The Progressive Era
kernals12
Banned
June 21-23, 1904 Chicago, Illinois, United States
The Republicans hold their convention. The extremely popular William Jennings Bryan has decided, as is custom, to not run for a 3rd term. That's a very lucky break for the GOP, also lucky is their swashbuckling nominee, Governor Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt of New York. Roosevelt intends to build a coalition through a combination of nativism to assuange the traditional WASP Republican base with reforms to win over traditionally Democratic voters. He calls for making it easier to change the constitution by eliminating the requirement for state ratification, he also calls for women's suffrage, direct election of both senators and presidents, and term limits for Supreme Court justices. Roosevelt also pledged to leave in place all of Bryan's reforms with the exception of tariffs which he wants to raise so as to protect American industry.
November 8, 1904
Roosevelt defeats Vice President Sewall. The Republicans are back in power after an 8 year hiatus. Progressives in all 3 parties: Republican, Democratic, and Populist easily are in control in both Washington and the states.
March 4, 1905 Washington DC
Roosevelt is inaugurated. He says that government needs to change to address the peoples' increasing demands for democracy and justice.
May 10, 1905
Congress passes the 17th Amendment to the constitution, eliminating the requirement for state legislatures to ratify changes to the constitution. Since the civil war, Americans' views on states' rights has greatly dimmed, particularly among southern blacks.
June 12, 1905 Sacramento, California
California becomes the 34th state to ratify the 17th amendment, giving the 75% of states needed. The Speaker of the state assembly says "the gentlemen of this body are officially the last state legislators in American history to be burdened with the duty of changing the constitution".
June 15, 1905 Washington DC
Congress rapidly approves 6 constitutional amendments
18th- Affirming the right to vote for all Americans over 21 regardless of sex, color, or creed. Women are now allowed to vote nationwide.
19th- Abolishing the electoral college in favor of direct presidential elections
20th- Senators now are directly elected by voters
21st- Supreme Court Justices are now limited to 20 years on the bench
22nd- Presidential inaugurations are moved from March to January, vastly shortening the lame duck period
23rd- Gives DC the right to vote in presidential elections as well as representation in congress and delegates governing power over the capital to a city council and mayor.
September 11, 1905
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona are granted statehood. They are likely to be Democratic strongholds but statehood for them came as part of the compromise with Democrats for giving suffrage to female voters, who are a GOP leaning group [3].
October 2, 1905
The Supreme Court rules that unequally sized legislative districts violate the Equal Protection Clause of the constitution, affirming the idea of one man, one vote. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes succinctly states the court's reasoning: "Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms, or cities, or economic interests" [1]
October 22, 1905
The National Parks Act is passed, giving the president authority to protect notable natural monuments from development
November 13, 1905 Mississippi
President Roosevelt goes on a hunting trip. His companions tie down a black bear and ask the President to shoot it, he refuses, calling it unsportsmenlike.
November 16, 1905
A cartoon in the Washington Post by Clifford Berryman depicts the bear incident. The depiction of the bear leads Russian born businessman Morris Mitchom to sell a line of stuffed animals named "Teddy Bears" causing a worldwide sensation.
January 20, 1906
The President signs a bill closing loopholes in the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act.
February 26, 1906
Upton Sinclair publishes "The Jungle" depicting the appalling conditions in America's meatpacking industry. Despite his intention to direct focus on the abused workers, the public is more disgusted about how the food they eat is being handled. Sinclair famously quips "I aimed for the public's heart, I accidentally hit it in the stomach"
May 12, 1906
Congress passes the Pure Food and Drug Act, establishing the Food and Drug Administration which has the duty of ensuring the safety of America's food as well as ensuring that drugs are able to do the things their inventors claim.
July 12 1907
The Immigration Act of 1907 is passed. It sets quotas on immigration from certain countries. The bills backers do not hide that they are intending to reduce immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. Roosevelt enthusiastically signs the law [2]
October 14-17 1907
A scheme by Charles Morse, President of the Knickerbocker Trust Corporation, F Augustus Heinze, President of the United Copper Company, and Augustus' brother Otto to corner United Copper's stock backfires. In 3 days, the stock goes from $39 to $10.
