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122-721: Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary The Oneida Community ( / oʊ ˈ n aɪ d ə / oh- NYE -də ) was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York . The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70 , making it possible for them to bring about Jesus's millennial kingdom themselves, and be perfect and free of sin in this world, not just in Heaven (a belief called perfectionism ). The Oneida Community practiced communalism (in

244-501: A "New Nationalism" with active supervision of corporations, higher taxes, and unemployment and old-age insurance. He supported voting rights for women but was silent on civil rights for blacks, who remained in the regular Republican fold. He lost and his new party collapsed, as conservatism dominated the GOP for decades to come. Biographer William Harbaugh argues: Woodrow Wilson gained a national reputation as governor of New Jersey by defeating

366-541: A blistering indictment of corruption in the US Senate. Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained they were not being helpful by raking up too much muck. The progressives were avid modernizers, with a belief in science and technology as the grand solution to society's flaws. They looked to education as the key to bridging the gap between their present wasteful society and technologically enlightened future society. Characteristics of progressivism included

488-478: A communal child care system and freedom from unwanted pregnancies with Oneida's male continence practice. In addition, they were able to wear functional, Bloomer -style clothing and maintain short haircuts. Women were able to participate in practically all types of community work. While domestic duties remained a primarily female responsibility, women were free to explore positions in business and sales, or as artisans or craftspersons, and many did so, particularly in

610-433: A favorable attitude toward urban–industrial society, belief in mankind's ability to improve the environment and conditions of life, belief in an obligation to intervene in economic and social affairs, a belief in the ability of experts and in the efficiency of government intervention. Scientific management, as promulgated by Frederick Winslow Taylor , became a watchword for industrial efficiency and elimination of waste, with

732-436: A heavy tax on the vitality of women". Noyes founded male continence to spare his wife, Harriet, from more difficult childbirths after five traumatizing births of which four led to the death of the child. They favored this method of male continence over other methods of birth control because they found it to be natural, healthy, and favorable for the development of intimate relationships. Women found increased sexual satisfaction in

854-450: A key element of the progressive outlook, as expressed in his Fourteen Points and the League of Nations —an ideal called Wilsonianism . New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes is known for exposing the insurance industry. During his time in office he promoted a range of reforms. As presidential candidate in 1916 he lost after alienating progressive California voters. As Associate Justice of

976-413: A minimal chance of conceiving. Furthermore, these women became religious role models for the young men. Likewise, older men often introduced young women to sex. Noyes often used his judgment in determining the partnerships that would form, and he would often encourage relationships between the non-devout and the devout in the community in the hope that the attitudes and behaviors of the devout would influence

1098-424: A national audience, and Governor Walter R. Stubbs . According to Gene Clanton's study of Kansas, populism and progressivism have a few similarities but different bases of support. Both opposed corruption and trusts. Populism emerged earlier and came out of the farm community. It was radically egalitarian in favor of the disadvantaged classes. It was weak in the towns and cities except in labor unions. Progressivism, on

1220-573: A network of local organizers loyal to him, and fought for control of the state Republican Party, with mixed success. The Democrats were a minor factor in the state, but he did form coalitions with the active Socialist Party in Milwaukee. He failed to win the nomination for governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the 1900 gubernatorial election . As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform. La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904. In 1905

1342-509: A parent and child were bonding too closely, the community would enforce a period of separation because the group wanted to stop the affection between parents and children. The Children's department had a male and female supervisor to look after children between ages two and twelve. The supervisors made sure the children followed the routine. Dressing, prayers, breakfast, work, school, lunch, work, playtime, supper, prayers, and study, which were "adjusted according to 'age and ability'." Stirpiculture

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1464-554: A public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act . In 1919, he published The Brass Check , a muck-raking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Four years after publication of The Brass Check , the first code of ethics for journalists

1586-416: A sincere desire to improve, and to rid himself of all selfish faults. The Oneida community enacted a system of male continence or coitus reservatus to control reproduction within it. John Humprey Noyes decided that sexual intercourse served two distinct purposes. In Male Continence , Noyes argues that the method simply "proposes the subordination of the flesh to the spirit, teaching men to seek principally

1708-418: A strong federal government. He promoted a strong army and navy and attacked pacifists who thought democracy at home and peace abroad was best served by keeping America weak. Croly was one of the founders of modern liberalism in the United States , especially through his books, essays and a highly influential magazine founded in 1914, The New Republic . In his 1914 book Progressive Democracy , Croly rejected

1830-598: A third party in the state. The third party fell apart in the 1930s, and totally collapsed by 1946. The Wisconsin Idea was the commitment of the University of Wisconsin under President Charles R. Van Hise , with LaFollette support, to use the university's powerful intellectual resources to develop practical progressive reforms for the state and indeed for the nation. Between 1901 and 1911, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created

1952-446: Is credited with coining – which was known as complex marriage, where any member was free to have sex with any other who consented. Possessiveness and exclusive relationships were frowned upon. Noyes developed a distinction between amative and propagative love. Complex marriage meant that everyone in the community was married to everyone else. All men and women were expected to have sexual relations and did. The basis for complex marriage

