.
B. The Democratic party must once again hold national political power in order to meet the war head-on.
C. Racism was an injustice, and the law should not discriminate between African Americans and white Americans.
D. Women were equal to men in ability and should be afforded the same opportunities in professional and political spheres.
E. Society would only progress when competition was allowed to take place without governmental regulation.
A. Governments must become more active to address the problems created by rapid industrial and urban growth.
What did advocates of the social gospel believe?
A. Social Darwinism held the answer to dealing with the problems of modern society and should be implemented in legislation.
B. Churches needed to help solve the problems created by a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing society.
Karl Marx’s call for a socialist revolution was necessary to fix the problems created by industrialization.
A tax-supported, state-sponsored church should serve as a unifying force between different social classes.
True salvation for society would come with secularization and turning away from traditional religion.
B. Churches needed to help solve the problems created by a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing society.
Which of the following is an example of progressives’ efforts to empower citizens’ voices within politics?
A. the social gospel
B. eugenics
C. the direct primary
D. the poll tax
E. Prohibition
C. the direct primary
How did William Howard T aft win the presidency?
A. Roosevelt urged the Republican party to nominate him as his successor, and he promised to continue the policies Roosevelt had begun.
B. He promised to expand the authority of the executive branch and to rethink the distribution of power among the other two government branches.
C. He had a “crusading spirit” that rivaled Roosevelt’s and had held elected office for most of his career.
D. He was, in the Republican tradition, opposed to a lower tariff and promised to entirely dismantle the American system of capitalism.
E. He attacked Roosevelt’s progressive policies, which appealed to the many political and business enemies Roosevelt had made.
A. Roosevelt urged the Republican party to nominate him as his successor, and he promised to continue the policies Roosevelt had begun.
What was the response of Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet regarding racial issues?
A. They remained silent on whether they supported racial segregation.
B. They publicly challenged Jim Crow segregation laws in the southern states.
C. They invited Booker T. Washington to speak at the White House.
D. They segregated federal employees and largely ignored calls for racial justice from black leaders.
E. They had the support of W. E. B. Du Bois in the election of 1916.
D. They segregated federal employees and largely ignored calls for racial justice from black leaders.
What was the single biggest economic factor that ignited the spirit of progressives?
A. the economic depression of the 1890s
B. the failure of the populists’ quest for silver coinage
C. Republican tariff policies in the 1880s and 1890s
D. the annexation of the Philippines
E. the passage of an amendment authorizing an income tax
A. the economic depression of the 1890s
Which of the following was true of the leaders of the settlement house movement?
A. They directed their attention to the problems faced by the working poor and immigrant communities living in cities.
B. They often expressed moral disapproval of the behavior of immigrants and favored well-off families when choosing tenants.
C. They spoke against the social gospel movement and initially focused only on political rather than social reform.
D. They tended to consist of second-generation lower-class immigrants helping first-generation lower-class immigrants.
E. They encouraged people in the cities to move to the rural areas by providing lodging there.
A. They directed their attention to the problems faced by the working poor and immigrant communities living in cities.
Which of the following best describes the method used by most progressives to solve the problem of economic power and its abuses?
A. adopting a socialist program of public ownership
B. following the principles of laissez-faire government
C. regulating giant corporations
D. allowing business to work out its own destiny
E. lowering taxes so that companies would raise wages
C. regulating giant corporations
What was the issue that provoked an open break between Taft and Roosevelt?
A. Taft supported higher tariffs, but lower tariffs had long been one of the primary focuses of Roosevelt’s economic policies.
B. Taft reduced the size of the navy, which led Roosevelt to become deeply concerned about the future of national security.
C. Taft made an anti-trust suit against United States Steel Corporation, which was at odds with Roosevelt’s business alliances.
D. Taft supported the federal income tax, whereas Roosevelt had long argued it would hurt common people and help corporations.
E. Taft fired Pinchot after he showed opposition to the T aft administrations’ opening up protected federal lands to commercial development.
E. Taft fired Pinchot after he showed opposition to the T aft administrations’ opening up protected federal lands to commercial development.
What was the purpose of the Adamson Act of 1916?
A. It prohibited most forms of child labor.
B. It provided low-interest loans to farmers.
C. It provided federal funds to build highways.
D. It established the eight-hour day for railroad workers.
E. It made the consumption of alcohol legal for soldiers.
D. It established the eight-hour day for railroad workers.
What did the muckrakers consider their primary objective?
A. converting Americans to socialism
B. exposing social problems to the public
C. increasing the circulation of sensationalist newspapers
D. proposing detailed legislation
E. destroying the Republican party
B. exposing social problems to the public
What was the significance of the events at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in 1911?