October 22, 1907
Panic spreads through Wall Street. Knickerbocker goes through a bank run.
October 24, 1907
The corporate body count continues to climb. JP Morgan, the nation's most powerful banker steps into action. He bails out the Trust Company of America and goes so far as to tell the manager of the Associated Press that he will pledge half his wealth to ensure the credit of the US.
November 2, 1907
Things calm down on Wall Street but a new crisis looms. The brokerage firm, Moore and Schiley, is nearing collapse as the firm had borrowed heavily and used stock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company as collateral. With TC&I's stock falling, it was worried Moore would collapse and trigger further panic. Once again, JP Morgan steps in and offers to have his US Steel Corporation buy TC&I.
November 4, 1907
President Roosevelt puts aside his monopoly concerns to allow the deal to go through.
November 5, 1907
Markets closed for election day
November 6, 1907
US Steel buys TC&I. Markets recover. The so-called Panic of 1907 ends. Calls are made for a federal agency to serve as a lender of last resort so that JP Morgan won't keep having to save the US economy.
November 3, 1908
Roosevelt is easily re-elected. The 18th amendment forces both Roosevelt and Democratic nominee Governor John Albert of Minnesota to campaign in far more places as every vote is now equally important. Albert campaigns in heavily Republican Georgia while Roosevelt campaigns in heavily Democratic Maryland, something that was unthinkable 4 years earlier.
December 23, 1909
Roosevelt signs the Federal Reserve Act. The bill, a response to the panic of 1907, creates a federal lender of last resort known as the Federal Reserve.
March 25, 1911 New York City
The Triangle Shirtwaist factory in lower Manhattan burns down. 146 workers, mostly immigrant women, perish. It is revealed how little regard management had for the safety of the workers. They even had the doors locked.
May 15, 1911
2 major companies: American Tobacco and Standard Oil are ordered to break apart in an antitrust suit. This is a massive victory for the antitrust movement.
July 15, 1911 Washington DC
The Workplace Safety Administration is created in response the Triangle Shirtwaist disaster. It has the authority to promulgate and enforce regulations ensuring workplace safety. A few businessmen complain about the cost but are ignored.
August 15, 1911
The Populist Party votes to rename itself as the Labor Party in solidarity with the British and Australian Labour Parties [4]
February 12, 1912 Boston Massachusetts
Roosevelt announces he will run for a 3rd term. The Democrats accuse Roosevelt of abrogating over a century of political custom and claim he has Monarchical fantasies, in private they are terrified about having to run against the very popular incumbent
April 15, 1912 Near Newfoundland
The RMS Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable ship, sinks on her maiden voyage from London to New York. 1600 people die and it is revealed that the ship only had lifeboats for half of the passengers and that another ship, the SS Californian, could've saved many but because her radio was shut off for the night, the Californian didn't stop to help. Stanley Lord, Californian's captain gives conflicting testimony on what happened that night, the US Senate Committee describes his behavior as "reprehensible". New rules are put in place requiring ships to keep radios on at all times and to have enough lifeboats for all passengers.
October 14, 1912 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Roosevelt is shot in the chest by John Schrank while at a campaign event. Almost unbelievably, the bullet hit his steel eyeglass case and then a 50 page copy of his speech, saving his life. Roosevelt manages to speak for 90 minutes before going to the hospital. The Doctors determine that it was safer to leave the bullet in than try to remove it and as such he carried it to his grave. Roosevelt memorably opened his speech with this:
"Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill me. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet – there is where the bullet went through – and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best."
November 5, 1912
Roosevelt wins again, defeating New Jersey Governor and former President of Princeton University Woodrow Wilson.
February 17, 1913 Washington DC
Congress shortens the work week to 45 hours and bans child labor.