2074-703: Is in the situation of one who is by and by to become a father. Under these circumstances, he has fallen under the too common temptation of selfish love, and a desire to wait upon and cultivate an exclusive intimacy with the woman who was to bear a child through him. This is an insidious temptation, very apt to attack people under such circumstances; but it must nevertheless be struggled against." Charles, he went on to say, had come to him for advice in this case, and he (Noyes) had at first refused to tell him any thing, but had asked him what he thought he ought to do; that after some conversation, Charles had determined, and he agreed with him, that he ought to isolate himself entirely from

2196-561: The Nineteenth Amendment until 1971, Progressive reformers like Gertrude Weil and Dr. Elizabeth Delia Dixon Carroll lobbied for woman suffrage . Following the Wilmington massacre , North Carolina imposed strict legal segregation and rewrote its constitution in order to disfranchise Black men through poll taxes and literacy tests. In the Black community, Charlotte Hawkins Brown built

2318-666: The Palmer Memorial Institute to provide a liberal arts education to Black children and promote excellence and leadership. Brown worked with Booker T. Washington (in his role with the National Negro Business League ), who provided ideas and access to Northern philanthropy. Apart from Wisconsin, the Midwestern states were about average in supporting Progressive reforms. Ohio took the lead in municipal reform. The negative effects of industrialization triggered

2440-662: The Panama Canal . He expanded the army and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to broker the end of the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He avoided controversial tariff and money issues. He was elected to a full term in 1904 and continued to promote progressive policies, some of which were passed in Congress. By 1906 he

2562-483: The Pure Food and Drug Act . The journalists who specialized in exposing waste, corruption, and scandal operated at the state and local level, like Ray Stannard Baker , George Creel , and Brand Whitlock . Others such as Lincoln Steffens exposed political corruption in many large cities; Ida Tarbell is famed for her criticisms of John D. Rockefeller 's Standard Oil Company . In 1906, David Graham Phillips unleashed

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2684-572: The USS Columbus (1819) , which was engaged in first attempts at opening up Japan to the U.S.A, and in establishing full diplomatic relations with China. After his Navy service, he remained at sea from 1847 in the merchant service , and then whaling, mackerel fishery ships until 1854 (aged 24). From 1853 to 1857, he worked in various newspaper offices, first in Philadelphia, then in Indianapolis . He

2806-524: The "community chest" movement. The American Red Cross was reorganized and professionalized. Several major foundations aided the blacks in the South and were typically advised by Booker T. Washington . By contrast, Europe and Asia had few foundations. This allowed both Carnegie and Rockefeller to operate internationally with a powerful effect. A hallmark group of the Progressive Era, the middle class became

2928-544: The 1895 case of United States v. E. C. Knight Co. As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he took a moderate middle position and upheld key New Deal laws. Gifford Pinchot was an American forester and politician. Pinchot served as the first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until 1910 and was the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania , serving from 1923 to 1927, and again from 1931 to 1935. He

3050-492: The 19th and 20th centuries. The Mansion House also houses residential apartments, overnight guest rooms, and meeting spaces. 43°3′37.28″N 75°36′18.63″W  /  43.0603556°N 75.6051750°W  / 43.0603556; -75.6051750 Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1901–1929) was a period in the United States during the early 20th century of widespread social activism and political reform across

3172-466: The Hubbard family to report their daughter's insanity, and both parents were appalled by Seymour's physical violence. On September 27, 1851, Noahdiah Hubbard lodged assault and battery charges on behalf of his daughter. Seymour was indicted, and other community members were served arrest warrants as accessories. The case was settled on November 26, 1851. The community agreed to Tryphena's expenses while she

3294-503: The Oneida Community have been published since the commune dissolved itself. Among those are: The Oneida Community: An Autobiography, 1851–1876 and The Oneida Community: The Breakup, 1876–1881 , both by Constance Noyes Robertson; Desire and Duty at Oneida: Tirzah Miller's Intimate Memoir and Special Love/Special Sex: An Oneida Community Diary , both by Robert S. Fogarty; Without Sin by Spencer Klaw; Oneida, From Free Love Utopia to

3416-872: The People's Power League. The group led efforts in Oregon to establish an initiative and referendum system, allowing direct legislation by the state's citizens. In 1902, the Oregon Legislative Assembly approved such a system, which was known at the time as the " Oregon System ". The group's further efforts led to successful ballot initiatives implementing a direct primary system in 1904, and allowing citizens to directly recall public officials in 1908. Democrats who promoted progressive policies included George Earle Chamberlain (governor 1903–1909 and senator 1909–1921); Oswald West (governor 1911–1915); and Harry Lane (senator 1913–1917). The most important Republican

3538-589: The Republican Party and if frustrated trying third-party activity especially in 1924 and the 1930s. Secondly the Wisconsin idea , of intellectuals and planners based at the University of Wisconsin shaping government policy. LaFollette started as a traditional Republican in the 1890s, where he fought against populism and other radical movements. He broke decisively with the state Republican leadership, and took control of

3660-520: The Supreme Court, he often sided with Oliver Wendell Holmes in upholding popular reforms such as the minimum wage, workmen's compensation, and maximum work hours for women and children. He also wrote several opinions upholding the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause . His majority opinion in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad v. Interstate Commerce Commission upheld

3782-589: The Wallingford branch, which operated until the 1878 tornado devastated it. The Oneida Community dissolved in 1881, converting itself to a joint-stock company. This eventually became the silverware company Oneida Limited , one of the largest in the world. Even though the community only reached a maximum population of about 300, it had a complex bureaucracy of 27 standing committees and 48 administrative sections. All community members were expected to work, each according to their abilities. Women tended to do many of

