Progressive Era

Review Session

Reform

Bringing about change to a social problem or concern

Progressive Moving forward, bringing about change Public Interest

Gilded Age Term that implies a “false sense of good.” Extreme

poverty hidden by a few wealthy Americans.

What is Reform?

16th Amendment

Imposing an income tax on Americans

17th Amendment Direct election of U.S. Senators

18th Amendment Prohibition of Alcohol

19th Amendment National Woman’s Suffrage (right to vote)

Progressive Era Amendments

Primary Election

Allow voters to choose a party’s candidates for elected office Initiative

Allows voters to initiate or propose a bill to the state legislature Referendum

Allows voters to vote on proposed legislation Recall

Allows voters to remove an elected official from office

The goal of these reforms was to give more power to the people and involve voters more directly in the political process

Election Reforms (PIRR)

Act passed requiring job seekers to pass an

exam to prove competency

Set up to end the Spoils System and fill vacant jobs based upon qualifications for the position

Spoils System – giving government jobs to followers, not based on qualification

Civil Service Act (Pendleton Act)

Regulated banking in the United States

Federal Reserve Act

1848 – Seneca Falls Convention

Seneca Falls, NY (Anthony and Stanton) Beginning of an organized Women’s Rights Movement

Declaration of Sentiments Modeled after the Declaration of Independence Proclaimed the rights and grievances of women Proclaimed men and women equal Publicized the need for women’s rights

Many years of struggle led to 19th Amendment (right to vote) for women

Alice Paul Picketed the White House, hunger strike, force fed

Women’s Rights Movement

Movement to abolish the sale of alcohol in the

United States

Carry “The Hatchet” Nation Publically raided saloons

Many leaders were women due to the affect of alcohol on families

18th Amendment Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol

Temperance Movement

Muckrakers

Writers (journalists) and critics who exposed corruption and abuses in industry, government and society

Primary goal was to bring about social reform and change

Helped encourage government to pass laws to protect consumers and reform problems in American society

Muckrakers

Thomas Nast

Political cartoonist Exposed corrupt city governments Boss Tweed, NYC, stole $100 million from tax

payers and took advantage of immigrants and the city poor

Muckrakers

Upton Sinclair

Wrote “The Jungle” Exposed problems (unsanitary conditions) in the

meat-packing industry in Chicago, IL Resulted in the Meat Inspection Act (1906) and

Pure Food and Drug Act

Muckrakers

Jacob Riis

Wrote “How the Other Half Live” Exposed the living conditions of immigrants and

the poor in city tenement buildings

Muckrakers

Ida Tarbell

Helped bring an end to the Standard Oil Trust John Rockefeller

Muckrakers

Progressive Trust Buster (bad trusts) Sided with labor (workers) over business

owners President Conservationist Incorporated several different political ideas Pure Food and Drug Act/Meat Inspection Act

Theodore Roosevelt

Booker T. Washington

Believed in the power of education to bring about equality

W.E.B. Dubois NAACP Demanded equality immediately

Woodrow Wilson New Freedom Elected 1912

Other Reformers