October 10, 1913 Culebra Cut, Panama Canal Zone
A telegraph from the White House triggers an explosion that demolishes the Gamboa Dike. Culebra Cut is flooded and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are joined together
January 7, 1914
Alexandre La Valley, a floating crane, becomes the first self propelled vessel to cross the canal
August 3, 1914
The SS Cristobal becomes the first ship to cross the canal
August 15, 1914
The Panama Canal officially opens. By allowing ships to get between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without going around South America, it makes shipping much easier. The project took 10 years and cost the equivalent of $6.5 billion and was an engineering marvel.
December 12, 1914
The National Municipal league adopts proportional representation in its model charter
November 2, 1915
Voters in Ashtabula, Ohio make it the first city in America to use proportional representation. By 1930, it would be used in most cities and a half dozen state legislatures. Its backers believe that it will reduce corruption and make politicians more responsive to voters.
November 7, 1916
Roosevelt re-elected again
January 6, 1919
President Theodore Roosevelt dies of a pulmonary embolism at age 60. Vice President William Taft is sworn in. Taft refuses to run for president in his own right. Many people are in mourning over one of the most transformational presidents in American history.
November 2, 1920
Senator Warren Harding (R-OH) wins the presidential election. But the results for 2nd place bring a shock. The Labor ticket of California Governor Hiram Johnson and Wisconsin Senator Robert M LaFollette gets more votes than the Democratic ticket of former Indiana Governor Thomas R Marshall and North Carolina Senator Furnifold M. Simmons. The Party of Thomas Jefferson had fallen to second tier status. The same happened in congress where Labor overtook the Democrats in the number of seats.
[1] Earl Warren used that exact quote in the case of Reynold vs Sims in 1965 which established One man one vote IOTL. I'm assuming that this left wing America means much more liberal supreme court justices
[2] Roosevelt was IOTL a blatant xenophobe. During World War 1, he questioned the loyalty of German-Americans and Irish-Americans.
[3] The right tilt of female voters was the case IOTL and is a big reason why it took until 1920 for women's suffrage to happen and until the 1960s, women were more Republican than men.
[4] I vastly prefer that name and actually the Populist Party was formed as a merger of the Union Labor Party along with Farmer's Alliance and the Greenback Party
The Republicans hold their convention. The extremely popular William Jennings Bryan has decided, as is custom, to not run for a 3rd term. That's a very lucky break for the GOP, also lucky is their swashbuckling nominee, Governor Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt of New York. Roosevelt intends to build a coalition through a combination of nativism to assuange the traditional WASP Republican base with reforms to win over traditionally Democratic voters. He calls for making it easier to change the constitution by eliminating the requirement for state ratification, he also calls for women's suffrage, direct election of both senators and presidents, and term limits for Supreme Court justices. Roosevelt also pledged to leave in place all of Bryan's reforms with the exception of tariffs which he wants to raise so as to protect American industry.
November 8, 1904
Roosevelt defeats Vice President Sewall. The Republicans are back in power after an 8 year hiatus. Progressives in all 3 parties: Republican, Democratic, and Populist easily are in control in both Washington and the states.
March 4, 1905 Washington DC
Roosevelt is inaugurated. He says that government needs to change to address the peoples' increasing demands for democracy and justice.
May 10, 1905
Congress passes the 17th Amendment to the constitution, eliminating the requirement for state legislatures to ratify changes to the constitution. Since the civil war, Americans' views on states' rights has greatly dimmed, particularly among southern blacks.
June 12, 1905 Sacramento, California
California becomes the 34th state to ratify the 17th amendment, giving the 75% of states needed. The Speaker of the state assembly says "the gentlemen of this body are officially the last state legislators in American history to be burdened with the duty of changing the constitution".
June 15, 1905 Washington DC
Congress rapidly approves 6 constitutional amendments
18th- Affirming the right to vote for all Americans over 21 regardless of sex, color, or creed. Women are now allowed to vote nationwide.
19th- Abolishing the electoral college in favor of direct presidential elections
20th- Senators now are directly elected by voters
21st- Supreme Court Justices are now limited to 20 years on the bench
22nd- Presidential inaugurations are moved from March to January, vastly shortening the lame duck period
23rd- Gives DC the right to vote in presidential elections as well as representation in congress and delegates governing power over the capital to a city council and mayor.