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3904-532: The Well-Set Table by Ellen Wayland-Smith; and biographical/autobiographic accounts by once-members including Jessie Catherine Kinsley , Corinna Ackley Noyes, George Wallingford Noyes, and Pierrepont B. Noyes. An account of the Oneida Community is found in Sarah Vowell 's book Assassination Vacation . It discusses the community in general and the membership of Charles J. Guiteau , for more than five years, in

4026-510: The West. He called for government ownership of railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, stronger laws to help labor unions, and protections for civil liberties. La Follette won 17% of the popular vote and carried only his home state in the face of a Republican landslide. After his death in 1925 his sons, Robert M. La Follette Jr. and Philip La Follette , succeeded him as progressive leaders in Wisconsin. President Theodore Roosevelt

4148-497: The accusations multiplied, his face grew paler, and drops of perspiration began to stand on his forehead. The remarks I have reported took up about half an hour; and now, each one in the circle having spoken, Mr. Noyes summed up. He said that Charles had some serious faults; that he had watched him with some care; and that he thought the young man was earnestly trying to cure himself. He spoke in general praise of his ability, his good character, and of certain temptations he had resisted in

4270-399: The area, with approximately 200 employees by 1870. Secondary industries included manufacturing leather travel bags, weaving palm frond hats, construction of rustic garden furniture, game traps, and tourism. Silverware manufacturing began in 1877, relatively late in the community's life, and still exists. The Oneida community strongly believed in a system of free love – a term which Noyes

4392-423: The attitudes of the non-devout. In 1993, the community archives were made available to scholars for the first time. Contained within the archives was the journal of Tirzah Miller, Noyes' niece, who wrote extensively about her romantic and sexual relations with other members of Oneida. Every member of the community was subject to criticism by a committee or the community as a whole during a general meeting. The goal

4514-672: The beginning of 2005, ending a 124-year tradition. The company continues to design and market products that are manufactured overseas. The company has been selling off its manufacturing facilities. Most recently, the distribution center in Sherrill, New York , was closed. Administrative offices remain in the Oneida area. The last original member of the community, Ella Florence Underwood (1850–1950), died on June 25, 1950, in Kenwood, New York , near Oneida, New York . Many histories and first-person accounts of

4636-907: The beginning of the age of mass media, the rapid expansion of national advertising led the cover price of popular magazines to fall sharply to about 10 cents, lessening the financial barrier to consume them. Another factor contributing to the dramatic upswing in magazine circulation was the prominent coverage of corruption in politics, local government, and big business, particularly by journalists and writers who became known as muckrakers . They wrote for popular magazines to expose social and political sins and shortcomings. Relying on their own investigative journalism , muckrakers often worked to expose social ills and corporate and political corruption . Muckraking magazines, notably McClure's , took on corporate monopolies and political machines while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues like child labor . Most of

4758-441: The bosses and pushing through a progressive agenda. As president he introduced a comprehensive program of domestic legislation. He had four major domestic priorities: the conservation of natural resources, banking reform, tariff reduction , and opening access to raw materials by breaking up Western mining trusts. Though foreign affairs would unexpectedly dominate his presidency, Wilson's first two years in office largely focused on

4880-525: The campaign for inclusion of the initiative and referendum in the state's constitution. The League sent questionnaires to prospective candidates to the state legislature to obtain their stance on direct legislation and to make those positions public. It then flooded the state with letters seeking new members, money, and endorsements from organizations like the State Federation of Labor. As membership grew it worked with other private organizations to petition

5002-400: The cause of prohibition, leading North Carolina to become the first southern state to implement statewide prohibition . Progressives worked to limit child labor in textile mills and supported public health campaigns to eradicate hookworm and other debilitating diseases. While the majority of North Carolininans continued to support traditional gender roles, and state legislators did not ratify

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5124-402: The church" and "excess egotism amounting to insanity." There was marriage before the community attempted perfectionism, and Tryphena's husband's supervision over her was increased along with the "disciplinary norms of the day, physical punishment." In September 1851, Tryphena began displaying signs of mental illness, "crying at night, speaking incoherently, and wandering around." Seymour went to

5246-490: The citizens who are most vulnerable and deprived. In the south, prohibition was high on the agenda but controversial. Jim Crow and disenfranchisement of Black voters was even higher on the agenda. In the Western states, woman suffrage was a success story, but racist anti-Asian sentiment also prevailed. The Oregon Direct Legislation League was an organization of political activists founded by William S. U'Ren in 1898. Oregon

5368-547: The community and became the group's first local convert. Tryphena Hubbard soon married Henry Seymour, a young man in the community. Early in 1849, Tryphena's father, Noahdiah Hubbard, learned of the Association's open marriages and demanded his daughter's return. Tryphena refused, and for two years, Noahdiah "made a sulking nuisance of himself at the Mansion House." An 1850 criticism of Tryphena mentioned her "insubordination to

5490-614: The community's beginning in the 1850s until the 1870s, their interactions with broader society were mostly favorable. These are the best-known instances of conflict and peace resolution. In 1870, a "nineteenth century cultural critic" Dr. John B. Ellis wrote a book against Free Love communities that Noyes inspired, including " Individual Sovereigns , Berlin Heights Free Lovers, Spiritualists , Advocates of Woman Suffrage , or Friends of Free Divorce ". He saw their joint goal to be ending marriage. Dr. Ellis described this as an attack on