A. A strike resulted in the intervention of federal troops, representing the eagerness of the government to improve conditions.
B. The factory popularized the idea of scientific management principles because within one year of adopting them, its output had tripled.
C. It took the death of workers as a result of a tragic fire there to result in meaningful government regulation of dangerous workplaces.
D. The labor force was comprised almost entirely of American-born workers willing to work for low wages, which convinced similar companies to hire fewer immigrant workers.
E. The daily experiences of the workers there became the subject of Upton Sinclair’s influential book The Jungle in which he interviewed textile sweatshop owners.
C. It took the death of workers as a result of a tragic fire there to result in meaningful government regulation of dangerous workplaces.
What was the purpose of the Federal Reserve Act?
A. to end the Great Depression, which had begun during the end of Roosevelt’s last term as president
B. to nationalize the banking system so that all banks became public institutions rather than private corporations
C. to promote the gold standard in such a way that the banking system of the United States was identical to that of the Civil War
D. to require every state-chartered bank to become a member of the Federal Reserve system and regulate them closely
E. to adjust the nation’s currency supply and create a national banking system to promote growth and ensure the stability of member banks
E. to adjust the nation’s currency supply and create a national banking system to promote growth and ensure the stability of member banks
Which of the following occurred during T aft’s presidency?
A. He managed to unite a faction-ridden Republican party throughout his second term with his towering personality.
B. He opposed both the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments and actively delayed their becoming law.
C. He consistently catered to Big Business and had far fewer anti-trust suits than those prosecuted under Roosevelt.
D. Like Roosevelt, he appointed a conservationist and preserved more public lands in four years than Roosevelt had in nearly eight.
E. He regained Roosevelt’s trust while Roosevelt was away on safari through the selection of his cabinet.
D. Like Roosevelt, he appointed a conservationist and preserved more public lands in four years than Roosevelt had in nearly eight.
Who was Louis D. Brandeis?
A. the first Jewish member of the Supreme Court and a famed defender of unions
B. a famous leader of the conservative opposition to federal labor laws
C. Theodore Roosevelt’s vice-presidential running mate in 1912
D. the president of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company who worked closely with Wilson
E. the president of the Federal Farm Loan Board in the face of economic disaster
A. the first Jewish member of the Supreme Court and a famed defender of unions
Who was Frederick W. T aylor?
A. He was a harsh critic of industrialization in general and publicly lamented the rise of capitalism and the monotonous work it brought.
B. He championed the idea of “scientific management,” showing employers how to cut waste and improve productivity.
C. He was one of the leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, insisting that it needed the help and voices of strong and able men.
D. He was founder of the National Child Labor Committee and successfully brought about legislation that only permitted those over the age of eighteen to work.
E. He was a popular congressman who authored the bill on reclamation for the western states and was a champion of Prohibition.
B. He championed the idea of “scientific management,” showing employers how to cut waste and improve productivity.
Who formed the National Women’s Party and led a protest in front of Wilson’s White House for six months in 1917?
A. Jane Addams
B. Mary E. Lease
C. Carrie A. Nation
D. Alice Paul
E. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
D. Alice Paul
Which of the following was true of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act?
A. It was more lenient toward Big Business than was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
B. It outlawed price discrimination and exempted labor unions from anti-trust laws.
C. Labor union leaders originally opposed it.
D. Theodore Roosevelt considered it the crowning achievement of his administration.
E. It made it possible for corporate officials to be held responsible for violations.
B. It outlawed price discrimination and exempted labor unions from anti-trust laws.
What was Theodore Roosevelt’s position on the matter of environmental conservation?
A. He believed strongly that natural resources should be preserved, but felt that this was a matter for state, not federal, action.
B. He angered many conservationists by his appointment of Gifford Pinchot, a businessman with no experience in conservation, as head of the Division of Forestry.
C. He was passionately committed to environmental conservation and, as a result, created federal wildlife refuges and national parks.
D. He was worried about what limits placed on logging and mining opportunities would do to the economy and large industries and, thus, attacked promoters of conservation.
E. He had spent little time outdoors himself and remained indifferent on the issue of conservation, leaving the matter entirely up to Congress.
C. He was passionately committed to environmental conservation and, as a result, created federal wildlife refuges and national parks.
Ultimately, what event led to the end of the organized progressive movement in the United States?
A. the election of 1920
B. the Great War
C. the election of Eugene V. Debs as president
D. the backlash against the first federal income tax
E. the Great Depression
B. the Great War