September 11, 1905
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona are granted statehood. They are likely to be Democratic strongholds but statehood for them came as part of the compromise with Democrats for giving suffrage to female voters, who are a GOP leaning group [3].
October 2, 1905
The Supreme Court rules that unequally sized legislative districts violate the Equal Protection Clause of the constitution, affirming the idea of one man, one vote. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes succinctly states the court's reasoning: "Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms, or cities, or economic interests" [1]
October 22, 1905
The National Parks Act is passed, giving the president authority to protect notable natural monuments from development
November 13, 1905 Mississippi
President Roosevelt goes on a hunting trip. His companions tie down a black bear and ask the President to shoot it, he refuses, calling it unsportsmenlike.
November 16, 1905
A cartoon in the Washington Post by Clifford Berryman depicts the bear incident. The depiction of the bear leads Russian born businessman Morris Mitchom to sell a line of stuffed animals named "Teddy Bears" causing a worldwide sensation.
January 20, 1906
The President signs a bill closing loopholes in the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act.
February 26, 1906
Upton Sinclair publishes "The Jungle" depicting the appalling conditions in America's meatpacking industry. Despite his intention to direct focus on the abused workers, the public is more disgusted about how the food they eat is being handled. Sinclair famously quips "I aimed for the public's heart, I accidentally hit it in the stomach"
May 12, 1906
Congress passes the Pure Food and Drug Act, establishing the Food and Drug Administration which has the duty of ensuring the safety of America's food as well as ensuring that drugs are able to do the things their inventors claim.
July 12 1907
The Immigration Act of 1907 is passed. It sets quotas on immigration from certain countries. The bills backers do not hide that they are intending to reduce immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. Roosevelt enthusiastically signs the law [2]
October 14-17 1907
A scheme by Charles Morse, President of the Knickerbocker Trust Corporation, F Augustus Heinze, President of the United Copper Company, and Augustus' brother Otto to corner United Copper's stock backfires. In 3 days, the stock goes from $39 to $10.
October 22, 1907
Panic spreads through Wall Street. Knickerbocker goes through a bank run.
October 24, 1907
The corporate body count continues to climb. JP Morgan, the nation's most powerful banker steps into action. He bails out the Trust Company of America and goes so far as to tell the manager of the Associated Press that he will pledge half his wealth to ensure the credit of the US.
November 2, 1907
Things calm down on Wall Street but a new crisis looms. The brokerage firm, Moore and Schiley, is nearing collapse as the firm had borrowed heavily and used stock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company as collateral. With TC&I's stock falling, it was worried Moore would collapse and trigger further panic. Once again, JP Morgan steps in and offers to have his US Steel Corporation buy TC&I.
November 4, 1907
President Roosevelt puts aside his monopoly concerns to allow the deal to go through.
November 5, 1907
Markets closed for election day
November 6, 1907
US Steel buys TC&I. Markets recover. The so-called Panic of 1907 ends. Calls are made for a federal agency to serve as a lender of last resort so that JP Morgan won't keep having to save the US economy.
November 3, 1908
Roosevelt is easily re-elected. The 18th amendment forces both Roosevelt and Democratic nominee Governor John Albert of Minnesota to campaign in far more places as every vote is now equally important. Albert campaigns in heavily Republican Georgia while Roosevelt campaigns in heavily Democratic Maryland, something that was unthinkable 4 years earlier.
December 23, 1909
Roosevelt signs the Federal Reserve Act. The bill, a response to the panic of 1907, creates a federal lender of last resort known as the Federal Reserve.
March 25, 1911 New York City
The Triangle Shirtwaist factory in lower Manhattan burns down. 146 workers, mostly immigrant women, perish. It is revealed how little regard management had for the safety of the workers. They even had the doors locked.
May 15, 1911
2 major companies: American Tobacco and Standard Oil are ordered to break apart in an antitrust suit. This is a massive victory for the antitrust movement.