5612-545: The community's establishment in 1848, and the existing Mansion House has been inhabited since 1862. Today, the Oneida Community Mansion House is a non-profit educational organization chartered by the State of New York. It welcomes visitors throughout the year with guided tours, programs, and exhibits. It preserves, collects, and interprets the intangible and material culture of the Oneida Community and related themes of

5734-642: The community. (Guiteau later assassinated President James A. Garfield .) The perfectionist community in David Flusfeder 's novel Pagan House (2007) is directly inspired by the Oneida Community. There is a residential building called "Oneida" at the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia . Twin Oaks, an intentional community , names its buildings after defunct intentional communities. The Oneida Community Mansion House

5856-482: The conservation of forests high on America's priority list. Herbert Croly was an intellectual leader of the movement as an editor, political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine The New Republic . His political philosophy influenced many leading progressives including Theodore Roosevelt, Adolph Berle , as well as his close friends Judge Learned Hand and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter . Croly's 1909 book The Promise of American Life looked to

5978-523: The conservatives (called "Stalwarts") to elect Emanuel Philipp as governor in 1914. The Stalwart counterattack said the Progressives were too haughty, too beholden to experts, too eager to regulate, and too expensive. Economy and budget cutting was their formula. The progressive Wisconsin Idea promoted the use of the University of Wisconsin faculty as intellectual resources for state government, and as guides for local government. It promoted expansion of

6100-427: The constitutional liberalism as espoused by Alexander Hamilton , combined with the radical democracy of Thomas Jefferson . The book influenced contemporaneous progressive thought, shaping the ideas of many intellectuals and political leaders, including then ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. Calling themselves "The New Nationalists", Croly and Walter Weyl sought to remedy the relatively weak national institutions with

6222-465: The construction of a new wing of the Oneida Community Mansion House. The experiment yielded 58 children, nine of whom were fathered by Noyes. Once children were weaned (usually at around the age of one), they were raised communally in the Children's Wing, or South Wing. Their parents were allowed to visit, but the children's department held jurisdiction over raising the offspring. If the department suspected

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6344-522: The country. Progressives sought to address the problems caused by rapid industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption as well as the enormous concentration of industrial ownership in monopolies. Progressive reformers were alarmed by the spread of slums, poverty, and the exploitation of labor. Multiple overlapping progressive movements fought perceived social, political, and economic ills by advancing good democracy, scientific methods, and professionalism; regulating business; protecting

6466-401: The course of his life. He thought he saw signs that Charles was making a real and earnest attempt to conquer his faults; and as one evidence of this, he remarked that Charles had lately come to him to consult him upon a difficult case in which he had had a severe struggle, but had in the end succeeded in doing right. "In the course of what we call stirpiculture", said Noyes, "Charles, as you know,

6588-409: The domestic duties. Although more skilled jobs tended to remain with an individual member (the financial manager, for example, held his post throughout the life of the community), community members rotated through the more unskilled jobs, working in the house, the fields, or the various industries. As Oneida thrived, it also began to hire outsiders to work in these positions. They were a major employer in

6710-524: The driving force behind much of the thought and reform that took place in this time. With an increasing disdain for the upper class and aristocracy of the time, the middle class is characterized by their rejection of the individualistic philosophy of the Upper Ten . They had a rapidly growing interest in the communication and role between classes, those of which are generally referred to as the upper class, working class, farmers, and themselves. Along these lines,

6832-413: The early 20th century, American philanthropy matured, with the development of very large, highly visible private foundations created by Rockefeller and Carnegie. The largest foundations fostered modern, efficient, business-oriented operations (as opposed to "charity") designed to better society rather than merely enhance the status of the giver. Close ties were built with the local business community, as in

6954-675: The elevated spiritual pleasures of sexual connection". The primary purpose of male continence was social satisfaction, "to allow the sexes to communicate and express affection for one another". The second purpose was procreation. Of around two hundred adults using male continence as birth control, there were twelve unplanned births within Oneida between 1848 and 1868, indicating that it was a highly effective form of birth control. Young men were introduced to male continence by post-menopausal women, and experienced, older males introduced young women. Noyes believed that ejaculation "drained men's vitality and led to disease" and pregnancy and childbirth "levied

7076-406: The founder of Hull-House , Jane Addams , coined the term "association" as a counter to Individualism , with association referring to the search for a relationship between the classes. Additionally, the middle class (most notably women) began to move away from prior Victorian era domestic values. Divorce rates increased as women preferred to seek education and freedom from the home. Victorianism

7198-564: The founder of the social work profession in the United States. Maurice Hamington considered her a radical pragmatist and the first woman "public philosopher" in the United States. In the 1930s, she was the best-known female public figure in the United States. According to James Wright, the typical progressive agenda at the state level included: A reduction of corporate influence, open processes of government and politics, equity entrance in taxation, efficiency in government mental operation, and an expanded, albeit limited, state responsibility to

7320-439: The highest selling books of the late 1800s. It helped spark the Progressive Era and a worldwide social reform movement around an ideology now known as Georgism . Jacob Riis , for example, explicitly marks the beginning of the Progressive Era awakening as 1879 because of the date of this publication. Magazines experienced a boost in popularity in 1900, with some attaining circulations in the hundreds of thousands of subscribers. In