July 15, 1911 Washington DC
The Workplace Safety Administration is created in response the Triangle Shirtwaist disaster. It has the authority to promulgate and enforce regulations ensuring workplace safety. A few businessmen complain about the cost but are ignored.
August 15, 1911
The Populist Party votes to rename itself as the Labor Party in solidarity with the British and Australian Labour Parties [4]
February 12, 1912 Boston Massachusetts
Roosevelt announces he will run for a 3rd term. The Democrats accuse Roosevelt of abrogating over a century of political custom and claim he has Monarchical fantasies, in private they are terrified about having to run against the very popular incumbent
April 15, 1912 Near Newfoundland
The RMS Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable ship, sinks on her maiden voyage from London to New York. 1600 people die and it is revealed that the ship only had lifeboats for half of the passengers and that another ship, the SS Californian, could've saved many but because her radio was shut off for the night, the Californian didn't stop to help. Stanley Lord, Californian's captain gives conflicting testimony on what happened that night, the US Senate Committee describes his behavior as "reprehensible". New rules are put in place requiring ships to keep radios on at all times and to have enough lifeboats for all passengers.
October 14, 1912 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Roosevelt is shot in the chest by John Schrank while at a campaign event. Almost unbelievably, the bullet hit his steel eyeglass case and then a 50 page copy of his speech, saving his life. Roosevelt manages to speak for 90 minutes before going to the hospital. The Doctors determine that it was safer to leave the bullet in than try to remove it and as such he carried it to his grave. Roosevelt memorably opened his speech with this:
"Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill me. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet – there is where the bullet went through – and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best."
November 5, 1912
Roosevelt wins again, defeating New Jersey Governor and former President of Princeton University Woodrow Wilson.
February 17, 1913 Washington DC
Congress shortens the work week to 45 hours and bans child labor.
October 10, 1913 Culebra Cut, Panama Canal Zone
A telegraph from the White House triggers an explosion that demolishes the Gamboa Dike. Culebra Cut is flooded and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are joined together
January 7, 1914
Alexandre La Valley, a floating crane, becomes the first self propelled vessel to cross the canal
August 3, 1914
The SS Cristobal becomes the first ship to cross the canal
August 15, 1914
The Panama Canal officially opens. By allowing ships to get between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without going around South America, it makes shipping much easier. The project took 10 years and cost the equivalent of $6.5 billion and was an engineering marvel.
December 12, 1914
The National Municipal league adopts proportional representation in its model charter
November 2, 1915
Voters in Ashtabula, Ohio make it the first city in America to use proportional representation. By 1930, it would be used in most cities and a half dozen state legislatures. Its backers believe that it will reduce corruption and make politicians more responsive to voters.
November 7, 1916
Roosevelt re-elected again
January 6, 1919
President Theodore Roosevelt dies of a pulmonary embolism at age 60. Vice President William Taft is sworn in. Taft refuses to run for president in his own right. Many people are in mourning over one of the most transformational presidents in American history.
November 2, 1920
Senator Warren Harding (R-OH) wins the presidential election. But the results for 2nd place bring a shock. The Labor ticket of California Governor Hiram Johnson and Wisconsin Senator Robert M LaFollette gets more votes than the Democratic ticket of former Indiana Governor Thomas R Marshall and North Carolina Senator Furnifold M. Simmons. The Party of Thomas Jefferson had fallen to second tier status. The same happened in congress where Labor overtook the Democrats in the number of seats.
[1] Earl Warren used that exact quote in the case of Reynold vs Sims in 1965 which established One man one vote IOTL. I'm assuming that this left wing America means much more liberal supreme court justices
[2] Roosevelt was IOTL a blatant xenophobe. During World War 1, he questioned the loyalty of German-Americans and Irish-Americans.
[3] The right tilt of female voters was the case IOTL and is a big reason why it took until 1920 for women's suffrage to happen and until the 1960s, women were more Republican than men.
[4] I vastly prefer that name and actually the Populist Party was formed as a merger of the Union Labor Party along with Farmer's Alliance and the Greenback Party
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