7442-454: The implementation of his New Freedom domestic agenda. Wilson presided over the passage of his progressive New Freedom domestic agenda. His first major priority was the passage of the Revenue Act of 1913 , which lowered tariffs and implemented a federal income tax . Later tax acts implemented a federal estate tax and raised the top income tax rate to 77 percent. Wilson also presided over

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7564-458: The initiative would give political power to the working class and reduce the need for strikes. Sullivan's book was first widely read on the left, as by labor activists, socialists and populists. William U'Ren was an early convert who used it to build the Oregon reform crusade. By 1900, middle-class "progressive" reformers everywhere were studying it. Progress and Poverty , Henry George 's first book, sold several million copies, becoming one of

7686-557: The key role. The Stalwarts counterattacked by arguing if the university became embedded in the state, then its internal affairs became fair game, especially the faculty preference for advanced research over undergraduate teaching. The Stalwarts controlled the Regents, and their interference in academic freedom outraged the faculty. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner , the most famous professor, quit and went to Harvard. State leaders in reform included editor William Allen White , who reached

7808-532: The large German and Scandinavian elements which demanded neutrality in the World War I. He finally ran an independent campaign for president in 1924 that appealed to the German Americans, labor unions, socialists, and more radical reformers. He won 1/6 of the national vote, but carried only his home state. After his death in 1925 his two sons took over the party. They serve terms as governor and senator and set up

7930-460: The late 1860s and early 1870s. Last, women actively shaped commune policy, participating in the daily religious and business meetings. The complex marriage and free love systems practiced at Oneida further acknowledged female status. Through the complex marriage arrangement, women and men had equal freedom in sexual expression and commitment. Indeed, sexual practices at Oneida accepted female sexuality. A woman's right to satisfying sexual experiences

8052-527: The legislature elected him to the United States Senate, where he emerged as a national progressive leader, often clashing with conservatives like Senator Nelson Aldrich . He initially supported President Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in tariff rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1912 presidential election , but his candidacy

8174-601: The most famous leader of Midwestern progressivism, began his career by winning election against his state's Republican party in 1900. The machine was temporarily defeated, allowing reformers to launch the " Wisconsin idea " of expanded democracy. This idea included major reforms such as direct primaries, campaign finance, civil service, anti-lobbying laws, state income and inheritance taxes, child labor restrictions, pure food, and workmen's compensation laws. La Follette promoted government regulation of railroads, public utilities, factories, and banks. Although La Follette lost influence in

8296-406: The movement operated chiefly at the local level, but later it expanded to the state and national levels. Progressive leaders were often from the educated middle class, and various progressive reform efforts drew support from lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers, business people, and the working class. Certain key groups of thinkers, writers, and activists played key roles in creating or building

8418-582: The movements and ideas that came to define the shape of the Progressive Era. Inspiration for the initiative movement was based on the Swiss experience. New Jersey labor activist James W. Sullivan visited Switzerland in 1888 and wrote a detailed book that became a template for reformers pushing the idea: Direct Legislation by the Citizenship Through the Initiative and Referendum (1893). He suggested that using

8540-475: The muckrakers wrote nonfiction, but fictional exposés often had a major impact as well, such as those by Upton Sinclair . In his 1906 novel The Jungle , Sinclair exposed the unsanitary and inhumane practices of the meatpacking industry, as he made clear in the Jungle itself. He quipped, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach," as readers demanded and got the Meat Inspection Act and

8662-405: The nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax , making taxation proportional to actual earnings. The key leaders were Robert M. La Follette and (in 1910) Governor Francis E. McGovern . However, in 1912 McGovern supported Roosevelt for president and LaFollette was outraged. He made sure

8784-490: The national party in 1912, the Wisconsin reforms became a model for national progressivism. Wisconsin from 1900 to the late 1930s was a regional and national model for innovation and organization in the progressive movement. The direct primary made it possible to mobilize voters against the previously dominant political machines. The first factors involved the La Follette family going back and forth between trying to control of

8906-403: The natural environment; and improving working and living conditions of the urban poor. Corrupt and undemocratic political machines and their bosses were a major target of progressive reformers. To revitalize democracy, progressives established direct primary elections , direct election of senators (rather than by state legislatures), initiatives and referenda , and women's suffrage which

9028-511: The next legislature defeated the governor's programs, and that McGovern was defeated in his bid for the Senate in 1914. The Progressive movement split into hostile factions. Some was based on personalities—especially La Follette's style of violent personal attacks against other Progressives, and some was based on who should pay, with the division between farmers (who paid property taxes) and the urban element (which paid income taxes). This disarray enabled

9150-473: The other hand, was a later movement. It emerged after the 1890s from the urban business and professional communities. Most of its activists had opposed populism. It was elitist, and emphasized education and expertise. Its goals were to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and enlarge the opportunities for upward social mobility. However, some former Populists changed their emphasis after 1900 and supported progressive reforms. Charles Nordhoff (journalist) He

9272-624: The party by 1900, all the time quarreling endlessly with ex-allies. The Democrats were a minor conservative factor in Wisconsin. The Socialists, with a strong German and union base in Milwaukee, joined the progressives in statewide politics. Senator Robert M. La Follette tried to use his national reputation to challenge President Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912. However, as soon as Roosevelt declared his candidacy, most of La Follette's supporters switched away. La Follette supported many of his Wilson's domestic programs in Congress. However he strongly opposed Wilson's foreign policy, and mobilized

9394-671: The passage of the Federal Reserve Act , which created a central banking system in the form of the Federal Reserve System . Two major laws, the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act , were passed to regulate business and prevent monopolies. Wilson did not support civil rights and did not object to accelerating segregate of federal employees. In World War I, he made internationalism

9516-767: The political movement of progressivism, which aimed to address its negative consequences through social reform and government regulation. Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr pioneered the settlement house outreach to newly arrived immigrants by establishing Hull House in Chicago in 1889. Settlement houses provided social services and played an active role in civic life, helping immigrants prepare for naturalization and campaigning for regulation and services from city government. Midwestern mayors—especially Hazen S. Pingree and Tom L. Johnson , led early reforms against boss-dominated municipal politics, while Samuel M. Jones advocated public ownership of local utilities. Robert M. La Follette ,

9638-549: The practice, and Oneida is regarded as highly unusual in the value they placed on women's sexual satisfaction. If a male failed, he faced public disapproval or private rejection. It is unclear whether the practice of male continence led to significant problems. Sociologist Lawrence Foster sees hints in Noyes' letters indicating that masturbation and anti-social withdrawal from community life may have been issues. Oneida's practice of male continence did not lead to impotence . Stirpiculture

9760-426: The prevailing moral order. Historian Gayle Fischer mentions that Dr. Ellis also criticized Oneida women's clothing as "healthful' uniforms did not rid Oneida women of their 'peculiar air of unhealthiness' — brought on by "sexual excess." Noyes responded to Ellis' criticism four years later in a pamphlet, Dixon and His Copytists , where he claimed that Dr. John B. Ellis is a pseudonym for a "literary gentleman living in

9882-579: The right of the federal government to regulate the hours of railroad workers. His majority opinion in the 1914 Shreveport Rate Case upheld a decision by the Interstate Commerce Commission to void discriminatory railroad rates imposed by the Railroad Commission of Texas . The decision established that the federal government could regulate intrastate commerce when it affected interstate commerce, though Hughes avoided directly overruling

10004-482: The sense of communal property and possessions), group marriage , male sexual continence , Oneida stirpiculture (a form of eugenics), and mutual criticism. The community's original 87 members grew to 172 by February 1850, 208 by 1852, and 306 by 1878. There were smaller Noyesian communities in Wallingford, Connecticut ; Newark, New Jersey ; Putney and Cambridge, Vermont . The branches were closed in 1854 except for

10126-586: The state legislature, which was not responsive. In 1902 the League won a state constitutional amendment establishing direct democracy at the local level, and in 1904, it successfully engineered the recall of the first public official. Progressivism was strongest in the cities, but the South was rural with few large cities. Nevertheless, statewide progressive movements were organized by Democrats in every Southern state. Furthermore, Southern Democrats in Congress gave strong support to President Wilson's reforms. The South

10248-514: The state university system and improvements in transportation, which earned it the nickname "The Good Roads State." State leaders included Governor Charles B. Aycock , who led both the educational and the white supremacy crusades; diplomat Walter Hines Page ; and educator Charles Duncan McIver . Women were especially active through the WCTU , the Baptist church, overseas missions, local public schools, and in

10370-470: The stopwatch as its symbol. The number of rich families climbed exponentially, from 100 or so millionaires in the 1870s to 4,000 in 1892 and 16,000 in 1916. Many subscribed to Andrew Carnegie 's credo outlined in The Gospel of Wealth that said they owed a duty to society that called for philanthropic giving to colleges, hospitals, medical research, libraries, museums, religion, and social betterment. In

10492-409: The term conservation ethic as applied to natural resources. Pinchot's main contribution was his leadership in promoting scientific forestry and emphasizing the controlled, profitable use of forests and other natural resources so they would be of maximum benefit to mankind. He was the first to demonstrate the practicality and profitability of managing forests for continuous cropping. His leadership put

10614-709: The thesis that the liberal tradition in the United States was inhospitable to anti-capitalist alternatives. He drew from the American past a history of resistance to capitalist wage relations that was fundamentally liberal, and he reclaimed an idea that progressives had allowed to lapse—that working for wages was a lesser form of liberty. Increasingly skeptical of the capacity of social welfare legislation to remedy social ills, Croly argued that America's liberal promise could be redeemed only by syndicalist reforms involving workplace democracy . His liberal goals were part of his commitment to American republicanism . Upton Sinclair

10736-551: The university through the UW-Extension system to reach all the state's farming communities. University economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves enabled Wisconsin to create the first unemployment compensation program in the United States in 1932. Other Wisconsin Idea scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's Social Security Act of 1935, with Wisconsin expert Arthur J. Altmeyer playing

10858-522: The upper part of the city." Noyes argued that AMS press employed the writer after they read a Philadelphia paper article on the community and saw a chance to profit off sensationalist writing. In Anthony Wonderly's Oneida Utopia , he covers the 1848–1851 Hubbard affair as a moment where a legal conflict almost ended the group, which was only a mere "Association" at the time. Twenty-one-year-old Tryphena Hubbard learned Noyes' ideas about marriage and sex through his manuscript Bible Argument in 1848. She joined

10980-424: The woman, and let another man take his place at her side; and this Charles had accordingly done, with a most praiseworthy spirit of selfsacrifice. Charles had indeed still further taken up his cross, as he had noticed with pleasure, by going to sleep with the smaller children, to take charge of them during the night. Taking all this in view, he thought Charles was in a fair way to become a better man, and had manifested

11102-523: Was Jonathan Bourne Jr. (senator 1907–1913 and national leader of progressive causes 1911–1912). California built the most successful grass roots progressive movement in the country by mobilizing independent organizations and largely ignoring the conservative state parties. The system continues strong into the 21st century. Following the Oregon model, John Randolph Haynes organized the Direct Legislation League of California in 1902 to launch

11224-503: Was a leader of the Progressive movement, and he championed his " Square Deal " domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. He made conservation a top priority and established many new national parks , forests , and monuments intended to preserve the nation's natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America where he began construction of

11346-565: Was a main target of Northern philanthropy designed to fight poverty and disease, and help the black community. Booker T. Washington of the National Negro Business League mobilized small black-owned business and secured access to Northern philanthropy. Across the South the General Education Board (funded by the Rockefeller family ) provided large-scale subsidies for black schools, which otherwise continued to be underfunded. The South

11468-540: Was a member of the Republican Party for most of his life, though he also joined the Progressive Party for a brief period. Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. He called it "the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man." Pinchot coined

11590-532: Was a notable figure in the history of social work and women's suffrage in the United States and an advocate of world peace . She co-founded Chicago's Hull House , one of America's most famous settlement houses. In 1920, she was a co-founder for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In 1931, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize , and is recognized as

11712-419: Was a proto- eugenics program of selective controlled reproduction within the community devised by Noyes and implemented in 1869. It was designed to create more spiritually and physically perfect children. Community members who wished to be parents would go before a committee to be approved and matched based on their spiritual and moral qualities. 53 women and 38 men participated in this program, which necessitated

11834-501: Was abandoned in 1879 following external pressures, and the community soon broke apart, with some of the members reorganizing as a joint-stock company . Marital partners normalized their status with the partners with whom they were cohabiting at the time of the re-organization. Over 70 Community members entered into a traditional marriage in the following year. During the early 20th century, the new company, Oneida Community Limited , narrowed its focus to silverware. The animal trap business

11956-431: Was also much debate about its practices as a whole. The founding members were aging or deceased, and many younger communitarians desired to enter into exclusive, traditional marriages. The capstone to all these pressures was the campaign by Professor John Mears of Hamilton College against the community. He called for a protest meeting against the Oneida Community, attended by forty-seven clergy members. John Humphrey Noyes

12078-458: Was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muck-raking novel The Jungle , which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry , causing

12200-636: Was another investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers . He launched a series of articles in McClure's , called Tweed Days in St. Louis , that would later be published together in a book titled The Shame of the Cities . He is remembered for investigating corruption in municipal government in American cities and leftist values. Jane Addams was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist , public administrator and author. She

12322-564: Was born in Erwitte , Kingdom of Prussia , in 1830, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1835. He was educated in Cincinnati , and apprenticed to a printer in 1843. In 1844, he went to Philadelphia where he worked for a short time in a newspaper office. He then joined the United States Navy in 1845 (aged 15), where he served three years and made a voyage around the world in

12444-407: Was bringing to bear scientific, medical, and engineering solutions to reform government and education and foster improvements in various fields including medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, and churches. They aimed to professionalize the social sciences, especially history, economics, and political science and improve efficiency with scientific management or Taylorism. Initially,

12566-528: Was created. Ida Tarbell , a writer and lecturer, was one of the leading muckrakers and pioneered investigative journalism . Tarbell is best known for her 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company . The book was published as a series of articles in McClure's Magazine from 1902 to 1904. The work helped turn elite public opinion against the Standard Oil monopoly. Lincoln Steffens

12688-418: Was in the asylum and after her release $ 125 a year if she was well and $ 200 a year if she remained unwell. The Hubbards eventually accepted a $ 350 settlement in lieu of long-term payments. Tryphena Hubbard eventually returned to Henry Seymour and had a child by him. She died at the age of 49 in 1877. The community lasted until John Humphrey Noyes attempted to pass leadership to his son, Theodore Noyes. This move

12810-403: Was informed by trusted adviser Myron Kinsley that a warrant for his arrest on charges of statutory rape was imminent. Noyes fled the Oneida Community Mansion House and the country in the middle of a June night in 1879, never to return to the United States. Shortly afterward, he wrote to his followers from Niagara Falls, Ontario , recommending that complex marriage be abandoned. Complex marriage

12932-483: Was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and the principal surviving material culture of the Oneida Community consists of those landmarked buildings, object collections, and landscape. The five buildings of the Mansion House , separately designed by Erastus Hamilton, Lewis W. Leeds, and Theodore Skinner, comprise 93,000-square-foot (8,600 m) on a 33-acre site. This site has been continuously occupied since

13054-474: Was moving to the left, advocating some social welfare programs, and criticizing various business practices such as trusts. The leadership of the GOP in Congress moved to the right, as did his protégé President William Howard Taft. Roosevelt broke bitterly with Taft in 1910, and also with Wisconsin's progressive leader Robert M. La Follette . Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 Republican nomination and Roosevelt set up an entirely new Progressive Party. It called for

13176-573: Was one of the few states where former Populists like U'Ren became progressive leaders. U'Ren had been inspired by reading the influential 1893 book Direct Legislation Through the Initiative and Referendum , and the group's founding followed in the wake of the 1896 founding of the National Direct Legislation League, which itself had its roots in the Direct Legislation League of New Jersey and its short-lived predecessor,

13298-594: Was overshadowed by Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt, and especially his suicidal ranting speech before media leaders in February 1912, alienated many progressives. La Follette forfeited his stature as a national leader of progressive Republicans, while remaining a power in Wisconsin. La Follette supported some of President Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy, thereby gaining support from Wisconsin's large German and Scandinavian elements. During World War I, La Follette

13420-532: Was promoted to advance democracy and bring the presumed moral influence of women into politics. For many progressives, prohibition of alcoholic beverages was key to eliminating corruption in politics as well as improving social conditions. Another target were monopolies , which progressives worked to regulate through trustbusting and antitrust laws with the goal of promoting fair competition. Progressives also advocated new government agencies focused on regulation of industry. An additional goal of progressives

13542-574: Was published in 2017. He was the father of Walter Nordhoff (1855-1937), author of The Journey of the Flame , penned under the name "Antonio de Fierro Blanco", and of Evelyn Hunter Nordhoff (ca. 1865–1898), America's first female bookbinder and printmaker. He was the grandfather of Charles Bernard Nordhoff , co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty . Nordhoff High School in Ojai, California and Nordhoff Street in

13664-408: Was pushed aside by the rise of progressivism. Robert M. La Follette and his family were the dominant forces of progressivism in Wisconsin from the late 1890s to the early 1940s. He tried for a national leadership role in 1912 but blundered badly in a highly embarrassing speech to leading journalists. Starting as a loyal organizational Republican, he broke with the bosses in the late 1890s, built up

13786-664: Was recognized, and women were encouraged to have orgasms. However, a woman's right to refuse a sexual overture was limited depending on the status of the man who made the advance. Ellen Wayland-Smith, the author of "The Status and Self-Perception of Women in the Oneida Community", said that men and women had roughly equal status in the community. She points out that while both sexes were ultimately subject to Noyes' vision and will, women did not suffer undue oppression. The community experienced freedom from wider society. The previously mentioned unorthodox marital, sexual, and religious practices caused them to face some criticism. However, between

13908-468: Was sex for the purpose of having children; amative love was sex for the purpose of expressing love. The difference was what Noyes called " male continence ", in which the male partner avoided ejaculation. Noyes argued that this practice not only kept them from producing unwanted children but also taught the male considerable self-control. The system worked very well. Women over 40 were to act as sexual "mentors" to adolescent boys because these relationships had

14030-422: Was sold in 1912, the silk business in 1916, and the canning was discontinued as unprofitable in 1915. In 1947, embarrassed by their progenitor's legacy, Noyes' descendants burned the group's records. The joint-stock corporation still exists and is a major producer of cutlery under the brand name "Oneida Limited". In September 2004, Oneida Limited announced that it would cease all U.S. manufacturing operations at

14152-483: Was targeted in the 1920s and 1930s by the Julius Rosenwald Fund , which contributed matching funds to local communities for the construction of thousands of schools for African Americans in rural areas throughout the South. Black parents donated land and labor to build improved schools for their children. North Carolina took a leadership role in modernizing the south, notably in expansion of public education and

14274-481: Was the Pauline passage about there being no marriage in heaven meant that there should be no marriage on earth, but that no marriage did not mean no sex. But sex meant children; not only could the community not afford children in the early years, the women were not enthusiastic about a regime that would have kept them pregnant most of the time. They developed a distinction between amative and propagative love. Propagative love

14396-476: Was the first positive eugenics experiment in the United States, although it was not recognized as such because of the religious framework from which it emerged. Oneida embodied one of the most radical and institutional efforts to change women's roles and improve female status in 19th-century America. Women gained some freedoms in the commune that they could not get on the outside. Some of these privileges included not having to care for their own children as Oneida had

14518-479: Was the most outspoken opponent of the administration's domestic and international policies. With the major parties each nominating conservative candidates in the 1924 presidential election , left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's third-party candidacy. With the support of the Socialist Party , farmer's groups, labor unions, and others, La Follette was strong in Wisconsin, and to a much lesser extent in

14640-785: Was then employed editorially by Harpers in 1857 until 1861, when he went to work the next ten years on the staff of the New York Evening Post , 1861-1871, and he later contributed to the New York Tribune . From 1871 to 1873 Nordhoff traveled in California and visited Hawaii . He then became Washington correspondent of the New York Herald 1874-1890. Nordhoff died in San Francisco, California . The Valley of Cross Purposes , an extensive biography by Carol Frost, PhD,

14762-418: Was to eliminate undesirable character traits. Various contemporary sources contend that Noyes himself was the subject of criticism, although less often and of probably less severe criticism than the rest of the community. Charles Nordhoff said he had witnessed the criticism of a member he referred to as "Charles", writing the following account of the incident: Charles sat speechless, looking before him; but as

14884-470: Was unsuccessful because Theodore was an agnostic and lacked his father's talent for leadership. The move also divided the community, as Communitarian James W. Towner attempted to wrest control for himself. Towner and a breakaway group eventually moved to California, where they convinced the government to create a new municipality for them, Orange County . Within the commune, there was a debate about when children should be initiated into sex and by whom. There

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